Housing: The idea of ​​a national register of rental debts is divisive

Should landlords be allowed to know about a candidate's potential rental debts before renting them a property? Vincent Jeanbrun wanted to "bring this question into the debate" during a round table organized on Tuesday, September 8 by the Chamber of Notaries of Greater Paris.

The Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs mentioned the creation of a "national register of rental debts." This would allow a landlord to "ask a prospective tenant for their rent arrears statement," a principle the minister compared to the requirement for a criminal record extract for certain jobs.

Restoring landlords' confidence

Vincent Jeanbrun's entourage presents this proposal as a way to "restore confidence in rental relationships" by strengthening "transparency" between landlords and prospective tenants.

According to the ministry, the measure is not intended for people who experienced a temporary difficulty before regularizing their situation. Rather, it aims to target those whom the minister's entourage describes as "professional rent defaulters," capable of accumulating 12, 24, or 36 months of unpaid rent before repeating this pattern in another property.

This idea is not new. In 2020, the National Federation of Real Estate (Fnaim) had already proposed a database listing payment defaults. Access to this database was intended to be restricted to real estate professionals, who are involved in approximately one-third of leases signed in France.

At the time, the National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties (CNIL) pointed out that no law prohibited such a file in principle. However, it emphasized the need to guarantee the proportionality of the data collected, to strictly regulate the conditions of registration and access, to determine a precise retention period, and to provide for deletion mechanisms.

The risk of a lasting exclusion from the rental market

The new proposal is provoking strong reservations among tenant advocacy groups. David Rodrigues, legal director of the CLCV, considers it "outrageous," believing that it could "equally equate late rent payments with chronic debtors."

The concern focuses particularly on the future of households facing job loss, separation, illness, or other temporary financial difficulties. Their inclusion in such a database could permanently reduce their chances of finding housing, even after settling their debt.

"It's a sentence of social death. Tenants on this blacklist will never have rental housing again," warns Manuel Domergue, director of studies at the Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged.

The CLCV also denounces the lack of reciprocity between the parties. David Rodrigues is therefore calling for the possible creation of a database of landlords who do not return security deposits, refuse to carry out certain repairs, or discriminate against rental applicants.

The proposal was met with caution by the owners.

Landlords' reactions are also lukewarm. Sylvain Grataloup, president of the National Union of Property Owners (UNPI), believes the database could be a "good idea" to address landlords' concerns. He acknowledges, however, its "relatively stigmatizing" nature and the numerous practical and legal problems it could raise.

“This is probably not a priority solution,” he believes, calling for a very careful definition of what constitutes a bad payer. According to him, it is essential to distinguish between a tenant facing a difficult period and someone deliberately refusing to pay their rent.

Landlords' confidence doesn't depend solely on unpaid rent.

Vincent Jeanbrun entrusted Sylvain Grataloup with a mission focused on rebalancing relations between landlords and tenants. The committee of experts involved in this work believes that landlords' distrust extends far beyond the issue of unpaid rent.

Bringing housing back onto the rental market therefore requires action on several fronts. As it stands, the national register of rental debts remains a proposal open to debate. Its implementation would necessitate clarifying its legal basis, the conditions for registration and consultation, as well as the guarantees granted to tenants who have rectified their situation.