Status of private landlords: The Housing Alliance sends an urgent message to the Prime Minister

The two government amendments effectively bury the "private landlord status". While the system enjoys consensus within the sector, the government has completely gutted it and rendered it ineffective.

By adding rent levels that are too low, capped depreciation and the non-deductibility of the property deficit for depreciation against overall income, by increasing the minimum rental period from 9 to 12 years, by excluding individual rentals and rentals to ascendants/descendants, by imposing a minimum of 40% of work in older properties, the government is putting an end to this scheme.

Testimonies from French citizens continue to surface regarding their housing difficulties and their choices concerning family planning. While efforts to support social housing production and the announced reduction in the rent control scheme are commendable, this measure alone will not meet all needs. Housing policy must be based on two pillars: social and private.

Through these two amendments, the government is abandoning the pursuit of a genuine housing policy and the support of the recovery that the country absolutely needs, in direct contradiction with its statements regarding the status of private landlords made publicly on December 23 at Matignon.

Do we still need to reiterate the crucial role of private rental housing in linking employment and housing? Do we need to emphasize again that the investments made benefit the nation? The General Rapporteur for the Budget himself deplored, in committee, the Ministry of the Economy's blindness to the need to account for the VAT revenue generated.

The debates in the finance committee had nevertheless demonstrated the parliamentarians' commitment to establishing, very quickly, an effective and fully operational status for private landlords. This parliamentary consensus, rare on a fiscal issue, reflects a profound awareness: without a boost to private rental investment, there will be neither a recovery in production nor a response to social housing needs related to mobility.

Faced with this incomprehensible choice to sacrifice the recovery of private rental housing, the members of the Housing Alliance can already announce that the housing crisis will worsen in all territories.

The Alliance asks the Prime Minister not to squander this unique opportunity that is at stake today to revive the entire housing supply and respond to the diversity of political needs.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.