The government creates a new expropriation procedure for substandard housing

This decree, published Wednesday in the Official Journal, stems from the April 2024 law on the acceleration and simplification of the renovation of degraded housing.

This new procedure for expropriating "unfit buildings for remedial purposes" is conditional on three elements: at least two safety orders or orders to treat the insalubrity over the last ten years, for which the owner has not carried out the work; a report attesting to the need for measures to prevent the situation from worsening; the existence of a temporary prohibition on habitation and a draft plan for rehousing the occupants.

Currently, expropriation can only concern buildings subject to a permanent prohibition on habitation or a demolition order.

"Various case studies show that the time it takes for the State or local authorities to intervene, without any particular obstacles, to assess the deterioration of a building and renovate it is between 7 and 10 years and up to 20 years in the most complex cases," the ministry said.

He hopes that this new procedure and the new tools available to local elected officials will make it possible to intervene earlier, to prevent advanced deterioration of buildings and unsanitary conditions and to avoid demolitions.

Other implementing texts of the 2024 law on substandard housing should be signed by summer 2025.

The government defines substandard housing as "housing that presents a clear risk to the health or physical safety of its occupants, as well as premises used as housing when they are unfit for this purpose," which includes "unsanitary conditions, buildings that do not offer guarantees of solidity or the absence of essential equipment."

In France, the number of substandard housing units is estimated at 420.000, affecting one million inhabitants, according to the ministry.