Rent cap battle reignites with legal action against Century 21

"It is necessary to take a symbolic action against a real estate agent", explained to AFP David Rodrigues, lawyer with the association of consumers CLCV.

She announced on Tuesday the filing of a complaint against Century 21, one of the main agency networks in France. She accuses him of broadcasting advertisements in Paris that do not respect the ceiling on rents.

This measure has been in force since 2015 in the capital, the only French city with Lille to apply it. Even if Paris, forced by justice, had to stop for more than a year around 2018, the town hall was then able to relaunch the cap.

This prohibits landlords from asking tenants an amount greater than a given sum, which varies according to the neighborhoods depending on the state of the market.

CLCV accuses Century 21 of relaying advertisements asking for too high a rent and, therefore, of "deceptive commercial practice" towards potential tenants.

This is the first legal action on the subject against a real estate group. Individual disputes are already opposing tenants to their owners, but they remain very rare.

"There has always been a great reluctance, self-censorship of tenants in this area," reported Mr. Rodrigues.

The association, which estimates on the occasion of an annual review that nearly half of Parisian announcements are illegal, has therefore chosen to strike harder by attacking a large group even if it this only serves as an intermediary.

Century 21 "is one of the biggest players on the market (with) poor results compared to their colleagues in this area", reported Mr. Rodrigues, for example deeming the Foncia group much more serious.

A subsidiary of real estate giant Nexity, Century 21 responded by ruling that CLCV had provided no evidence that its ads violated the law.

The network recalls that this provides for exceptions on a piecemeal basis, if the accommodation has advantages such as an exceptional location, and ensures that this was the case for the advertisements concerned.

The network "is confident that the current procedure will demonstrate the full compliance of the announcements with the legislation," he said in a statement.

Uncertain effects

This dispute, which does not yet have a scheduled hearing date, testifies to a context in which debates are once again animated over the ceiling on rents.

The device, which is in addition to the framework rules already in place in all major French cities to limit the rise in rents, has for years given rise to major political divisions.

The cap has always been contested by owners associations and many real estate agents. It is strongly defended by associations of tenants, like CLCV, and town halls, generally on the left, like that of Paris.

As such, it has just announced that it will strengthen controls, the number of fines remaining very low.

"The rent control is beginning to produce its effects overall, but there is still too much abuse, especially on small surfaces," Ian Brossat, Communist housing assistant in Paris, told AFP in mid-January.

At the same time, the capital and Lille will be joined by other large French cities, essentially won over or kept by the left during the last municipal elections.

Bordeaux, Lyon, Grenoble and Montpellier have come forward to the State, which has given this possibility to large French agglomerations for several years, before evaluating the results at the end of this period.

However, the cap does not only affect the prices themselves, it can theoretically limit the supply of housing by discouraging landlords from renting.

In Paris, it is the reports of the Observatory of rents of the Parisian agglomeration (Olap) which make reference.

For now, they believe that the cap has helped slow the persistent rise in rents but do not rule out that it also played a role in the lack of available housing.