Regulation of rents in Paris: the town hall calls real estate agencies to order

"The law provides for obligations which are imposed on professionals in terms of rent control", recalled the housing assistant Ian Brossat in a letter sent on May 10 to nearly 1.000 real estate agencies in the capital, and that the AFP was able to consult.

The elected communist asks them to "continue", "alongside" the town hall, "to limit abuse as much as possible and to allow better application of the law on Parisian territory".

The first city to have applied rent control in mid-2019, Paris, since joined by several municipalities or agglomerations known as tense areas, has been since January 1 the first city to be able to control this control, previously a competence of the State.

And according to a report from the town hall in mid-May, 56% of the 710 reports made by tenants concern properties managed by agencies, either as owners or as agents for an individual.

“The agencies are, in principle, supposed to check that the rent control is respected” and must “play their role of adviser to the owners”, underlined Ian Brossat to AFP.

With 51% of studios and 33% of two-room apartments, the overruns reported unsurprisingly concern "mainly small areas", indicates Mr. Brossat.

The average excess is 159 euros per month and the overpayment "often amounts to several thousand euros", adds Anne Hidalgo's deputy.

Of the 710 reports, the town hall sent 112 letters putting the owners on notice to regularize the lease and pay the overpayment to their tenants.

In the absence of a response within two months of the formal notice, the town hall can impose a fine of up to 5.000 euros for a natural person and 15.000 for a legal person.

After almost five months of application, "we are starting to have regularized files", welcomes Ian Brossat who anticipates the first fines "in June, unless regularized by then".

According to the town hall, around a third of the new leases signed in the capital in 2021 exceeded the ceiling rents, the result of several criteria (empty or furnished, date of construction, number of rooms and district).