The correction of the energy diagnosis (DPE) of housing generally praised by professionals

Real estate and building professionals welcomed the announcement on Monday February 12 of a change in the calculation of the energy performance diagnosis (DPE) for small housing, but some see it as a bad signal sent to landlords, who would be tempted to delay their work.

The Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu announced a correction by decree of the "calculation bias" of the DPE for housing less than 40 m2, which should remove 140.000 housing units from the energy sieve category (labels F or G).

“The smaller the surface area of a home, the more the share of domestic hot water weighs on its classification, without any real link with the number of occupants,” justified the minister in Le Parisien.

This modification will be effective from July 1, 2024 and also concerns social landlords, his office clarified Monday evening.

Established in 2006, the DPE classifies housing from A to G based on their energy consumption and, since 2021, their impact on the climate.

Since January 1, 2023, the law prohibits the rental of the most energy-intensive housing (classified G+). The ban will be extended from January 1, 2025 to all G-class housing.

“The new DPE was put in place without consultation in 2021 and this modification will allow apartments to be rented again, even if we create a +light+ DPE,” the president of the Federation welcomed to AFP. French construction company, Olivier Salleron.

“Individuals will be able to better see what added value they have in renovating,” also welcomed Jean-Christophe Repon, president of Capeb, the employers’ organization of building craftsmen.

“Gift to the owners”

“It is beneficial even if the government could have modified the calculation of the DPE for homes heated with electricity, penalized compared to gas,” judged the president of the National Real Estate Federation, Loïc Cantin.

The three federations of diagnosticians have welcomed measures which consist of applying "a weighting coefficient on the production of hot water without touching the DPE calculation engine" or asking diagnosticians "to re-intervene on the DPEs already carried out".

The reactions of the associations are more nuanced.

“It’s a great gift to owners since it will put thermal wrecks back on the market,” denounced Eddie Jacquemart, president of the National Housing Confederation, the leading association of HLM tenants and close to the Communist Party.

“It is not a gift but it will allow us to have a better image of the real state of the housing”, conversely assures the consumer association CLCV, for whom the new rule “will avoid circumvention on the part donors".

The Abbé Pierre Foundation speaks of “adjustments” and “not modifications which disrupt the schedule of obligations with only 140.000 housing units concerned”.

Christophe Béchu also announced Monday that an amendment would be tabled as part of the bill on degraded co-ownerships to prevent a tenant from being "forcibly removed from their accommodation" by January 1, 2025.

"Loophole"

A second amendment will also make it possible to suspend the ban on rental for two years once the general meeting of the co-ownership votes on work on the common areas.

“The big problem with these announcements is the absence of new funding because the aid from Anah (National Housing Agency, editor’s note) in co-ownership is too low,” regretted Jacques Baudrier, deputy for Housing. at Paris town hall.

“We will have to check that the deadline given to the owners is not an escape for not carrying out work,” observes Manuel Domergue, director of studies at the Abbé Pierre Foundation.

“What is normal is to make adjustments after consultation, what is worrying is to make them over time on the sly in the press, and that this could give donors the impression that they will get by without doing any work,” he adds.

Danyel Dubreuil, coordinator of CLER, a member association of Réseau Action Climat, is also not opposed to “legitimate developments”, especially for “small owners”.

But "the general signal must not change for other lessors. It must be repeated that on January 1, 2025, energy sieves must be subject to work (...) to be rented", he argues, recalling that “changing the DPE will not lower bills, nor improve tenant comfort”.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.