The Order of Expert Surveyors welcomes the overhaul of the DPE calculation method for small areas

Already in June 2023, the Order of Surveyors identified this issue during its Grand Debate devoted to DPE. At the time, the profession proposed amending the Climate Resilience Law to authorize the Government to deviate from the new DPE by regulation, either by excluding housing below a certain surface area from the system, or by adapting the calculation of performance energy to the specificities of these small homes.

“In mid-February, I will announce a simplification of the DPE which will make it possible to maintain the ambition of the initial schedule while making the system more reliable for small areas and implementing flexibility measures which will allow owners and tenants to approach the date of January 1, 2025 with more confidence", it is with these words that Christophe Béchu announced, on February 1, the Government's desire to once again reform the method of calculating the DPE.

On June 28, the surveyors looked into this subject during their Great Debate “Will the new DPE cause the collapse of the real estate market? » in which MP Marjolaine Meynier-Millefert and Robin Rivaton, CEO of Stonal and real estate specialist, participated.

Expert surveyors involved in the real estate diagnosis sector

Guarantors of the living environment of the French, the expert surveyors then recalled that they had positioned themselves on the issues of real estate diagnosis since the establishment of lead diagnosis obligations in 1998 then asbestos in 2006. “The expert surveyors have technical and legal skills in building pathology to carry out these missions", as pointed out by Xavier Prigent, Vice-President of the Higher Council of the Order of Expert Surveyors, "It is therefore logical to contribute with our expertise and our know-how to the debates linked to ECD today”.

The unsuitability of the new DPE for small surface area housing, such as studios, less than 40 or 30 m2, emerged in particular during the debate.

Small areas de facto condemned by the new DPE?

Indeed, by relating the decency criterion to the final energy per square meter of habitable space and per year, the new DPE de facto condemns small areas according to expert surveyors. “Even having carried out major operations on the building envelope, including the insulation of floors, roofs and facades, these properties remain classified under the calculation methods of the new DPE as inefficient in terms of energy ", warned Michel Greuzat, expert surveyor in Seine-et-Marne, "The new DPE has an impact on two housing factors: the hot water tank and electric heating. The only solution would therefore be to replace them with a thermodynamic tank and a heat pump, and in a small surface area home this is not technically possible.”

A reform of the method of calculating the DPE necessary

To prevent studios and small apartments from massively leaving the rental stock, even though the needs for this type of housing are increasingly growing, Xavier Prigent, Vice-President of the Superior Council of the Order of Surveyors- experts, had notably proposed to Marjolaine Meynier-Millefert to amend the Climate Resilience Law to authorize the Government to derogate from the new DPE by regulatory means, either by excluding housing below a certain surface area from the system, or by adapting the calculation of the energy performance to the specificities of these small homes.

This is why the Order of Expert Surveyors welcomes the Government's announcement in favor of a necessary reform of the method of calculating the DPE for small areas. The profession is at its disposal to contribute both to discussions on this subject of national scope and to the preservation of the living environment of the French, of which it is the guarantor.

View rebroadcast of the Great Debate of the Order of Expert Surveyors : “Will the new DPE cause the collapse of the real estate market?” (intervention by Michel Greuzat from 57'34'')

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.