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Rent controls: Still in force in 2024

Rent control is a measure designed to limit excessive rent increases in areas where there is a high demand for housing. The idea is to prevent tenants from having to pay excessively high rents, which can make housing less affordable. The scheme has been extended until July 2024 in 28 conurbations in so-called "tense" zones.

The rent control mechanism, also known as "encadrement des loyers", applies to"areas of continuous urbanization with more than 50,000 residents and characterized by a significant imbalance between housing supply and demand, giving rise to substantial problems of access to housing throughout the residential stock", as stipulated in the reference text. These areas are determined by local authorities on the basis of criteria such as housing demand, available supply and rent levels. In concrete terms, this concerns 1,149 municipalities within the following 28 conurbations in mainland France: Ajaccio, Annecy, Arles, Bastia, Bayonne, Beauvais, Bordeaux, Draguignan, Fréjus, Genève-Annemasse, Grenoble, La Rochelle, La Teste-de-Buch-Arcachon, Lille, Lyon, Marseille-Aix-en-Provence, Meaux, Menton-Monaco, Montpellier, Nantes, Nice, Paris, Saint-Nazaire, Sète, Strasbourg, Thonon-les-Bains, Toulon, Toulouse.
Outside these high-pressure zones, rates for unfurnished and furnished residential rentals remain unrestricted, except for dwellings classified in categories F and G according to the Diagnostic de Performance Energétique (DPE), for which increases have been prohibited since August 24, 2022 in mainland France.
The maximum rent that a landlord can charge for a property located in a "zone tendue" is determined by local authorities on the basis of several criteria, such as the size of the property, its geographical location , its quality...
In the event of non-compliance with the rent control regulations, the landlord can be fined up to €5,000 for an individual and €15,000 for a legal entity (such as an SCI ).
To find out if you are affected by rent control, you can :
  • contact the town hall/prefecture where your property is located;
  • or consult the service-public.fr website.

Exceptions

Rent control does not apply to dwellings governed by the 1948 law, residences approved by theAnah (excluding intermediate rental agreements), social housing (HLM), furnished rentals for tourist purposes, sublets and furnished dwellings in certain serviced residences.

Source: Decree no. 2023-642 of July 20, 2023 on the evolution of certain rents in the context of a new rental or lease renewal, in application of article 18 of law no. 89-462 of July 6, 1989.