A study published on Tuesday, September 17 by the CLCV association, which examined 1,800 rental offers, shows a clear decline in compliance with the price cap system. A first in six years.
Olympic year, chaotic rents? 2024 marks a clear decline in compliance with the law on rent control in Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis, two areas where the Games events were concentrated between the end of July and the beginning of September, according to the annual survey by the Consommation, logement et cadre de vie (CLCV) association, published this Tuesday, September 17. An analysis that confirms that of the Abbé-Pierre Foundation, which pointed out in its annual barometer, published last week, the situation in the capital, a black spot in a “rather positive assessment” for the supervision of rents across France.
Concretely, the CLCV examined 1,800 rental advertisements, 1,000 in Paris and 800 in Seine-Saint-Denis, from the end of 2023 to August 2024. In the capital, even if rent control is less well respected this year, the result remains “reasonable” : 71% of the ads are in compliance with the law. Which still makes almost one ad in three illegal. The average excess noted by the association is 170.62 euros per month, “which is more than 2000 euros per year on average, unheard of,” notes from Release lawyer David Rodrigues, author of the study. A serious blow to the wallet, around 22 euros more than in the 2022-2023 period.
In Seine-Saint-Denis, in the territories of Plaine Commune and Est Ensemble, the amount of the excess is a little lower (149.83 euros per month), but illegal advertisements are much more numerous. 47% of the offers consulted are not in compliance with the rent control, almost one in two. “Without mentioning annus horribilis, this decline is nonetheless significant (7 points), especially in an urban area with an economically fragile public,” points out the association’s report.
However, since 2018, and the return to the Elan law of this mechanism intended to limit excessively high rents in tense areas, “the rate of compliance of the announcements continued to increase,” says David Rodrigues, as professionals and individuals became familiar with the new rules.
So why this sudden relaxation? If the author of the study is banking on a “Olympic Games effect”, which may have encouraged unscrupulous lessors to disregard the rules in force, it is difficult to determine whether 2024 is really “a special year” or if the previous post-health crisis years were the exceptions before a return to “bad habits”. To decide between these hypotheses, we will have to see what the 2025 vintage has in store for us.
“The door open to all abuses”
The consumer association also highlights a “anthology of classified ads” intended to show how often landlords, whether individuals or professionals, are still ignorant of the regulations in force on advertisements, in particular the obligation to display the amount of the basic rent and the increased reference rent in areas subject to supervision. Not to mention the rent supplements, authorized since 2021 for certain accommodation in “special characteristics”, for example on location, comfort…
“At first, in principle, we were not against it, because we naively thought that it would only concern exceptional housing,” explains David Rodrigues, who has since discovered that “The rent supplement opens the door to all kinds of abuse.” A “special characteristic” ? It all depends on the landlord’s interpretation… Who will not hesitate, as the lawyer noted, to ask for a rent supplement for the presence of a washing machine in the accommodation or, absolute luxury, a toilet inside the studio. Or even to set a rent of more than 10,000 euros per month above the framework for an exceptional property, this supplement not being capped.
A framework that is still experimental
Through this study of the announcements, CLCV in any case draws up an overview of the limits and possible circumventions of rent control, highlighting the “obvious lack of rigor” of some professionals, particularly in Seine-Saint-Denis, where 39% of illegal advertisements were posted by real estate agents, who are not supposed to be ignorant of the law on this subject. The association calls for a better definition of the rent supplement, for example by prohibiting it for housing less than or equal to 14 m², and for better regulation of the conformity of advertisements for “sign the end of recess.”
This Tuesday, the Paris city hall also singled out Leboncoin, whose “52% of ads exceed the framing ceiling”, through the voice of the delegated councilor for rent control, Barbara Gomes, during an action in front of the platform’s headquarters. She is asking, like the CLCV and the Abbé-Pierre Foundation, for the pure and simple continuation of rent control, currently still at the experimental stage, and which could end in 2026 if its results were not deemed conclusive. “It is an interesting system, which preserves purchasing power, costs the State nothing and is not overly restrictive,” in addition to having had a “regulatory effect” on rents, boasts David Rodrigues: “There’s nothing left to do” ?
