According to the foundation’s annual barometer, 28% of advertisements in France do not comply with rent controls, compared to 30% a year ago. In the Paris region, however, this rate is on the rise.
Progress, but can do (much) better. More than a quarter of rental listings still exceed the authorized rent ceiling, according to the Abbé Pierre Foundation barometer unveiled this Thursday, September 12. But the situation is improving everywhere in France, except in Paris.
Rent control “is increasingly proving its effectiveness”rejoice the authors of this study based on the analysis of 23,500 advertisements recorded between August 2023 and August 2024. Nationally, 28% of advertisements do not comply with rent controls, compared to 30% in 2023 and 32% in 2022. “This system is progressing in the region, but is stagnating in Paris”they point out, wondering whether the Olympic Games could have “to encourage more landlords to attempt rent increases above the norm”.
In the capital, the first city to regulate rents since mid-2019, 30% of housing offered for rent over the period exceeded the rent ceilings, i.e. five points less than in 2021 but two points more than last year. If the “trends are rather improving” in other cities, “Compliance with the framework is quite uneven”the barometer reads.
Lyon-Villeurbanne now has 29% of non-compliant ads compared to 36% in 2022, Lille 32% compared to 43% in 2022, Bordeaux 26% compared to 37% in 2023 and Montpellier 14% compared to 37% in 2022. Conversely, in Seine-Saint-Denis, there is no progress or even a deterioration in the situation. The Plaine Commune intercommunality now has 44% of non-compliant ads compared to 41% in 2023 and 33% in 2022, and Est-Ensemble 25%, as in 2023, compared to 14% in 2022.
3,000 euros too much rent per year in Paris
Concretely, for tenants, non-compliant monthly rents in Paris exceed the legal ceiling by an average of 251 euros (compared to 237 euros the previous year and 198 euros in 2022), or more than 3,000 euros per year. On a national scale, the excess is less significant, on average at 194 euros per month (compared to 198 euros in 2023), or nearly 2,400 euros per year.
Facing a “rather positive assessment”the Abbé Pierre Foundation is calling for the system to be made permanent and extended to other cities, in addition to Marseille, Grenoble and 24 municipalities in the French Basque Country, including Bayonne and Biarritz, which were recently authorized to apply it. Made possible on an experimental basis by the 2018 ELAN law, rent control is supposed to end in 2026.
Until then, “We hope to have action from the State to enforce the law”insists Manuel Domergue, director of studies at the foundation. “We need communication campaigns, actions on the ground, to raise awareness, even to threaten a little. And then we also need to change the law, perhaps to have more significant financial sanctions. Fear needs to change sides.”he added.
