The outlaw owners, we don’t take them! While some agencies promise to leave no room for abuse, the rental reality is more complex. Paris report.
The outlaw owners, we don’t take them !. Bertrand Pallatin, director of a Guy-Hoquet real estate agency in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, assures him: since the entry into force of the law which caps the price of rentals in the capital, he refuses to take over the management of free riders. . But others have less scruples, especially when it comes to rentals between individuals.
In total, 26% of Parisian rents remained in excess in 2020 despite the law reintroduced in 2019, underlined the Observatory of rents of the Parisian agglomeration (Olap) in a note published in mid-December.
Marked imbalance between housing supply and demand
The principle of rent control was introduced in several large cities in France to fight against abuses that made finding housing very difficult for the most constrained budgets. The measure imposes a ceiling on homeowners that varies by neighborhood, and applies where there is a marked imbalance between housing supply and demand.
For Yves, owner of three apartments with ceiling rents in the capital, this law was absolutely necessary. The Paris housing situation is lamentable.
But it did not really facilitate the search for a Parisian apartment for Marguerite, 26 years old and on a permanent contract. There are still many owners who do not respect the law, she sighs between two visits. Today, the tendency in some advertisements is even to no longer indicate the price. Owners complained of receiving comments on the high amounts of rents offered, she said to AFP.
Some people give up renting altogether, like this owner whose property has been empty for four months and who said AFP preferred to keep it vacant rather than reducing his rent by 30%. Others admit to making arrangements with the law. How to get around the rent regulation ?: A simple internet search provides a lot of advice on how to get around. An owner explains having thus found a trick, he specifies rent official accommodation or secondary residence, in its advertisement on a private individuals website, a mention which allows its property in the south-west of Paris to escape the ceiling.
Since 2019, 10 fines in Ile-de-France
Many real estate agencies ensure to block the clever. At La Fort, rue d’Auteuil Paris, an advisor explains: We expose the risks incurred by those who are above the reference rents. Either they decline or they persist. When this is the case, it must be justified by a rare service such as a balcony or a garden, otherwise the agency refuses the file. In the end, she estimates that around 5% of assets under management are a little more expensive than they should be.
Has the law succeeded in lowering prices where they were too high? According to real estate professionals, it allows a certain regulation of the market. In its note, Olap also points to an undeniable moderating effect (…), although moderate. But on the side of sanctions, the results are not necessarily conclusive: they are rarely applied, regret several real estate agents questioned by AFP.
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Since 2019, 10 administrative fines have been issued by the prefecture of Ile-de-France, seized of 98 cases, indicated mid-December Mickal Nogal, co-rapporteur of the decentralization bill known as 3DS.
The deputies gave the local authorities the possibility of sanctioning themselves the lessors who ignore the rent control, a provision that the elected Parisians demanded in particular.
For Marguerite, settled in Paris for several years, it’s a discovery. I’ve never heard of sanctions, including when you’re already in the accommodation, says the young woman, who regrets the lack of communication on this subject. According to Bertrand Pallatin, between those who are not even aware of the measure and those who have pledged to find accommodation, it is very rare for a tenant to initiate a procedure.
Provided for by the Elan law of 2018, the ceiling on rents only concerned Paris and Lille until June 1, 2021. Nine towns in Seine-Saint-Denis, north of Paris, grouped together in the public establishment Plaine Commune were extended on this date. Since November 1, Lyon has joined the system, and Bordeaux and Montpellier must do the same in 2022.
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