Established by the law on purchasing power of August 16, 2022, the rent shield is a ceiling provided to temporarily limit the increase in the rent reference index (IRL) to 3.5%. Initially planned until the 2nd quarter of 2023, the system was extended until the 1st quarter of 2024, i.e. March 31. But pleasant surprise, your rent should not be impacted immediately.
Protected tenants, but until when? As a reminder, the law of August 16, 2022 relating to emergency measures for the protection of purchasing power introduced the rent shield, a temporary and exceptional cap on the variation of the rent reference index (IRL) for the indices from the 3rd quarter of 2022 to the last quarter of 2023, before the law of July 7, 2023 extend the system to the first quarter of 2024. Concerning the revisions of the IRL between October 2022 and April 2024, the increase is thus capped at 3.5% in mainland France2% in Corsica and 2.5% in Overseas, recalls the site service-public.fr.
However, according to the calculations of Boursier.comwithout rent shield, the increase in the next IRL should be +4.10% or +4.20% on the basis of inflation which would continue to fall below 3% in February and March (the average over 10 months of April 2023 January 2024 is 4.4%).
Tenants finally protected until mid-July
But then, will rents soar in April 2024? For David Rodrigues, legal manager at Consommation Logement et Cadre de Vie (CLCV), the answer is no: The law of July 7, 2023 modifies article 12 of the law of August 16, 2022 with the following terms: For the setting of indices reference rent index between the third quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2024, the year-on-year variation of the rent reference index cannot exceed 3.5%. Which therefore means that the IRL for the 1st quarter of 2024, which will be published in mid-April, will not exceed 3.5%. The next index, published in mid-July, will however no longer be affected by the rent shield.
The end of the rent shield does not, however, authorize a landlord to increase the rent as he sees fit. The latter can increase the rent once a year, on the anniversary date of the lease or a date agreed between the owner and the tenant, and this possibility must be mentioned in the contract.
This revision cannot exceed the variation in the rent reference index published by INSEE each quarter and which corresponds to the average, over the last 12 months, of the evolution of consumer prices excluding tobacco and excluding rent.
For tenants who see their rent revised from April until the publication in mid-July of the IRL of the second quarter of 2024, nothing changes. Because the calculation formula for the revision of a rent is as follows: Amount of the rent excluding charges x Index in force at the time of the revision / Index in force the previous year for the same period. For the next three months, it is therefore the IRL of the 1st quarter of 2024, blocked at 3.5%, which will be used.
After that? According to the site Droit-finances.net, which cites an economic, social and financial report from the General Directorate of the Treasury, annual average inflation should show a clear drop in 2024 due to the expected slowdown in the prices of food and manufactured goods. The report therefore forecasts inflation of +2.6% for the coming year. Which would mean an IRL for July below 3.5%. Another good news for tenants.
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