In Paris, 35% of rental properties advertised prices higher than the legal limit

Rental properties in Paris do not respect the rent control, according to a study by the City of Paris and the Abbé Pierre foundation.   The most significant overruns are observed in some of the richest arrondissements (1st, 7th, 9th, 16th) according to a study.   Some 35% of rental ads in Paris exceed the legal ceiling, according to a study by the City of Paris and the Abbé-Pierre Foundation made public on Monday, November 29.

This “first barometer on the application of rent control” is based on the analysis of 15,000 advertisements, recorded between August 2020 and August 2021.   This rate is “stable over the period studied” and corresponds to other estimates by professionals in the sector.

Significant overruns

The study specifies that an advertisement which exceeds the authorized ceiling is not necessarily “illegal”, due to a possible difference with the lease actually signed, or the particular characteristics of the accommodation.

Rent control is back in Paris

Ads above the ceilings “offer an average rent excluding charges of 1,229€ per month, which includes an average overrun of the rent ceilings of 196 euros per month”, i.e. an “annual drain of nearly 2,400 euros per year for the tenants who suffer them”.

“The most significant overruns are observed in the richest arrondissements (1st, 7th, 9th, 16th), while the lower overruns are due to the 14th, 19th and 20th arrondissements”, adds the document.

An imbalance between supply and demand

Rent control prohibits landlords from asking tenants for more than a given amount, which varies by neighborhood depending on the state of the market. It applies in areas with more than 50,000 inhabitants “where there is a marked imbalance between supply and demand for housing”.

Julien Denormandie on rent control: “If it works, we will go further.”

Provided for by the Elan law of 2018, the rent cap only concerned Paris and Lille until June 1. It was extended on this date to nine cities of Seine-Saint-Denis in the Paris suburbs, and at the beginning of September to the metropolises of Bordeaux, Montpellier and Lyon.

With the examination of the “3DS” bill at the beginning of December, the town hall of Paris pleads for a “precise and documented logic of exception (of overtaking)” via “a precise list of characteristics giving the possibility to an owner to apply additional rent.”

PCF housing assistant Ian Brossat also wants “the possibility of doubling the ceiling on fines” so that they are “really dissuasive for owners”.

Source:  L’Obs with AFP