2023-10-19 09:24:34
«The owners are no longer just disillusioned, they are downright angry!» In office for less than a month, the new president of the National Union of Real Estate Owners (UNPI), Sylvain Grataloup, has already had his first rant. Between the capping of rent increases (at +3.5%), the ban on renting energy-intensive housing (classified F or G on the Energy Performance Diagnostic) and the explosion in property taxes (+9.3% in 2023, on average, for the 200 largest cities), the frustration of property owners has undoubtedly reached its peak. “They have the feeling that they are paying for everyone because they are considered to be well off when most are not rich and property is a social tool, underlines Sylvain Grataloup. But the government didn’t understand that! Which means that its housing policy is non-existent.»
The surge in property tax, which you can pay until October 21 if you have opted for online payment, crystallizes all the tensions. Its increase was not limited unlike that of rents. “By refusing to cap the increase in property taxes, the government has chosen its side: the interest of local authorities rather than owners who accommodate tenants“, denounces Frédéric Zumbiehl, a lawyer at the UNPI.
“Tax fairness problem”
To remedy this, the UNPI proposes to charge part of the property tax to tenants who do not currently pay it, in the event that the owner does not occupy their accommodation. An idea that is difficult to implement but which would solve a “tax fairness problem». «We have nothing against tenants but it does not seem shocking to me that they pay part of a tax on a property they occupy and which is used to finance public services from which they benefit.», analyzes Sylvain Grataloup. For Maître Jean-Pascal Michaud, this idea “legally holds water» car «we cannot burden a single category of population with the financing of public services which benefit others, according to the principle of equality of citizens with regard to taxes.»
On the other hand, it comes up against two limits. “On the one hand, a law is needed and on the other hand, MPs should be reluctant to adopt this measure if their voters are mostly tenants», Adds this tax lawyer who made headlines by suing Anne Hidalgo who did not keep her promise not to increase the property tax. Contacted by Le Figarothe Ministry of Finance did not wish to make comments and the Association of Mayors of France, whose members partly decide on the evolution of the property tax, did not respond to our request.
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