2023-11-30 06:58:01
Totally opaque calculation methods, criteria favoring gas heating rather than electricity, small areas penalized compared to large ones, failure to take into account the specificity of buildings built before 1948 or cob, a absence of prior impact studies on the effects generated, an untenable timetable… Criticism continues to rain down on the energy performance diagnosis (DPE), a system which aims to be virtuous, since it is supposed to help fight against thermal strainers.
“It is the very illustration of what the politics of symbolism can generate negative effects,” underlines Erwann Tison, the director of studies of the Sapiens Institute, which publishes Thursday November 30 a study on the subjectwhose title sums up the tone: Get out of collective madness.
Goods considered to be thermal strainers
Exaggerated? This is undoubtedly not the opinion of the hundreds of thousands of owners, who find themselves with a property considered as a thermal sieve, that is to say classified F or G, the two worst grades of the DPE, without having understood why and sometimes without being able to do much to improve it. Rental restrictions, provided for by the climate and resilience law passed in the summer of 2021, have begun to impose themselves (read the benchmarks).
«Thermal strainers have become a hot issue that could tvery quickly slip into yellow vest mode, with tenants unable to find housing and landlords who will no longer be able to rentetwhose heritage will have lost part of its value», warns Loïc Cantin, president of the National Real Estate Federation (Fnaim). “They risk becoming a black market, with all the possible falsifications: in a context where demand generally exceeds supply, people will be only too happy to find accommodation with a discount,” worries Patrice Petit, of the Orpi real estate agency cooperative.
Lack of information causes DPE to fall
The first criticism of the DPE concerns the “too much fragility of the final diagnosis”, underlines the Sapiens Institute, with supporting examples. A studio, inspected twice by the same diagnostician a few days apart, was rated F then E. Why? Because during the first visit, the year of insulation of the south wall and that of construction of the floor had not been specified. Having become “default values”, they contributed to downgrading the rating.
«Lack of information is often one of the causes of mislabeling. But data is sometimes difficult to find, and invoices for renovation work may have been lost», underlines Jérémy Scherrer, co-founder of GoFlint, an ad platform intended for professionals.
There is also great heterogeneity in the quality of the work provided by the approximately 9,000 diagnosticians, who carry out 300,000 DPE per month, billed on average between €150 and €250. “Some have only received a few days of training and they only have boxes to fill in. They cannot bring their personal expertise», underlines Erwann Tison, emphasizing “the opacity of the algorithm”, which is not public. It is therefore impossible to know the weighting given between the different evaluation items.
Gas is rated better than electricity
This is not the only quirk of the DPE. The most surprising is the calculation of energy consumption, which results in a gas boiler being better valued in the rating than electric heating, even though the aim of the public authorities is to reduce CO2 emissions. .
The explanation lies in what specialists call the “conversion coefficient”, which measures the amount of energy consumed. “It imposes a penalty on electricity which leads to a multiplication by 2.3 of the real consumption of the home”, underlines a bill tabled in October by several senators while electricity in France is 87% carbon-free. It includes only one article: the removal of this coefficient.
“It does not have the rigor necessary for what it is intended for”
How did we get to this point? «Created in 2006, the DPE was originally a simple information document for comparing propertiesexplains Henry Buzy-Cazaux, president of the Institute of Real Estate Services Management and member of the National Housing Council (CNH). But it does not have the rigor necessary for what it is intended for today. It’s like using a routine medical visit as a thorough examination before an operation. » And to regret the administration’s stubbornness in not recognizing the problems.
In a report which has just been submitted to the Minister for Housing, Patrice Vergriete, the CNH – which includes associations of people in situations of exclusion through housing (Uniopss, ATD Fourth World, Right to Housing) – calls for bring technical fixes to the DPE as quickly as possible, including “reliability” is judged “relatively weak”. It thus reminds us that small dwellings «are penalized to the extent that consumption is reduced per m2 of surface area”, forgetting the realities of use.
In short, that housing «fasse 9 m2 or 30 m2», there is a minimum consumption threshold (hot water, heating, electricity consumption) which is not currently taken into account. Message received by the government, which is currently working on the subject.
More and more thermal strainers on sale
“The DPE has become a political totem that no one wants to change. As a result, we risk increasing the number of exceptions, without providing a response to the necessary energy renovation of housing. judge Yann Jéhanno, president of Laforêt Immobilier. Like most of his colleagues, he believes “untenable” the set timetable.
«In co-ownerships, it sometimes takes three years, at best, between the decision to carry out the work and the end of the project. recalls Olivier Descamps, the general director of the IAD network of real estate agents. At least, when an agreement has been reached between the co-owners, which is not obvious.
“An owner of a small, north-facing space can find themselves stuck with a bad rating, after insulating their walls and changing their windows,” notes Pierre-Emmanuel Jus, deputy director of Maslow, a rental investment platform. The Union of Real Estate Unions has filed an appeal before the Council of State which could give rise to a priority question of constitutionality (QPC).
In the meantime, the consequences are already being felt on the market: some owners are getting rid of their thermal strainers. In the second quarter of 2023, housing labeled F and G represented 18% of transactions in old properties compared to 11% a year earlier, according to notaries. “Also a good way to buy less expensively”, underlines Alexandre Fitussi, co-founder of Beanstock, a site which specializes in this type of transactions. Discounts average 5 to 10%.
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Rental rules for accommodation classified F and G
Since August 24, 2022, it is prohibited to increase the rent of housing classified F and G, when renewing the lease or re-renting.
Since January 1 2023, 90,000 housing units classified G+ (the most energy-consuming) can no longer be rented.
In 2025, the withdrawal from the rental market will concern all housing classified G, or 9% of the stock.
In 2028, it will be the turn of the 3.2 million goods labeled F. Or a total of 17% of the park.
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