2023-06-28 19:04:11
By a final vote of the Assembly, Parliament definitively approved on Wednesday June 28 the extension of a ceiling on the rise in rents, despite criticism from the left, which advocated a freeze to the end.
“Inflation slowed in May, to 5.1% over one year, (but) we still need to protect and support”insisted in the hemicycle the Minister Delegate for SMEs Olivia Grégoire, supporting the bill of Thomas Cazenave (Renaissance, presidential party).
After two successful passages in the Assembly but as many setbacks in the Senate, it was the lower house which played its role of ultimate arbiter by definitively adopting the text by 137 votes against 34.
Capping until 2024
He renews a ” shield “ which caps the rise in the reference rent index (IRL) at 3.5%. Established in the summer of 2022, it must end on June 30, 2023, which led the presidential camp to legislate urgently.
In a context of sharp price increases and a sluggish housing market, the bill extends the system until the first quarter of 2024. With the hope of” a return “ inflation “below 3.5% in the second quarter”, according to Thomas Cazenave. The ceiling will be set at + 25% overseas, and will be adjustable up to 1.5% in Corsica.
The rapporteur warned against a surge in rents of the order of « 6 % » from July in the event of non-renewal of the measure.
A similar system will cap the increase in the commercial rent index (ILC), for SMEs, until the first quarter of 2024.
Text rejected by the Senate
The Senate had twice rejected the text accusing the government in particular of not taking into account ” global “ of the housing crisis.
On Wednesday the deputies of the LR, RN and Liot groups pointed to the limits of the text, and denounced its forced adoption, but brought their votes. But the deputies on the left defended tooth and nail a freezing or a very strong limitation of the rise in the rent index rather than a ceiling at + 3.5%. According to them, this would act as a green light given to the owners to apply new increases.
The presidential camp and the government have brandished the threat of censorship by the Constitutional Council in the event of a rent freeze, without convincing the left, which has argued that freezes have already been introduced in the past. None of the four left-wing groups voted for the text.
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