Since January 1, it is forbidden to sign a rental lease for housing with an annual energy consumption of more than 450 kWh per m2 of living space. This threshold corresponds to the worst rated part of homes labeled G by the energy performance diagnosis (DPE).
Of the 5.2 million thermal colanders estimated in France (classified F and G), these are the worst, now considered “indecent” for hire. About 140,000 currently rented housing units would be affected, including 50,000 belonging to social housing. It should be noted, however, that the measure only applies to new contracts and excludes current leases, as well as property intended for tourist rental.
A very tight schedule
This is not the first coercive measure taken against thermal sieves, which still represent 17% of the building stock and which the climate and resilience law of August 2021 intends to eradicate by 2028. Since August 2022 , landlords of housing labeled F or G can no longer increase their rent when signing a new or renewing lease.
Further deadlines are planned. In April 2023, an energy audit, listing all the work to be carried out, must be attached to the sales agreement for classes F and G. In 2025, all class G (800,000 rented properties) will be prohibited from rental, then in 2028 it will be the turn of class F (1.2 million rentals) and in 2034 the whole of class E (2.8 million).
Even Haussmannian buildings are concerned
These goods qualified as indecent are not necessarily all unhealthy, as one might think. “If you are on the top floor of an old building, even of the Haussmann type, with collective gas or oil heating and single glazing, there is a high probability that your accommodation will be classified F or G”, emphasizes Étienne Duhot, project manager at Hellio, an energy management consulting company.
The situation is particularly worrying in Île-de-France. “Without energy renovation work, nearly one in two Ile-de-France housing units could soon be banned from renting”, warns a note produced by Insee and the Paris Region Institute, published in October. In intramural Paris, this affects two thirds of the private rental stock. But most cities are concerned, as well as rural departments where homes were built before 1974, the date of the first thermal regulations.
More and more energy-intensive homes are for sale
These prospects worry professionals, while many households are already struggling to find housing at affordable prices and in the most sought-after areas, where supply is lower than demand.
“A third of the landlords we interviewed do not intend to do any work, mainly because they cannot afford it: 30% of landlords do not pay income tax”, underlines Loïc Cantin, the new president of the National Federation of Real Estate (Fnaim). According to him, it takes €30,000 on average for an overall renovation, while the aid only represents a few thousand euros.
Some owners have already put their homes back on the market. “We are seeing a notable increase in F and G rated properties in total transactions,” explained Frédéric Violeau, in charge of national real estate statistics within the High Council of Notaries (CSN), in December, during the presentation of the market for the past year.
In the third quarter of 2022, G-rated homes accounted for 7% of transactions, compared to 3% a year earlier. For F goods, this share went from 8% to 10%.
The calculation of the DPE remains problematic
This new regulation is particularly problematic for condominiums. “Doing work does not guarantee earning an ECD class, if part of the necessary improvements depend on the building, such as changing the heating system or external insulation. This is the whole problem of the current regulations which only reason in individual housings for rent “says Éric Allouche, executive director of the ERA Immobilier network.
The calendar imposed by law is untenable, adds the boss of Fnaim. “Between the vote for the works and their completion, it takes at least three or four years, provided the companies are found”, he recalls.
Added to this are the methods of calculating the DPEs imposed on the diagnosticians, which are still not unanimous, despite several overhauls after multiple scrambles. “With the same characteristics of the building, the estimate of energy consumption is worse for a small dwelling than for a larger one”, regrets Danielle Dubrac, the president of the Union of real estate unions (United). She has just sent a letter to the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, asking her to organize an emergency meeting.