INVESTIGATION
What assessment for the supervision of rents in Paris? It has been exactly one year since the measure came into force, but given the figures, it is far from being a total success. More than half of the rental ads are still too expensive compared to what the law provides! An additional cost, on average, of 130 euros per month, or almost 1,500 euros per year. However, very few tenants manage to assert their rights.
"There are three of us and we pay 3,000 euros per month, while the amount supervised should be around 2,300 euros." Each month, Félix and his roommates pay 700 euros too much for their apartment of a hundred square meters in Paris, if we refer to the ceiling. In total, 53% of the ads are still above what the law provides. Smaller dwellings are the most affected by this excess: 80% of the advertisements of goods of less than 20m² are non-compliant.
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Lack of controls
The rent control was only effective for the first six months, according to the study conducted by Thomas Lefebvre, of the agency Best Agents. The rise in rents slowed by 2.6% in the second quarter of 2019, but between January and May 2020, it started to rise again by 1.6%. "After January, the absence of controls allowed the owners to fix rents beyond the limits", points Thomas Lefebvre.
No controls indeed, because one cannot condemn an owner for a simple advertisement with the too high price, explains the ministry for Housing. A lease must be signed for the offense to become real. And then it is up to the tenant to report this excessive rent on an online platform. Except that almost no one knows her: only 76 reports were made in 2019.
In one year, only ten cases resulted in a lowering of rent
Among these reports, 51 files were judged admissible, of which 41 are still in the process. Only ten therefore resulted in lower rent. Above all, these are endless procedures, as Félix explains. "The procedure is long. You have to be able to continue paying the rent until the court decision. In our case, it's been going on for about six months."
For associations, however, it is necessary to publicize this reporting platform on the Internet: "Reference Loyer Île-de-France".