Rent control: Paris City Hall reminds real estate agencies to order

The town hall is asking agencies to make more efforts. More than half of the 710 rent overruns reported since the beginning of the year in Paris concern properties managed by real estate agencies, according to the town hall, which reminded professionals of their "obligations".

"The law provides for obligations imposed on professionals in terms of rent control," recalled housing assistant Ian Brossat in a letter sent on May 10 to nearly 1,000 real estate agencies in the capital.

The communist elected official asks them to "continue", "alongside" the town hall, "to limit abuses as much as possible and to allow a better application of the law on the Parisian territory".

Small surfaces more concerned

The first city to have applied rent control in mid-2019, Paris, joined since then by several municipalities or agglomerations called tense areas, is since January 1 the first city to be able to control this framework, previously a competence of the State.

And according to a report from the town hall in mid-May, 56% of the 710 reports made by tenants concern properties managed by agencies, either as owners or as agents for an individual.

"Agencies are, in principle, supposed to verify that rent controls are respected" and must "play their role of advising landlords," said Ian Brossat. With 51% of studios and 33% of two-room apartments, the reported exceedances unsurprisingly concern "mainly small areas," says the elected official.

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The average overrun is 159 euros per month and the overpayment "often amounts to several thousand euros," adds Anne Hidalgo's deputy.

Up to €15,000 fine

Of the 710 reports, the town hall sent 112 letters giving formal notice to the owners to regularize the lease and pay the overpayment to their tenants.

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In the absence of a response within two months of the formal notice, the town hall may impose a fine of up to 5,000 euros for a natural person and 15,000 for a legal person.

After almost five months of application, "we are beginning to have regularized files," says Ian Brossat, who anticipates the first fines "in June, unless regularized by then."

According to the town hall, about a third of the new leases signed in the capital in 2021 exceeded the ceiling rents, the result of several criteria (empty or furnished, date of construction, number of rooms and neighborhood).