A landlord will not be able to request a rent increase beyond 3.5%. Otherwise, it will be illegal. Each year, rents can be increased by following the benchmark rent index, which is calculated according to inflation. And with inflation which, on average, should reach 5.5% this year, an owner could normally have asked for an increase in these proportions. Except that the government puts a ceiling for one year at 3.5%. He calls it “the rent shield” And he is inspired, for example, by Spain, which has introduced a temporary limit on rents of 2%. The idea is therefore to protect the tenants.
The owners, themselves, will lose a little. But this 3.5% cap is presented by the government as “a balanced solution”, because a few weeks ago, a pure and simple freeze on rents had been mentioned. The landlords could not have increased the rents at all. They quickly stepped up and Elisabeth Borne then recognized that a gel was a “false good idea” because for some small owners, a retiree for example, rent represents a significant additional income. With this rent shield at 3.5%, the government says it has opted for a happy medium. Knowing, however, that he has not planned to compensate the owners for the losses and that the tenants will still assume an increase
This measure must be included in the “purchasing power” law that the government hopes to be able to pass quickly from July. It aims for an application at the start of the school year, probably in mid-October. rent is the first item of household expenditure, it is often more than a third of the budget.
To also help tenants, the government is also planning a revaluation of APL (personalized housing assistance), from July 1 to 3.5%. There remains an important step: for them to apply, these measures must be voted on by the National Assembly. However, it is not won: the Nupes or the National Rally could estimate that it is not enough and that the government must go further, to completely compensate for inflation, that is to say at 5.5% .