four questions on the change in calculation of the energy performance diagnosis for small areas

A modification of the DPE will allow around 140,000 housing units of less than 40 m² to move out of categories F and G, the government announced.

Christophe Béchu promises a “shock of housing simplification”. The Minister of Ecological Transition announced, Monday February 12 in the columns of Parisian, a revision of the calculation of the energy performance diagnosis (DPE) for small-area housing. A measure which aims to remove these homes from the category of thermal sieves.

How many homes are affected? Why did the government make this decision? We explain to you what this measure will change, which is not unanimous among stakeholders in the housing sector.

1 Which accommodations are affected by this announcement?

The DPE classifies accommodation from A to G based on their energy consumption and their impact on the climate. “More than 27% of very small goods” are “considered as sieves” energy and are labeled F or G, says the Minister of Ecological Transition. A classification “ which does not reflect reality”, according to him.

To respond to this, Christophe Béchu announced the upcoming publication of a decree modifying the calculation of the DPE. It will allow 140,000 homes of less than 40 m² to move out “from the category of energy strainers”. These accommodations will therefore no longer be subject to the rental ban which will apply from January 1, 2025 to all properties classified G, and from January 1, 2028 to those accompanied by an E. As a reminder, accommodation the most energy-intensive (G+), have already been affected by this ban since January 1, 2023.

For housing that has a DPE already established, the DPE-Audit observatory of the Ecological Transition Agency put a simulator online on Tuesday morning in order to find out if a property is affected by the change in calculation. It allows you to check the energy class of the accommodation and “to obtain a certificate equivalent to a new label in the event of a changeover”explained Christophe Béchu.

2 How does the government justify this decision?

The Minister of Ecological Transition judges that small areas are penalized by “a calculation bias” of the DPE. “We realized that the smaller the surface area of ​​a home, the greater the proportion of domestic hot water,” which depends, among other things, on the size of the balloon, “pese on its classification, without any real link with the number of occupants”, affirms Christophe Béchu. A weighting coefficient on hot water production will therefore be introduced.

In a context of housing crisis, this measure aims to create “a shock of offers to help unblock the situation on the rental supply market”, pleaded the Minister of Housing on RTL on Monday. “OWe will work in the coming weeks and months to simplify things as much as possible.”commits Guillaume Kasbarian.

3 Will the rental ban on all G-rated accommodation from January 1, 2025 be postponed?

No. The executive assures that it does not wish “touch[r] not to the calendar and the ambition.” “But we are going to clarify certain rules which apply on January 1st” on the ban on the rental of energy strainers, adds the Minister of Ecological Transition.

The government will table a series of amendments to the co-ownership bill, examined in the Senate at the end of February. They will specify that “the need to have carried out work to re-rent a G-class thermal strainer will only apply at the time of renewal of the lease, either by tacit renewal, or upon change of tenant”announced Christophe Béchu.

So, “hasno tenant will be forcibly removed from their accommodation because they are a sieve”, promises the minister. In the event of tacit renewal of the lease, “the refusal by a tenant to move from G-rated accommodation during its renovation” will constitute “a work exemption clause for the owner”. This flexibility will also apply to “co-owners who voted for work, but who did not have time to do it”, adds Guillaume Kasbarian. In this situation, the The ban on renting will be suspended for two years from the date of the vote at the general meeting.

4 How are players in the sector reacting?

The establishment of a weighted DPE for small areas was a request from the Chamber of Real Estate Diagnosticians and the Interprofessional Federation of Real Estate Diagnostics. In a joint press release with the Interprofessional Real Estate Diagnostic Union, the three organizations “congratulate” of this decision. “The ax of the rental bans is at least a year away, which will allow these essential operations to take place in a more realistic time frame”they write.

“This modification will allow apartments to be rented again”for his part greeted the president of the French Building Federation, Olivier Salleron, to AFP. “This is beneficial even if the government could have modified the calculation of the DPE for homes heated with electricity, penalized compared to gas”, adds the president of the National Real Estate Federation, Loïc Cantin. Such a modification is also desired by the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, but government arbitration on this subject has not yet been finalized.

On the association side, the reactions are the opposite. On franceinfo, the president of the The National Housing Confederation, the first association of HLM tenants, sees this “ a sleight of hand” and one “great gift to give to the owners” Who “will not solve the problems of housing quality”. “Given the current situation on the rental market”, The Droit au logement association also anticipates the difficulties for tenants in finding an additional housing solution during the duration of the renovation work.

“We are only postponing the desire to better insulate buildings, while preserving profitability for landlords.”

Jean-Baptiste Eyraud, spokesperson for the Right to Housing association

at franceinfo

“It will be necessary to check that the time given to the owners is not a loophole for not carrying out work”insists the director of studies of the Abbé Pierre Foundation. “What is normal is to make adjustments after consultation, what is worrying is to make them over time on the sly in the press, and that this could give the impression to donors that ‘they will get by without doing any work’warns Manuel Domergue with AFP.