His hidden vices did not remain so for long. Rent control was implemented on July 15, 2022 in Bordeaux, after other major cities in France such as Paris, Lyon and Lille. Median reference rents, calculated by district according in particular to the location, the size of the dwellings, and their year of construction, should make it possible to control the rise in housing prices.
But, beyond the reference rent increased (by 20% maximum), the owner has the possibility of applying “a supplement of rent”. The problem is that the conditions of this derogation from the regulated rent grid are not regulated at all and give rise to deviations whose extent is difficult to assess, only eight months after the implementation of the measure.
“A studio with terrace at 800 euros”
“I consulted advertisements in which refurbished sanitary facilities or access to the tram justified an additional rent, alert Marina, 47, a Bordeaux tenant worried about the evolution of the market. A studio in our residence (on the right bank of Bordeaux) with a terrace is re-let for 800 euros, because the additional rent is almost 200 euros, whereas it was around 500 euros in controlled rent. “Result: for this example, the price of the property is higher than before the implementation of the rent control, a height…
“We use it [au complément de loyer] really on an exceptional basis and when we are authorized to apply it only, assures Eric Goya, FNAIM real estate agent in Bordeaux. It’s not every day that you have an apartment with an exceptionally clear view, it’s not systematic but on a case-by-case basis. It is our duty to respect the directives”. He specifies that an unobstructed view or a large terrace qualify for the application of a supplement but not a parking space or a garage “which in my opinion is paradoxical”. And the owners have no scale to tell them how much “worth” a remarkable view or a terrace. In this game, some take advantage of it to overvalue their property, encouraged by the absence of controls.
Communities have no control
Stéphane Pfeiffer, Deputy Housing and Town Planning of the city of Bordeaux recognizes it bluntly, the additional rent is the main flaw of this device. “Several metropolises including Bordeaux are preparing a letter to challenge the Ministry of Housing because, beyond knowing how it is fixed, it is not precisely defined in the law. “He believes that this additional rent is “clearly a way to circumvent the framework”. For him, the opponents of this regulatory mechanism guided the drafting of the law. “There was a compromise with the representatives of the owners and the real estate agencies, estimates the elected official. It is a real flaw and if we do not supervise it, it calls into question the system”.
The national system escapes the communities which have no means of control. The tenant has the possibility of seizing the commission of conciliation in the three months following the signature of his lease to dispute this supplement. But this amounts to shifting the burden of this regulation onto tenants, who are very reluctant to enter into conflict with their landlords, especially since the rental market is very tight. As proof, four disputes have reached the office of the departmental conciliation commission for Bordeaux and only a hundred, most of which relate to additional rents, for four years, in the capital.
Stéphane Pfeiffer, recalls that apart from rent control, a landlord does not have complete freedom to increase the rent of his property. Increases (at the time of a first rental or after renovation work) must comply with the rent reference index (IRL). For example, it stands at 3.6% in 2023.
“Already a lot of accommodation at fair prices”
“I have in mind a few cases where we had to lower the amount of rent to stick to the rent control, but it is not the majority, many were already offered at correct prices, notes Eric Goya, our agent real estate. But I also find that some small accommodations are penalized, they were at reasonable prices and their amounts have dropped from 50 to 60 euros. »
The local rent observatory, piloted by A’urba, has not yet submitted its first report after the establishment of the framework. But, from Eric Goya’s point of view, access to housing has not improved in this period of time: “we are still experiencing a shortage of rental offers, and the ceiling does not affect this. »
For Marina, a Bordeaux resident since 1995, disappointment and a feeling of betrayal dominate. The new environmentalist majority had promised to overturn the table in Bordeaux after decades of right-wing rule. The arrival of the LGV had contributed to pushing up prices and tightening the rental market a little more, pushing the most modest to the outskirts of the metropolis. The implementation of the framework, one of the campaign promises of candidate Hurmic (EELV) has dashed his hopes. She finds the ecologists a bit “naive” on a subject that obviously goes beyond local skills. The experimentation of this device continues until 2026 in the Gironde capital.