As in Lyon and Montpellier, the Chamber of Landlords of the Gironde (UNPI33) lodged an appeal with the Council of State to request the annulment of the decree authorizing Bordeaux to experiment with rent control. This plans to set a median rent per sector with a maximum authorized overrun of 20%, from the second half of 2022. If the objective of the law is to limit possible abuses on the amount of rents, in a context where the requests are more numerous than the offers, the room of the owners (UNPI) of the Gironde sees it a useless measure, considering that safeguards already exist.
How will this framework be implemented?
In the light of the data provided by the rent observatory of l’A’Urba, sectors will be established with corresponding median rents, they will have to be validated by the prefect before coming into force. The experiment will be implemented in all the districts at the same time, but the city has high expectations for the historic center, Saint Michel and southern Bordeaux. “The goal is to stop the increase, but the impact on lower rents is longer term because the framework applies to rentals and not to current rentals,” says Stéphane Pfeiffer, deputy mayor in charge of the service. public housing and habitat in Bordeaux, so we will have to wait until there are enough people who change housing for there to be a real impact ”. According to the president of the UNPI, taking into account in particular the system of rent supplements for exceptional characteristics (view, equipment, etc.), there will be “less than 5% of housing that will be affected”.
Are the rents too high?
“Fable”, “myth”, “fantasy”, the president of the UNPI 33-24 Denis Jacques is not stingy in synonyms to show that the high prices of rents in Bordeaux are a figment of the mind. He explains that the studies carried out on the basis of the advertisements published are biased because 90% of rentals are contracted without an advertisement being broadcast but by word of mouth. Only the most expensive would sometimes stay several days on the windows of the agencies, distorting the image of the market.
The latest figures from the observatory of available rents date back to 2019 and the average rent per m² is established at 11 euros / m² and the average rent at 655 euros excluding charges. While rent levels are comparable in Bordeaux and Lyon, they are higher in the Gironde capital than in Nantes and Toulouse, but lower than in Montpellier and of course Paris. “We are in a difficult situation in Bordeaux to find housing, in terms of rent and the quantity of available housing,” said the deputy mayor. And all the locals tell us. “
To bring water to its mill, the UNPI speaks of a very low median rent change in Bordeaux between 2015 and 2019 (+ 0.9%), based on figures from the observatory. “We cannot talk about the evolution of rents statistically at this stage, we would have to monitor the same homes, with a representative panel that we would follow from one year to the next,” retorts the scientific director of the ‘observatory. We can observe the rent levels but we are not able to speak of evolution. “
Regulations deemed sufficient
For tense areas, including the Bordeaux conurbation, there are regulations that prohibit landlords from increasing rents faster than the benchmark, including when tenants change. “It is a tool to avoid high inflation in rents, this has already existed since 2013 in all areas of stress,” recalls Nathanaël Fournier, scientific director of the rent observatory. The rent control aims to prevent owners from taking advantage of a strong imbalance between supply and demand to set very high rent levels that would be outside the framework of the market. “
For Nicolas Lanteri, real estate agent and vice-president of UNPI, the notice of only one month for tenants in tense areas also invites owners to “stick to the market” in order to avoid any “rental vacancy”. A kind of self-regulation of owners is therefore already at work. “When we place an advertisement, we have 40 to 50 responses within 24 hours,” says the president of UNPI, owner and lessor. The rental tension arises from the lack of housing, not from the fact that they are too expensive. “He believes that this framework goes in the direction of an increase in disputes between tenants and owners, denouncing in the background a desire to control prices which would lead to” sclerosis of economic activity “.
“We are in a logic of defending the general interest: we want to help the people of Bordeaux to find accommodation, concludes Stéphane Pfeiffer. The UNPI is not in this logic, and tries to defend its private interests. “