INFORMATION EUROPE 1 – In Paris, one in two advertisements does not respect the rent regulations

Is the rent control useful for anything? Two years after its entry into force in Paris, one in two rental advertisements does not comply with the law, according to a study by the Meilleur Agents website that unveils to you exclusively on Tuesday. According to this survey, the smaller the surface, the less the rent is in order: among the apartments of less than 20m2, three quarters of the advertisements are illegal. That is, the price is above the benchmark. However, these homes are targeted by students and the most modest tenants, precisely those that the device was intended to protect.

For Thomas Lefebvre, scientific director of Meilleur Agents, the law is not restrictive enough. “There is no rent policy. We are making the application of this law to tenants, but it is obvious that tenants absolutely do not want to come into conflict with their landlord,” he points out to. “Today there are a lot of criteria which affect rents and which are not taken into account by the management, and quite quickly the owners no longer join the gangs.”

Offers that cannot be sanctioned

And on ad sites, abusive offers are increasing. For Corinne Jolly, president of the rental site PAP.fr, it is not up to them to sort it out. “We are not authorized to tell an individual that his advertisement does not deserve to exceed the ceiling of the rent control”, she explains. “We did a lot of awareness. It’s the only role we can play.”

In 2020 in Paris, 102 files were sent to the prefecture. But only nine fines have been imposed, all below 1,500 euros, while the penalties can go up to 5,000 euros. The mayor of Paris speaks of a lack of zeal and says it is ready to recover the power of sanction.