Controversial Bill to Increase Rental Indices Sparks Outrage and Opposition

Press release from the LFI-NUPES group

A bill tabled by MP Thomas Cazenave and supported by the Renaissance, Democrat and Horizons groups sets the annual change in rental indices at +3.5% until the first quarter of 2024.

As a reminder, the change in rental indices, IRL for residential leases and ILC for commercial leases, authorizes landlords to increase rents during the lease once a year.

Already, the very badly named “purchasing power” law of July 2022 fixed the variation of the indices at +3.5% until the 1st quarter of 2023 for commercial leases and the 2nd quarter of 2023 for residential leases. This measure was a blow for tenants, leading to a general increase in rents to an unprecedented level. This phenomenon has been combined with the spectacular rise in rental charges caused by soaring energy prices.

By fixing for an additional year the variation of the indices at +3.5%, the bill will allow landlords to apply a new increase. If this bill is adopted, in the space of one year, tenants will see their rent increase by 7.1%!

The Macronie has a good game to explain that this annual variation would be “less worse” than a variation indexed to inflation. Since the inflationary shock, this method of calculating rental indices has become ineffective. It is up to the national representation to assume its political choices!

In this case, the Macronist deputies reveal their priority: to protect the rental income against inflation, to the detriment of the purchasing power of tenants. The rental income is very concentrated in our country: 3.5% of households are multi-owners who own 50% of the rental housing. Raising the IRL so strongly is a trade-off that will undoubtedly favor this wealthy minority to the detriment of tenants.

In commerce, we are also witnessing a similar phenomenon, commercial real estate companies such as Unibail Rodamco, which are not very intensive in terms of employment, are imposing exorbitant rents on stores that are in difficulty. They are rushing the closure of stores and the switch to e-commerce, which has destroyed 85,000 jobs in the country.

Undoubtedly aware of the politically explosive nature of the subject, the macronists tried to pass this bill on the sly. It was tabled on May 23 for examination in committee on the 30th and in session on the 31st, all under a simplified examination procedure which reduces the time for parliamentary debate.

The LFI-Nupes group will exercise its right of opposition to the examination in simplified procedure, as allowed by the regulations of the National Assembly, so that the debate takes place in complete transparency and that the macronists assume the iniquitous nature of their proposal. of law.

The LFI-Nupes Group will propose amendments aimed at freezing or lowering rents. We call on members of all political stripes to be reasonable. Adopting the bill in its initial version would cause a social explosion.