RosieEllis, auteur/autrice sur Maison Bretagne

The Facts

The countdown began on 1 January 2023 for a gradual ban on letting the most energy-intensive homes. Find out if your property is affected.

It’s a rule that will completely reshuffle the cards in the property rental market. From now on, the law will require properties let to comply with increasingly stringent minimum energy performance levels. If they don’t, they won’t be considered ‘decent’, and be banned from the rental market until they are deemed sufficiently energy efficient to be reconsidered.

If you are a landlord, your property may already be affected. G-rated properties with annual energy consumption (heating, lighting, hot water, ventilation, etc.) of more than 450 kilowatt hours (KWh) per square metre may no longer be re-let from 1 January 2023. To find out if this is the case for your property, simply consult your Energy Performance Diagnostic (DPE). You’ll find the final energy consumption of your property (expressed in kWh/year), which you need to divide by the number of m². If the figure you find exceeds 450 kWh, you should know that your property is no longer considered “decent” in the eyes of the law and is therefore not allowed to be let.

Two people sitting on a sofa, wearing there coats as they are cold.

Renters in cold property with an inadequate heating system

The Progressive Ban

It should be noted that this ban does not apply to current leases signed before 1 January 2023. However, it will apply when they are renewed. In practical terms, if you signed a three-year lease on 1 July 2020 and your property consumes more than 450 KWh of energy per square metre per year, you will no longer be able to rent it out after the end of the contract on 1 July 2023, even if the tenant wishes to renew the lease.

As a result of these new stringent laws, the number of rental properties excluded from the market will continue to rise over the next ten years. Now is the time to take stock of your property and consider any work that may be required. To find out the “green value” of your property, refer to the energy performance diagnosis, which assesses its energy consumption and its impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. This document also classifies homes by decreasing level of performance, with labels from A to G. At the bottom end of the scale, G-rated homes are those that consume the most energy and/or emit the most greenhouse gases.

See the video on our YouTube page for more information about the DPE, Diagnostique de Performance Enérgétique of your property.

The bans will take affect as follows:

From 1 January 2025, your home will have to achieve at least class F on the DPE in order to be rented out.

From 1 January 2028, your home will have to achieve at least ECD class E

From 1 January 2034, it must achieve at least ECD class D.

Please note: if you decide to let a property that is not “decent”, your tenant has the right to apply to a judge to force you to carry out energy-efficiency renovations and reduce or even suspend the rent.

Contact Maison Bretagne now for a free assessment and quote of works if you think your property’s energy efficiency requirements need to be improved to allow you to continue to let it out.

Explored wall with an armchair in the middle of it

A Dilapidated, energy intensive French house