High Earning Social Housing Tenants May Face Eviction

President Sarkozy has announced that social housing tenants could face being asked to move out of their home if their income is judged to be too high. Tenants who live in HLM (Habitation à Loyer Modéré) properties will face a test of their resources every three years. If the assessment concludes that they can afford to buy their own home, they will be asked to quit the property in order to ‘end this abuse’, says the President. Even where they are allowed to remain, if their income is above an income threshold, they will be required to pay a higher rent.

Those who underoccupy their home will also be ‘asked’ to relocate to a smaller property. The President stated that, ‘I do not want a situation where the poorest are not able to gain access to social housing, because current tenants can remain in occupation all their life, whatever the growth in their income'. He claimed there were around 400,000 households with incomes above the social housing income threshold, a figure disputed by the French federation of social housing associations. They claim the real figure is around 270,000, the large majority of whom exceed the the income threshold by only a small margin. The income threshold for assessment of eligibility for social housing varies by location and household size. For a family of four in Paris the maximum threshold is around €43,000, whilst in the regions it is around €31,000. The President has made the proposals to try and deal with the growing numbers on the social housing waiting list. Around 4.3 million tenants occupy social housing in France, and there are presently 1.5 million households on the waiting list. He has also announced that he wants to see 500,000 homes built a year, and to double the size of the housing renovation programme, commencing with an upgrade to 800,000 homes in the social housing sector. However, the President has stopped short of saying what proportion of this new programme should be social housing homes. Given that during his election campaign he announced that he wanted two-thirds of people to become home-owners, it is to be anticipated that the vast majority will be private sector homes for sale. To give some propulsion to the new build programme, there is to be an extensive sell-off of publicly owned land. Whilst the President has threatened to intervene if local councils do not ensure the provision of sufficient social housing, his former Mayoral bastion near Paris contains only 3% of social housing, one of the lowest in France. During the campaign the new President also promised that 40,000 social housing homes would be sold each year to existing occupiers. However, the sale of social housing homes in deprived areas is subject to the condition that for each home sold, a new home must be built (two in urban areas). The problem for many housing associations is that resources are not always available for the new build condition to be met. Critics have attacked the proposals as likely to lead to the creation of ghettos for the poor, with the increased risk of social disturbances.

At the present time the rents of private sector rental properties can only be increased each year by a sum no greater than a composite price index, which includes the index of the cost of construction. In future, rents will not be able to go up higher than the retail price index. This measure has been introduced because construction costs are rising steeply. Landlords will also not be able to ask for more than one month's rental deposit, instead of the right to presently ask for a two month rental/damage deposit. Although these proposals are tough on landlords, the Government as also introduced a Government backed rental guarantee scheme, which it proposes to extend further. You can read more about letting property in France in our Guide to Letting French Property.