Sanctions against slum owners, unsanitary conditions… Assembly passes bill against degraded housing

The National Assembly passed without incident on Tuesday, in its first reading, a consensus bill against “degraded housing”, providing new tools to combat “slumlords” and support co-owners in difficulty.

The Senate will now be able to consider this text, which was debated for two days without a minister solely responsible for housing, due to a lack of appropriations at this stage of this portfolio in the new government. The situation is regrettable to the opposition, which also regrets that the bill deals only with a limited aspect of the housing issue in a crisis situation in the sector.

However, the text was adopted by 126 votes to one, with the support of the presidential majority and opposition groups, with the exception of LFI and RN, which abstained.

Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Bechoux welcomed the adoption of the text of “concrete decisions”, stressing that “in France there are 1.5 million houses that are fragile.”

Helping co-owners in difficult situations

To facilitate the work before irreversible deterioration, the bill allows the creation of a collective global credit facility for co-owners to access credit. In introducing the amendment, the government added a “public guarantee” for joint owners experiencing serious financial difficulties.

The text also provides for a new expropriation procedure for owners of hazardous or unsanitary housing before the situation requires demolition.

MPs voted on Tuesday to strengthen criminal sanctions against “sleep traders” who exploit vulnerable people by renting them substandard accommodation.

The Communist Amendment added as an additional penalty the inability for these landlords to purchase property other than their primary residence for up to 15 years. Criminal sanctions have also been adopted in relation to renting without a written tenancy agreement.

A new duty has been introduced for equity managers to inform building co-owners and occupants of current procedures in relation to substandard housing.

The battle for the minimum ceiling height

Despite a debate that was often by consensus, MPs on Tuesday rejected a nearly rejected amendment to the LFI that called for the “restoration of the minimum ceiling height requirement” of at least 2.2m for housing, finding the recent decree had become ” gift “Slumlords”, allowing a height of 1.80 m.

“This law will allow us to move forward,” said communist Stephane Peu, “but the main measure will be to respond to the housing shortage crisis.” It is a “welcome” text, but it “does not represent housing policy,” added environmentalist Julien Baillou.

Insumis Hendrik Dovey, whose group abstained to highlight a “lack of ambition”, concluded that there was a need for “a large public housing service that builds 200,000 homes a year”. RN also abstained given the bill’s “serious shortcomings,” accusing it, in particular, of “lack of attention to co-owners facing increased fees.”