Pursuant to Article 18 of the Law of 6 July 1989 aimed at improving landlord-tenant relations and amending Law No. 86-1290 of 23 December 1986, as amended by the Alur Law, in areas of continuous urbanization with more than 50,000 inhabitants where there is a marked imbalance between the supply and demand for housing, leading to serious difficulties in accessing housing across the entire residential stock, a decree sets annually the maximum amount of rent increases for vacant housing and renewed contracts.
Decree No. 2015-931 of July 29, 2015, concerning the adjustment of certain rents for new leases or lease renewals, issued pursuant to Article 18 of Law No. 89-462 of July 6, 1989, applies to contracts concluded between August 1, 2015, and July 31, 2016. According to this decree, when a vacant dwelling is re-let , the rent for the new lease cannot exceed the last rent charged to the previous tenant.
However, if no rent increase has occurred during the twelve months preceding the conclusion of the new lease, the rent charged to the new tenant cannot exceed the last rent charged to the previous tenant, adjusted according to the variation in the rent reference index.
The decree provides for several exceptions when the owner has carried out improvement work on the property, when the previous rent was clearly undervalued and when the prefect has set a reference rent by order.
