It is a little-known mechanism, yet many may be confronted with it: in certain French cities, rents can exceed the officially set ceilings.
For more than 20 years, rent prices have continued to increase in France. On average, French people pay around 30% more today than in 2005, according to the rent reference index published each year by INSEE. The fault is inflation of course, but also the increasingly tight housing supply in certain municipalities. This is why the government has implemented rent control, which currently concerns more than 70 cities throughout France. On paper, this is good news for tenants: landlords cannot freely set the amount of rent, because it must fall within a range established by prefectural decree. This means that there is a ceiling amount, which the law prohibits from exceeding. And yet… it’s still possible.
In these “tense areas”, owners or real estate agencies can apply a rent supplement, which is added to the increased rent determined by the prefect. The accommodation must, however, meet certain “exceptional characteristics”, such as an unobstructed view of a historic monument, or simply calm and brightness, if they result from the configuration of the property and not just from its geographical position (already taken into account in the reference rent). This was confirmed by the Court of Cassation in two judgments handed down at the end of 2025, ruling in favor of the lessors after their tenants contested the additional rent.
Currently, 71 municipalities are affected by rent control in France, because they are therefore located in a tense area. While this obviously concerns large cities such as Paris, Lyon, Lille, Montpellier and Bordeaux, it is also the case for smaller localities. We thus include the Lyon suburbs of Villeurbanne, the Lille suburbs of Lomme and Hellemmes, as well as certain Parisian outskirts: firstly the “Est ensemble” territory, which includes Bagnolet, Bobigny, Bondy, Le Pré Saint-Gervais, Les Lilas, Montreuil, Noisy-le-Sec, Pantin, and Romainville, as well as the “Plaine Commune” territory, which includes Aubervilliers, La Courneuve, Épinay-sur-Seine, L’Île-Saint-Denis, Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, Stains, and finally Villetaneuse.
Certain towns in the Grenoble-Alpes Métropole agglomeration are also affected: this is the case of Grenoble, but also Bresson, Claix, Domène, Eybens, Fontanil-Cornillon, Gières, Meylan, Murianette, Poisat, La Tronche, Seyssins, Varces-Allières-et-Risset, Venon, Échirolles, Fontaine, Le Pont-de-Claix, Saint-Égrève, Saint-Martin-d’Hères, Sassenage, and Seyssinet-Pariset. Finally, the community of the Basque Country is not spared: the towns of Ahetze, Anglet, Arbonne, Arcangues, Ascain, Bassussarry, Bayonne, Biarritz, Bidart, Biriatou, Boucau, Ciboure, Guéthary, Hendaye, Jatxou, Lahonce, Larressore, Mouguerre, Urrugne, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Saint-Pierre d’Irube, Urcuit, Ustaritz, and Villefranque are also on the list.
If you live in one of these municipalities, with a residential lease or mobility lease, you may therefore be subject to additional rent, as indicated on the public service website. This must of course be specified in the lease, and be justified according to precise characteristics. You have the right to contest it within three months of signing, by contacting the Departmental Conciliation Commission (CDC), or within three years if the lessor has not mentioned it in the lease. If the courts find him to be at fault, he will then have to reimburse you for the excess amounts collected, and may also be fined.
