Taxation on vacant housing could soon change. As part of the examination of the finance bill (PLF) for 2026, deputies voted on Thursday, November 20 for an amendment aimed at creating a unified contribution on housing not allocated to the main residence. The objective of the text, tabled by the socialist deputy for Paris Emmanuel Grégoire, is to merge two already existing systems, namely the tax on vacant housing And the tax on second homesin a single local tax. “In the context of the housing crisis that France is experiencing, this amendment aims to encourage the placing on the market of residential premises currently not primarily occupied, with the creation of a single local tax, more readable, more flexible and more effective at the hands of communities in ultra-tense areas”is it mentioned in the explanatory statement of the amendment.
Clearly, if the measure is definitively adopted, it is the municipalities and public intermunicipal cooperation establishments (EPCI) which will have the possibility of increasing this new merged tax, depending on local rental pressure. The objective is to encourage owners to put their unoccupied property located in tight areas on the long-term rental market, where rental demand is greater than the available supply.
A rental market under pressure
“In certain very tense areas, such as the sixth arrondissement of Paris, nearly one in five homes is unoccupied as a primary residence and thus remains vacant. Some owners buy homes without even setting foot there once a year, deplored the socialist deputy for Paris Céline Hervieu, signatory of the amendment, during the debates in the National Assembly. This situation is unacceptable when we know that 250,000 people are waiting for social housing in Paris.” More generally, large French cities have been suffering for around three years from the worsening the shortage of properties to rent, due in particular to the increase in mortgage rates which encourages tenants to stay in their homes rather than buying a property.
It remains to be seen whether this measure aimed at creating a unified tax on vacant housing will be definitively voted on by parliamentarians during the examination of the budget in the Senate, scheduled for the end of November. The vote of the senators will be decisive since Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced that he “renounced” using article 49 paragraph 3 of the Constitution, which would have allowed him to adopt the budget without a vote.
