“I am going into debt until the end of my life to finance insulation work.” Despite these “necessary” renovations, Irene will not be able to get rid of the energy sieve label that sticks to her home. The 50-year-old has been renting her apartment in Seine-et-Marne since 2015, but in recent months the return on investment has been far from positive. For good reason, his accommodation is covered by the climate and resilience law, passed in May 2021. This stipulates that those who have a consumption greater than 450 kilowatt hours per year and per square meter will be considered as energy indecent and can no longer be rented. from January 1, 2023. A large part of the goods classified G by the energy performance diagnosis (DPE) are concerned. The DPE, accompanied by a score ranging from A to G, indicates the level of energy consumption of a property. It has become mandatory for any sale or rental, and particularly useful for targeting homes soon to be punished by law. The new rule will also extend to all dwellings qualified as energy sieves, that is to say to all properties classified G from January 1, 2025, F in 2028 and E in 2034.
There was urgency. The President of the Republic announced, on July 14, an “energy sobriety plan” whose goal is to reduce our energy consumption by 10% compared to 2019, by 2024. However, the building represented 44% of final energy consumption in France in 2021, according to the Ministry of Ecological Transition. Each year, the sector emits more than 123 million tonnes of CO2, or a quarter of national emissions. A working group on housing was initiated by the government on July 27 in order to find “cleaner” solutions.
The necessary insulation works
First fix? Carry out thermal renovations. Many owners have to make them: in 2022, there are 5.2 million energy strainers in France, or 17% of the rental stock, according to a study by the National Observatory for Energy Renovation (ONRE). This is the case of Romain, who owns an apartment in Saint-Jean-de-Monts (Vendée), classified F: “I had to replace the radiators with more efficient models, and change the windows for double glazing. ” Modifying your heating method, renovating the joinery or insulating the walls are the three main techniques for renovating a home from the inside. Problem: for this apartment located in an “atypical” residence built in 1974, this will not be enough. “We are very limited in terms of the work and insulation from the outside is not possible”, continues the Vendéen. Some energy-intensive properties like his are located in historical hypercentres, protected areas or classified as historical heritage. To preserve their architecture, such dwellings cannot be renovated from the outside without respecting specifications that are “sometimes restrictive” and “onerous” for the owners. “Not to mention the long approval process,” insists Romain.
“I don’t know how I’m going to organize myself to finance everything”
Such renovation work, whether interior or exterior, often has a significant cost for the owners. Since January 1, 2020, the State has offered them aid, “MaPrimeRénov'”, precisely dedicated to thermal renovation. It aims to finance work in 400,000 to 500,000 homes per year for an average of 3,000 euros. For Jean-Claude, owner of an apartment in Toulouse, this will not be enough. The pensioner must replace all the windows and patio doors for the modest sum of 8000 euros. “I feel obliged to do so to be able to continue renting. It’s very heavy, I don’t know how I’m going to organize myself to finance everything,” he admits. Especially since the native of Bayonne has little time to improve his DPE, by next January. A date that the president of the National Union of Property Owners (Unpi), Christophe Demerson, disapproves of, as it seems to him to be disconnected from reality: “I am not Gérard Majax, I cannot renovate each dwelling at a stroke of magic wand,” he laughs.
According to the ONRE, 140,000 homes would be affected; 400,000 according to Unpi. “Even before the war in Ukraine, we said that it wouldn’t pass for a lot of housing. Today, neither the men nor the materials are available to do the work,” laments Christophe Demerson. He proposes to the Ministry of the City and Housing a “tax revolution” with a deduction on income of 30% for energy renovation work within the limit of an amount “fixed by the legislator”. A claim that has remained unanswered for the moment.
13% of owners intend to sell their home
Faced with all these practical and economic difficulties, some owners simply refuse to do the insulation work. Like Sylvie, in Meurthe-et-Moselle, who has three refurbished apartments still classified F. This one is radical: “I may be outside the law but I will not communicate the DPE to tenants and those who absolutely want it will not be accepted.” According to a study by the Unpi*, more than 16% intend to keep their property without renovating it and 9% are considering, like Sylvie, not respecting the rule and renting their accommodation anyway. 13% also intend to sell their home rather than renovate it. A figure that has repercussions on the real estate market, as confirmed by Olivier Descamps, general manager of the network of IaD agents: “From 2021, we had an 8% increase in the sale of properties in F and G. ”
However, who says increase in supply, also says price drop, especially if it is a question of goods badly noted by the DPE. According to a survey conducted by Se Loger and Meilleurs agentsan apartment classified F or G sells on average 13% less than if it is labeled A or B. According to Olivier Descamps, the sale of energy-intensive housing could also restrict the rental offer: “The risk is that the property be taken over by buyers who want to make it their main residence and that certain tenants, who do not want to become buyers, can no longer find housing.
The owners themselves fear a shortage, as the situation is “untenable”. Many of them have problems with ECD and its delivery. Reformed in July 2021 to make it more reliable, it is now based on the characteristics of the accommodation (area, wall thickness and insulation, number of windows, heating system, etc.). The calculation also incorporates new parameters: energy consumption in terms of lighting, ventilation… Except that the diagnostic mode is not up to date, according to several owners: “In the absence of information, the diagnostician takes a default value which is necessarily unfavorable to us. And that is shameful”, regrets Pierre, who owns an apartment in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. “Actual consumption is more reliable,” he adds, referring to the previous method of calculating the DPE, which was based on the occupant’s bills.
Originally, this DPE was to be supplemented by an energy audit in the event of the sale of thermal colanders from January 1, 2022. The Ministry of Housing has postponed this measure twice, first to September 1, 2022 and then to April 1. 2023. Eventually, the audit will provide the seller and the buyer with a program of work to be carried out and the total cost of an energy renovation to get out of the category of thermal sieves. In the meantime, the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, has announced the launch “in the coming days” of a call for projects of 150 million euros to finance “innovative tools to fight against energy poverty”. .
*Representative survey conducted among 4000 owners questioned by the Unpi in April 2021