The standards for renting decent housing: criteria for comfort, safety, and minimum area
Do you want to make a rental investment and are you looking for information about your obligations and rights? Welcome! Let's start with the fundamentals.
Once you become a homeowner, you are required to put on the rental market a decent housing and to maintain this standard for the entire duration of the lease. Don't be impressed by the word, we will explain what it means for you exactly... Let's not kid ourselves: it’s the basics! The decency of a dwelling is evaluated based on five objective criteria established by the decree 2002-120 dated January 30, 2002:
A minimum surface 📏
A minimum energy performance 🌡️
Proper ventilation; Sufficient airtightness; A likely ban on renting out the most energy-intensive housing, at the bottom of the energy label rankings, by 2025.
The availability of certain equipment 🚽
A heating system; a potable water supply; a wastewater drainage; a kitchenette at a minimum with a connection to water and a connection to operate a cooking appliance; separate toilets from this kitchenette (translation: the toilets on the landing work); a shower or bathtub sufficiently isolated from the rest of the dwelling and supplied with both hot and cold water; an electrical network supporting the lighting of all rooms and the operation of several electrical devices.
The absence of risk to safety and health 🚧
A "closed and covered" accommodation protecting, in particular, its occupants from bad weather; gas, electricity, heating and hot water installations that are compliant; containment devices in good condition (various guardrails); materials, coatings, and pipelines that are not harmful.
The absence of pests or parasites 🐁
Need me to draw you a picture? Uninhabitable conditions and danger (that is to say, a weakened structure) also represent obstacles to decency. In addition to this checklist, the public service provides you with a simulator that allows you to define the conditions more precisely depending on whether the accommodation is furnished or not, shared housing or simple rental, etc.
What happens in case of failure?
If the housing is not decent, the tenant has recourse - first amicably and then before a tribunal - to compel the landlord to undertake repairs and to indemnify them. Moreover, if the tenant is victim of an accident related to the state of their home, the landlord may be prosecuted criminally. Really not desirable, we agree!
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