Annual rent review: who is affected and how much will the increase be? After the publication of the new index linked to the rise in inflation, we take stock.
Will your rent go up soon? Each year the owner-lessor has the possibility of revising its amount by taking into account the reference index. The new IRL has just been published on April 15 by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee). The index of 1is quarter 2022 now stands at 133.93, representing an annual increase of 2.48%. As a reminder, it had increased by 1.61% on the 4e quarter 2021.
Under what conditions the increase applies
Your landlord cannot apply a higher increase. And he can only do so on condition that the lease includes an annual rent review clause, which is provided for in the law on rent control.
Two possibilities: the increase is scheduled for a fixed date in the lease or it can be done on the anniversary date of the lease. The landlord has one year to make the change.
This rent reference index applies to residential leases, whether furnished or not.
The servicepublic.fr website explains how the IRL is calculated. It corresponds to the average, over the last twelve months, of the change in the consumer price index excluding tobacco and excluding rents. Inflation therefore also weighs on the rent of the French, not only their shopping trolley.
“The last peak of the IRL was observed in the fourth quarter of 2018 (+ 1.74%)”, recall our colleagues from BFMTV. The previous records for the evolution of the index date back to 2012 (+2.24%) and 2008 (+2.95% in the third quarter).
How to calculate the rent increase
To know the exact amount of the increase in your rent, you must do the following calculation. Current rent X new IRL of the reference quarter of the contract / IRL of the same quarter of the previous year = new rent.
So by taking a rent of 600 euros, the rent will increase to 614 euros. 600 euros x (rent reference index for the 1st quarter of 2022 / rent reference index for the 1st quarter of 2021).
The website of the National Agency for Housing Information (Anil) offers you a simulator to perform the calculation in three clicks.
What if you want to contest a raise?
All owners do not necessarily apply this right to the increase. “They consider that the rents are already very high or they prefer to retain their tenant, especially in areas where demand is low,” explains Charlie Cailloux, legal adviser, to Franceinfo.
If you want to dispute a raise because it doesn’t match the IRL, you have three options.
- Write a registered letter, on this model posted on servicepublic.fr explaining the problems you are facing.
- If there is no response, you can enter a justice conciliator.
- As a last resort, you have one year to seize the protection litigation judge from the date of the rent review.
