France May Soften the DPE Rental Ban — What the Senate Votes On July 7–8 (and What Stays Law)

Updated 2026-07-09 · The French Property Playbook

On 7–8 July 2026, the French Senate (Sénat) debates a government bill that would let the worst-rated homes — the passoires thermiques in classes F and G — keep being rented, provided the owner signs up to a renovation timetable. If you own, or are about to buy, an energy-poor French property, you will see headlines this week saying the rental ban is being scrapped. It is not. What is happening is narrower, slower, and less certain than the headlines suggest — and one genuinely important change that has already taken effect is getting lost in the noise.

Here is what the Senate is actually voting on, what stays law regardless of the outcome, and what an overseas owner or buyer should do this week. As always on this site: dated, sourced, and marked clearly where the ground is still moving.

Update — 9 July 2026: what the Senate decided

On 8 July 2026 the Sénat adopted the bill — with amendments — and sent it to the Assemblée nationale. It is still not law. The projet de loi relance et décentralisation du logement passed on a show of hands (à main levée), the left opposed, and became Sénat "texte adopté" n° 835 (2025–2026). Because the government used the accelerated procedure (procédure accélérée), the text now goes to the Assemblée nationale for a single reading at the autumn session (la rentrée, from September 2026), most likely followed by a joint committee (commission mixte paritaire); housing minister Vincent Jeanbrun says he hopes for definitive adoption "before the end of the year." Until the Assemblée also votes it and a common text is enacted, nothing below changes the law in force (Sénat, dossier pjl25-801 and texte n° 835; franceinfo, 8 July 2026 — sources in French).

What the senators kept and changed on the energy-rating measure (Article 6):

• The F/G re-letting deal survived, with both deadlines intact. An F- or G-rated home is treated as energetically "decent" while renovation is under way — but only against a signed works contract — for up to 3 years where an individual owner commits, and 5 years where a copropriété's syndicat contracts the works. Press reporting adds that a deposit (acompte) must be paid to evidence the commitment (Sénat texte n° 835, Art. 6; franceinfo, 8 July 2026).
• The target is "the required performance level," not literally "class D." The adopted text speaks of reaching le niveau de performance exigible — i.e. climbing out of the banned class — rather than naming class D. Treat any "renovate to D" shorthand (including ours, below) as approximate (Sénat texte n° 835, Art. 6).
• New owner protections were added. Running leases (baux en cours) are shielded (non-decency bites only from renewal, and at the latest 3 years after the deadline); the obligation is deemed met where the works would cost more than 50% of the property's market value (exception de disproportion manifeste); heritage-listed buildings are exempt; and a tenant who obstructs the works loses the decency defence (Sénat texte n° 835; Kohen Avocats analysis, 6 July 2026).
• Copropriété and "summer comfort." The grace period when a general meeting refuses the works was extended from 18 months to 3 years; confort d'été (heat-wave adaptation) was written into the definition of a "performant" renovation and into copro multi-year works plans; air-conditioning works that change a façade can pass at simple majority on a second vote; and the Architecte des Bâtiments de France opinion for exterior shutters becomes advisory (avis simple), not binding (Kohen Avocats, 6 July 2026 — source in French).
• Not confirmed in the adopted text we reviewed: the mooted easing of the statut du bailleur privé works test (30% → 20% on older stock). Treat it as unverified pending the consolidated text.

Bottom line: a Senate "yes" is one chamber, not a law. The class G letting ban (in force since 1 January 2025) and the 1 January 2026 DPE electricity-coefficient reform are unchanged. Do not buy, price, or plan on the F/G relaxation until it clears the Assemblée nationale.

What the Senate is actually voting on

The text is the projet de loi visant la relance et la décentralisation du logement — Sénat text n° 801 (2025–2026), tabled by housing minister Vincent Jeanbrun on 25 June 2026 under the accelerated procedure (procédure accélérée), with the séance publique — the floor debate — set for 7 and 8 July 2026. On the energy-rating front, its headline measure would let an owner continue to let an F- or G-rated dwelling instead of being frozen out of the rental market, on condition of a registered commitment to renovate — within 3 years for an individual house and 5 years for a flat in a copropriété, targeting at least class D. Alongside it, the bill would let copropriétés approve energy-renovation works by simple majority, and would ease an investor-facing threshold in the new "statut du bailleur privé" (lowering a works test from 30% to 20% of the purchase price on older stock).

The government's stated aim is to return roughly 700,000 F/G homes to the rental market. Treat that figure as a political target attached to the bill, not a legal fact — it is the number ministers are using to sell the reform, reported across the French housing press (batiweb.com; selectra.info; franceinfo).

What stays law no matter what happens this week

This is the part the headlines bury. Nothing the Senate does on 7–8 July changes the law that is in force today. Under décret n° 2023-796 du 18 août 2023, applying the loi Climat & Résilience, the letting calendar for mainland France stands unchanged:

And the two nuances that always matter still hold. The ban blocks letting, not selling — a class G passoire can be bought, sold, and owned freely; it simply cannot be let on a new or renewed lease until it is renovated out of the banned class. And it does not void a lease already running — it bites on new lettings and on renewal or tacit renewal, not retroactively. If you want the full mechanics, our DPE rental-ban guide walks through them with a worked passoire purchase.

A bill is not a law — and this one has an unusually long road

It is worth being precise about why this remains a monitoring item, not a planning assumption. The bill was first tabled at the Assemblée nationale (as text n° 2981 on 24 June), then withdrawn by the Prime Minister on 25 June and re-tabled in the Senate — so its parliamentary journey is only just beginning, at the second chamber. The accelerated procedure limits each chamber to one reading, but the Senate still has to adopt it, and then the Assemblée nationale must vote it too before anything is enacted. With no stable majority, ministers themselves expect a clause-by-clause negotiation, with the deadlines and the renovation counterparties among the most likely things to be amended. The government's own timetable has already slipped from an earlier hope of final adoption by end-2026 toward a vote by both chambers only after the autumn session.

In plain terms: even in the most favourable scenario, an F/G relaxation would not be law for months, and it could emerge amended — or not at all. Do not buy, price, or plan on the assumption that the F/G timeline will be relaxed. The class G ban is in force now.

The change you might be missing — 850,000 homes already left F/G

Here is the reform that actually took effect, and that far fewer people are talking about. Since 1 January 2026 (arrêté du 13 août 2025), the primary-energy coefficient for electricity dropped from 2.3 to 1.9, mechanically improving the rating of electrically heated homes. The result: roughly 850,000 dwellings — mostly electric-heated — exited classes F and G with no works at all, and no rating gets worse under the new coefficient.

Note the two numbers are not the same thing. The ~850,000 is an enacted reclassification that has already happened; the ~700,000 is the hoped-for effect of a bill that has not passed. If your F/G rating sits on a pre-2026 DPE, it may understate your property's class today. A pre-2026 DPE stays legally valid, but you can obtain a free updated label via the ADEME observatory without commissioning a new audit — worth doing before you treat a flat as unlettable, or accept a "G" discount as a buyer (ecologie.gouv.fr; service-public A18446).

What to do this week

• If you own an F/G electric-heated flat: check whether the 1 Jan 2026 coefficient already moved you out of the ban zone before you budget any works.
• If you are buying a passoire on the discount: price the renovation from the seller's audit énergétique, not from a hoped-for law change. Model the all-in cost — works plus France's substantial acquisition costs — with our free Buying-Costs Calculator.
• If you just want to follow the reform: the Senate stage is done — it adopted the text on 8 July 2026 and sent it to the Assemblée nationale (autumn rentrée). See the dated update at the top; we will refresh this page as the bill moves.

FAQ

Is the F/G rental ban being cancelled? No. On 8 July 2026 the Senate adopted a bill that would let F/G owners keep renting against a renovation commitment — but it is not law; it now goes to the Assemblée nationale. The class G ban has been in force since 1 January 2025; F follows in 2028, E in 2034.

The Senate passed it on 8 July — is it law now? No. A Senate "yes" is one chamber of two. The bill (now Sénat texte n° 835) goes to the Assemblée nationale for a single reading at the autumn rentrée, most likely followed by a joint committee. Even on the government's optimistic timetable, enactment is months away and the text can still change.

What would actually change for an F/G owner if it passed? You could keep letting the property instead of being frozen out — but only against a signed works contract to reach the required decency-performance level (the Senate text says le niveau de performance exigible, not literally class D), within 3 years where an individual owner commits or 5 years where the copropriété contracts the works, with a deposit to evidence the commitment. The Senate kept those two deadlines; the Assemblée nationale could still change them.

My electric-heated flat is rated F/G on an old certificate — is it still banned? Maybe not. The 1 January 2026 coefficient reform moved ~850,000 mostly electric-heated homes out of F/G with no works. Get the free updated label via the ADEME observatory before acting.

Run your real numbers before you act

Whatever the Senate does this week, the decision in front of you is the same: what does this property actually cost to buy and to bring into compliance? Model it before you bid with our free Buying-Costs Calculator, read the DPE rental-ban guide for the full calendar and the passoire strategy, and see what changed in French property in 2026 for the year's other moving parts.

This article is educational content, not legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. It is current as of 9 July 2026: on 8 July 2026 the Sénat adopted the relance-logement bill with amendments (Sénat texte n° 835, from projet de loi n° 801) and transmitted it to the Assemblée nationale for the autumn session — it is not law, while the class G letting ban and the 1 January 2026 DPE coefficient reform are in force and unchanged. French property law here is a moving target — we will update this page as the bill progresses. Verify your specific position with a qualified French notaire, avocat, or tax adviser before acting. Sources: Sénat dossier législatif pjl25-801 and texte adopté n° 835; franceinfo (8 July 2026); décret n° 2023-796; arrêté du 13 août 2025; ecologie.gouv.fr; service-public.fr.