‘Check your rent is not too high’: Mixed reaction to new Paris poster
The campaign contributes to the ‘clichéd, outdated caricature of the chubby, arrogant landlord’, one property specialist says
Two-thirds of residents in central Paris rent their accommodation from landlords
HJBC/Shutterstock
Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo has sparked mixed reactions with a new Paris Ville poster that warns property tenants to check that their landlord is not making them “pay too much in rent”.
Since 2019, rents in Paris have been regulated. Two-thirds of residents in the city are tenants who rent their accommodation from landlords. Nationwide, around 25% of people rent.
However, despite this regulation in Paris which was reintroduced by President Emmanuel Macron, rents for studios and two-bedroom apartments in the capital have continued to rise.
In a bid to address this the Paris Mairie launched a platform aimed at helping tenants report excessive rents. In the past year this system has seen around 100 landlords being required to pay back more than €240,000.
The new poster reminds tenants of the existence of this website and reminds them that “rents are regulated in Paris…Check yours at paris.fr/encadrementloyers”.
‘Shocked’ at this poster
The president of property and finance PR company Galivel et Associés, Carol Galivel, drew attention to the poster in a LinkedIn post. She wrote: “Am I the only one to have been shocked by this poster campaign by Paris Mairie…?”
Ms Galivel said that Ms Hidalgo’s campaign amounted to a form of “denouncement” of landlords, and said that it contributed to clichéd, outdated caricatures of “the chubby, arrogant landlord”.
The poster has prompted a mixed reaction elsewhere too with landlords not pleased that the poster appears to cast suspicion on their practices. Consumer association CCLV claims that 77% of landlords in Paris comply with the rent level regulations, while the housing and homelessness charity Fondation Abbé Pierre puts the figure at 80%.
One landlord, 42-year-old Antoine, who rents property in the 17th arrondissement, wrote online: “To cast aspersions on landlords is to forget that they house much of the population. Where will tenants stay if landlords change their tune?”
Claudine, a property expert, told Le Figaro Immobilier: “We have the same campaign in Lyon (where rent controls have been in place for over three years). This style of aggressive, contentious communication is detestable and will only lead to more divisions between landlords and tenants.”
Similarly, property lawyer Romain Rossi-Landi said that “only a judge can order a landlord to repay overpayments, not the town council”.
Another landlord, François told Le Figaro Immobilier, sarcastically: “What if they focused on tenants who do not pay their bills? Oh wait, that's right, that is their electorate, they cannot touch it.”
The Paris Mairie has hit back at these criticisms saying: “Informing tenants is not about casting suspicion on all landlords, but highlighting that certain abuses are not acceptable.”
