I. Legislation and regulation

Housing: the bill on reviving and decentralising housing clears the committee stage

Adopted by the Senate on 8 July 2026, the bill on reviving and decentralising housing was examined this week by the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, which adopted it on 22 September 2026 after dealing with 728 amendments. The text, already reviewed by the Finance Committee on 17 September for its budgetary articles (Articles 1, 4, 4 bis and 4 ter), saw its planning provisions substantially reworked in committee, notably around local interest operations (OIL), which allow certain rules of the local urban plan to be set aside to unlock construction projects. On the tax side, several amendments narrow the new “Jeanbrun” scheme: letting to parents or children is excluded, heating other than gas or oil is required, and the scheme is limited to apartment buildings, excluding detached houses. The plenary debate is now not expected before mid-November 2026, as the ordinary session only resumes on 1 October.

Residential leases: new social and financial assessment form

The order of 9 September 2026, amending the order of 23 August 2022 creating the single social and financial assessment form used in court proceedings for termination of a lease (JORFTEXT000054850996), was discussed in the professional press this week. The assessment, introduced by Decree No. 2021-8 of 5 January 2021 and reinforced by Decree No. 2026-739 of 4 August 2026, is a condition for the admissibility of a claim for judicial termination of a lease for unpaid rent. The new form, linked to Cerfa 16227*02, sets out the sections the social worker must now complete.

II. Case law

Planning: a permit can still be regularised although the land has since become unbuildable

Conseil d’État, 31 March 2026, Commune de Tourrette-Levens, No. 494252

The Conseil d’État holds that a change in planning rules making land unbuildable during the proceedings does not necessarily prevent the challenged permit from being regularised. The court must ascertain whether the rules applicable on the date of its ruling allow regularisation, including through the provisions on works to existing buildings, provided the project is not altered so radically that its nature changes.

Practical significance: the decision significantly widens the scope for regularisation during proceedings (Article L. 600-5-1 of the Planning Code) and encourages developers, as well as defendant local authorities, to explore regularisation systematically before accepting the outright annulment of a permit that has become incompatible with an amended planning document.

Planning: the retroactive withdrawal of a tacit permit can justify, after the event, a refusal to certify it

Conseil d’État, 13 July 2026, Minister for Regional Planning and Decentralisation, No. 504144

The Conseil d’État rules that a refusal to issue a certificate confirming the existence of a tacit permit becomes lawful if the permit is later withdrawn retroactively, even though the withdrawal had not yet become final on the date of the refusal. The lawfulness of the refusal is therefore assessed in light of the legal situation resulting from the withdrawal, not only of the situation existing on the day it was issued.

Practical significance: the ruling illustrates an extended review over time, allowing both the authorities and the court to take account of events after the contested act; applicants holding a tacit permit should keep an eye on the stability of their position until the time limits for withdrawal have run out.

Subdivisions: taking over the roads and common areas does not make the municipality a co-owner of the subdivision

Cour de cassation, 3rd Civil Chamber, 3 September 2026, No. 24-16968

Where the specifications of a housing subdivision provide for the roads and common areas to be transferred to the municipality, the municipality, by incorporating them into its public domain, does not become a co-owner of the subdivision and is therefore not bound by the obligations the specifications impose on the lot owners.

Practical significance: the ruling secures the management by municipalities of transferred subdivision facilities and prevents them from being bound, under private-law specifications, by obligations incompatible with their role as managers of the public domain; drafters of subdivision specifications should expressly provide for the fate of the clauses applicable after the transfer.

Ten-year builder’s liability: the standing of a non-owner occupier depends on the contractual terms on accession

Cour de cassation, 3rd Civil Chamber, 10 September 2026, No. 24-20.393

The Third Civil Chamber accepts that an operator who does not own the land (a farming partnership, a tenant farmer, a lessee) may sue under the ten-year builder’s liability where its occupancy agreement gives it ownership rights over the buildings erected during the lease. It overturns the restrictive reading of the court of appeal, which had limited this right to new buildings and excluded extensions.

Practical significance: clear clauses on deferred accession directly determine standing to sue builders and their insurers; drafters of agricultural leases and occupancy agreements should take care over these terms to preserve the occupier’s remedies in the event of defects.

III. Other points to watch

Property tax: according to the 27 September 2026 issue of JurisHebdo Immobilier, several points deserve attention: the tax authorities’ guidance (BOFiP) clarifies the transitional VAT rules for building works; the floor area threshold triggering advance payments of the development tax is lowered from 5,000 to 3,000 m² under Article 117 of the 2026 Finance Act; and property owners are reminded of the 2026 property tax payment dates. Reconstruction aid in New Caledonia, following the events of 2024, completes the picture.

2027 Finance Bill: as of 24 September 2026, the finance bill for 2027 has been neither tabled nor passed. Press reports of new housing aid, a possible tax increase on furnished lettings or lower ceilings for the zero-rate loan (PTZ) remain budget options only; for now, the PTZ and the Relance logement scheme (applicable until 31 December 2028) continue to apply on their current terms. The budget timetable should be followed before advising on measures not yet adopted.

Co-ownership: several practitioners report this week an increase in structural surveys required by mayors from co-owned apartment buildings more than fifteen years old, in areas designated under Law No. 2024-322 of 9 April 2024 on substandard housing. Co-owners have eighteen months from notification to produce the report, failing which the mayor may commission the study at the owners’ expense. A summary order of the Narbonne judicial court of 26 May 2026 (RG 26/00138), discussed this week, also points out that installing solar panels on a roof, which is a common part, without a prior vote of the general meeting by the majority required under Article 25 of the Law of 10 July 1965, is a manifestly unlawful disturbance justifying removal under a daily penalty.

Equipment and planning: Decree No. 2026-863 of 12 September 2026, which introduces environmental performance thresholds for certain air-conditioning equipment, reminds practitioners that installing an outdoor unit may also, depending on the case, require a prior declaration under Article R. 421-17 of the Planning Code where it alters the external appearance of a building, on pain of the penalties in Article L. 480-4 of the same Code.

Transfer of wealth: the “Don Logement / Rénovation” gift scheme continues to apply until its scheduled end in late 2026, while notaries have put to the vote of their next congress, in October, a set of twenty-one measures designed to ease the transfer of real estate between generations.

The firm advises on French real estate and construction law.

Previous edition: Weekly Digest: Real Estate and Construction Law (14-21 September 2026)
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