Paris aims to cut wait for homes
Paris city council is to set up its own property management firm and rent guarantee scheme for private rentals. It hopes in this way to break a deadlock in which more than 136,000 flats in the capital are empty because owners are worried about bad payers and the difficulty of recovering property from sitting tenants.
The Socialist-led council will be told tomorrow that 100,000 families on the council housing waiting list cannot be found subsidised lodgings. Thousands of families a year are forced to leave for the suburbs after failing to acquire alternative private accommodation at a reasonable rent.
Jean-Yves Mano, assistant mayor responsible for housing, said finding a family flat at a fair price in the private sector had become a nightmare. Scores of people lined the staircases of apartment blocks when flats were advertised but even households with respectable incomes were excluded because of demands for deposits and other guarantees.
'Obviously many property owners have been stung by poor payers and this has given private renting a bad name,' he said. 'Small landlords have also heard too many stories of squatters refusing to leave flats when their leases run out and of costly procedures to get property back.'
Under the Paris plan, a property management firm, the municipal real estate company, will prospect for private rented property and negotiate with owners. The council will guarantee rents in case of non-payment and the allocation of council housing for sitting tenants if landlords need to recover flats for family use. Although property owners will be guaranteed only about £5 a month per square metre - half the average open market price - Mano said that lack of risk for a six-year lease would make the deal attractive.
Landlords are more likely to be tempted by short-term lets to the capital's 350,000 students who will be charged the equivalent of about £8.50 a square metre per month. The rent would again be underwritten by the council in the hope of opening up an intensively competitive market for studios and attic flats.
'Of course, this is totally new ground and we can't forecast reaction,' Mano said. 'For the moment our target is modest - about 500 apartments during the next year in the hope that more owners will see the disadvantage of keeping empty flats with no income coming in.'
The Socialist-led council will be told tomorrow that 100,000 families on the council housing waiting list cannot be found subsidised lodgings. Thousands of families a year are forced to leave for the suburbs after failing to acquire alternative private accommodation at a reasonable rent.
Jean-Yves Mano, assistant mayor responsible for housing, said finding a family flat at a fair price in the private sector had become a nightmare. Scores of people lined the staircases of apartment blocks when flats were advertised but even households with respectable incomes were excluded because of demands for deposits and other guarantees.
'Obviously many property owners have been stung by poor payers and this has given private renting a bad name,' he said. 'Small landlords have also heard too many stories of squatters refusing to leave flats when their leases run out and of costly procedures to get property back.'
Under the Paris plan, a property management firm, the municipal real estate company, will prospect for private rented property and negotiate with owners. The council will guarantee rents in case of non-payment and the allocation of council housing for sitting tenants if landlords need to recover flats for family use. Although property owners will be guaranteed only about £5 a month per square metre - half the average open market price - Mano said that lack of risk for a six-year lease would make the deal attractive.
Landlords are more likely to be tempted by short-term lets to the capital's 350,000 students who will be charged the equivalent of about £8.50 a square metre per month. The rent would again be underwritten by the council in the hope of opening up an intensively competitive market for studios and attic flats.
'Of course, this is totally new ground and we can't forecast reaction,' Mano said. 'For the moment our target is modest - about 500 apartments during the next year in the hope that more owners will see the disadvantage of keeping empty flats with no income coming in.'
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