Grenoble is the latest French city to bring in rent control measures, joining the likes of Paris, Lyon and Bordeaux.
ADVERTISEMENTGrenoble will be allowed to implement rent control measures, following long-standing demands from the city's authorities, the French ministry in charge of housing announced on Monday.
"The government has announced the introduction of rent control in the Grenoble metropolitan area. A decree opens up the possibility of rent control in order to control rent increases and protect the purchasing power of local tenants," the ministry said in a press release.
"For rent control to be effective, a prefectoral decree setting the maximum rent level will be issued in the course of 2024," it added.
Rent ceilings, which prohibit landlords from renting out a property above a reference rent (with some exceptions), are already in force in French cities such as Paris, Lille, Lyon, Villeurbanne, Montpellier and Bordeaux.
They will soon be brought in in 24 municipalities in the French Basque Country, including Biarritz and Bayonne.
The measures around the country are currently being applied as an "experiment" due to end in 2026, a possible prelude to its enshrinement in law.
The city of Grenoble, led by its Green mayor Eric Piolle, has been calling for rent control for several years, but the government has refused until now, arguing that the real estate market there was not tight enough to justify its implementation.
