France’s eco-friendly home renovation scheme again called to question

A SENATE REPORT SAID MAPRIMERÉNOV' WAS TOO COMPLEX AND NEEDED TO BE BETTER FUNDED France’s controversial eco-home renovation scheme, MaPrimeRénov', has come in for fresh criticism

with a senate report calling it “too complicated and in need of extra funding”. The paper was the conclusion of a long enquiry that heard from 174 people. It recommended more money should be

allocated to eco-friendly housing renovations and that the scheme should be made easier to understand. In particular, it said, the conditions and eligibility criteria should be more

readable. Property in France currently represents 28% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. MaPrimeRénov' aims to improve this by offering grants to homeowners to make improvements

that improve the energy efficiency of their properties. Senators said France was behind the number of annual home renovations required to meet its low carbon goals. Around 50,000 to 100,000

renovations are currently carried out each year. That is less than the objective of 370,000 a year before 2030 and 700,000 per year after that. The country’s current aim is to reach the

_Bâtiment bas-carbone_ (BBC) standard for the entire country by 2050. This would mean that each property has an energy rating of A to B on the current rating system. Currently, only 5% have

this. To achieve this goal, senators recommended the state significantly increase its spending on eco-friendly renovation - although it did not give a precise figure. “Obviously, there is a

cost if we really want to achieve these objectives,” said the president of the senate commission, Dominique Estrosi-Sassone. She said increasing spending would help create needed jobs. The

report said €4.6billion should be committed to the MaPrimeRénov' scheme annually. The figure for this year was €2.5billion. In June, the government ANNOUNCED A FURTHER €300MILLION FOR

THE SCHEME. Senators also called for an additional €1.5 billion for landlords to help improve the renovation of social housing. It also warned against the complexity of the

MaPrimeRénov' scheme and said that the constant changes being made to it ”leads to a wait-and-see attitude and confusion" among homeowners. Senators recommended the _diagnostic de

performance énergétique_ (energy rating test, DPE) be reformed after changes in 2021 left the tool with problems. A DPE is mandatory for any property that is being rented or sold. Among its

DPE proposals, it said that buildings built before 1948 should be given a special DPE category to reflect their heritage value and that the “bias against” smaller buildings should be

corrected to better reflect the buildings’ heat protection status. The report also called for the financial eligibility thresholds for loans and construction work to be lowered, and for the

eco-friendly building sector to receive more support. MAPRIMERÉNOV' WOES The report marks the latest criticisms of the long-beleaguered scheme. Some have SUCCESSFULLY BENEFITTED from it

but hundreds of homeowners this year BEGAN TO SUE France's national housing agency, the _Agence nationale pour l’habitat _(Anah), over unpaid claims and major delays. READ MORE:

HUNDREDS SUE OVER FRENCH ENERGY RENOVATION GRANT DELAYS READ MORE: TEETHING PROBLEMS FOR HOME GRANT SCHEME MAPRIME RÉNOV The majority of the cases are focusing on late unpaid subsidies but

some also centre on times when the scheme had promised to subsidise work before later revoking payment. One of the lawyers for the defendants, from online legal platform JUSTICE.COOL, has

claimed out of the 15,000 MaPrimeRénov' applications their team looked at, 22% were denied payment on “unjustified” grounds. They also found that grants were paid out on average seven

months after construction work, as opposed to the promised three weeks. The lawyer also cited serious “computer malfunctions” and “strong disorganisation” within the scheme, echoing

complaints from France’s Defender of Rights over the danger of too much administrative digitisation. READ MORE: FOREIGNERS AMONG THE LOSERS AMID FRANCE’S ‘EXCESSIVE DIGITISATION’ READ MORE:

DIGITISATION OF FRENCH PUBLIC SERVICES ‘MAKES LIFE HARDER FOR MANY’ There are around 3,300 MaPrimeRénov' grants - totalling around €19million in aid - that are yet to be paid according

to the justice.cool platform. RELATED ARTICLES MAPRIMERÉNOV’: OVER 170,000 HOMES BENEFIT FROM GREEN RENOVATION GRANT HOME RENOVATION GRANTS IN FRANCE EXTENDED FOR 2022: WHO CAN BENEFIT? IS

THE STATE RENOVATION GRANT OPEN FOR SECOND HOMES IN FRANCE?