Rent Increases in France: The IRL Formula, Limits and Deadlines (2026)

Your landlord has written to say the rent is going up, or the amount leaving your account has quietly changed, and you want to know two things: whether they were entitled to do it, and whether the figure is right. Both questions have precise answers in French law, because the annual rent revision is not negotiated. It is a formula, and the inputs are published.

The short version is that an increase during a tenancy is lawful only if the lease provides for it, and even then the size of the increase is capped by a national index that INSEE publishes every quarter. This page sets out the condition, the formula, the current index, a worked calculation you can run against your own rent, the deadline that makes a late increase unenforceable, and the two situations in which no increase is permitted at all.

Information last verified on 21 July 2026. This page presents general legal information, not legal advice.

The increase only exists if the lease says so

Article 17-1 of the loi n° 89-462 of 6 July 1989 governs rent revision during a tenancy, and the first thing it does is make the revision conditional. Where the contract provides for revision, it takes place once a year, on the date agreed between the parties or, failing that, at the end of each year of the contract.

If the lease contains no revision clause, there is no annual increase. That is not a technicality that gets overlooked in practice. Leases drawn up informally, or older leases, sometimes omit the clause entirely, and in that case the rent is simply fixed for the duration of the tenancy.

So the first step is always the same: open the lease and look for a clause de revision, sometimes titled revision du loyer or indexation. If it is there, it should also name the reference quarter of the index. If it is not there, nothing below applies to you.

The formula

The revision is capped by the indice de reference des loyers, the IRL, published quarterly by INSEE. The index reflects the average change over the previous twelve months in consumer prices excluding tobacco and excluding rents.

The calculation is a ratio, not a percentage applied by hand:

new rent = current rent x (IRL for the reference quarter, current year) / (IRL for the same quarter, previous year)

Two details in article 17-1 do a lot of work. The comparison is always the same quarter one year apart, so mixing quarters produces the wrong answer. And where the lease does not fix a reference date, that date is the date of the last index published when the lease was signed.

The current index

The most recent figure is the IRL for the second quarter of 2026. It stands at 148,37, an increase of 1,15 % over one year, after 0,78 % in the previous quarter. INSEE published it on 10 July 2026.

Separate series exist for Corsica, at 146,22 for the same quarter, and for the collectivities governed by article 73 of the Constitution, at 146,94. Both moved by the same 1,15 % over one year.

For the calculation you need two numbers, not one. The second quarter figure for 2025, the comparison point for a revision based on that quarter this year, was 146,68.

A worked example

Take an unfurnished flat let at 850 euros a month excluding charges, on a lease whose revision clause names the second quarter as the reference quarter, with a revision date in September.

Multiply the rent by the current index: 850 x 148,37 = 126 114,50. Divide by the index for the same quarter a year earlier: 126 114,50 / 146,68 = 859,79.

The revised rent is 859,79 euros a month excluding charges. That is an increase of 9,79 euros a month, or 117,48 euros over a full year. Run the same arithmetic on a rent of 1 200 euros and you get 1 213,83 euros, an increase of 13,83 euros a month.

Notice that the multiplier, 148,37 divided by 146,68, is about 1,0115, which is simply the published 1,15 % expressed as a factor. Applying the percentage directly gives the same answer, and the ratio form is what the statute uses. Notice also what is not in the calculation. Charges are settled separately against the landlord's actual expenditure and are not governed by the index, so a bill that jumps sharply is usually a charges question rather than a rent question.

The one year deadline

Article 17-1 contains a deadline that is frequently decisive. If the landlord does not express the intention to apply the revision within one year following the date on which it took effect, the landlord is deemed to have waived the benefit of the clause for the year that has elapsed.

In practice that means a landlord cannot go back through several years of missed revisions and present a cumulative bill. Where the revision is claimed within the year, it takes effect from the date of the demand and not retroactively to the anniversary date.

Anniversary dates therefore matter, and it is worth noting yours. The revision is not automatic in the sense of applying by itself: it has to be claimed.

The 3,5 % cap no longer applies

Between 2022 and 2024, the year on year variation of the IRL was capped at 3,5 % in metropolitan France, a measure widely called the bouclier loyer. It came from the loi n° 2022-1158 of 16 August 2022 and was extended by the loi n° 2023-568 of 7 July 2023.

That extension carried the cap through to revisions based on index quarters up to the first quarter of 2024, and no further. It is not a current protection, and any calculator or guide that still applies a 3,5 % ceiling is working from an expired rule.

At present the distinction has little practical effect on the numbers, because the published variation of 1,15 % sits far below the level the old cap operated at. It matters if inflation moves, because nothing has replaced the cap.

F and G rated dwellings: rent is frozen

There is one situation in which no revision is possible at all, however the lease is drafted. Paragraph III of article 17-1 states that the revision and the rent increase provided for in paragraphs I and II cannot be applied to dwellings in class F or class G within the meaning of article L. 173-1-1 of the code de la construction et de l habitation.

That covers both the annual index revision and the increase agreed in exchange for improvement works. It was introduced by article 159 of the loi Climat et Resilience and specified by decret n° 2022-1079 of 29 July 2022, and it has applied since 24 August 2022 in metropolitan France to leases concluded, renewed or tacitly renewed from that date, with a later start date of 1 July 2024 overseas.

The freeze has no sunset clause. If the energy performance certificate for your dwelling shows F or G, an annual increase is not available to the landlord for as long as that rating stands.

Increases that are not an annual revision

Several other routes to a higher rent exist, and they follow different rules from the ones above.

Paragraph II of article 17-1 allows an increase where the parties have expressly agreed in the lease or in an amendment that the landlord will carry out specified improvement works. Where the rent is manifestly undervalued, the landlord can propose a higher rent when the lease comes up for renewal, following the procedure and notice requirements in article 17-2, and a disagreement goes to the commission departementale de conciliation.

When a dwelling is re let to a new tenant in a commune classed as a zone tendue, the rent generally cannot exceed the previous tenant's rent adjusted by at most the IRL. That rule is renewed annually by decret under article 18 of the loi of 6 July 1989, currently decret n° 2025-652 of 15 July 2025, covering leases concluded or renewed between 1 August 2025 and 31 July 2026.

Finally, in the handful of territories that operate the loyer de reference system, base rent is separately capped by a prefectoral ceiling. That scheme is narrower than most readers assume, and our page on encadrement des loyers sets out exactly where it applies and where it does not.

If the increase looks wrong

Start with the paperwork. Check that the lease has a revision clause, identify the reference quarter, look up the two index values for that quarter, and run the multiplication. Most disputed increases turn out to involve a mismatched quarter, a percentage applied to the wrong base, an increase claimed more than a year late, or charges being presented as rent.

Where a written exchange with the landlord does not resolve it, the commission departementale de conciliation of the department can be seised free of charge, and the juge des contentieux de la protection is the court with jurisdiction over residential lease disputes. Actions arising from a lease are generally time barred after three years under article 7-1 of the loi of 6 July 1989.

Free and independent guidance on a specific situation is available from the local ADIL, the departmental housing information agency, and general procedural guidance is published on service-public.gouv.fr. Our France legal information hub collects our other pages on French law.

Frequently Asked Questions

My landlord raised the rent but my lease says nothing about revision. Is that allowed?

No. Article 17-1 of the loi n° 89-462 of 6 July 1989 makes the annual revision conditional on a clause in the lease. Without a revision clause the rent is fixed for the duration of the lease, and the only routes to a higher rent are a works agreement under the same article, a claim at renewal that the rent is manifestly undervalued, or a new lease with a new tenant. A unilateral increase outside those routes has no legal basis, and rent paid in excess can generally be reclaimed, subject to the three year limitation period for actions arising from a lease.

Which IRL quarter applies to my lease?

The reference quarter is the one stated in the lease. If the lease does not name one, article 17-1 says it is the last index published on the date the lease was signed. That quarter then stays constant for the whole tenancy, so a lease signed in September 2024 with no stated quarter keeps working from the same quarter every year. The comparison is always between that quarter in the current year and the same quarter one year earlier, never between two different quarters.

How do I check the calculation myself?

Take the rent excluding charges, multiply it by the IRL for your reference quarter in the current year, and divide by the IRL for the same quarter a year earlier. Using the second quarter figures, that is a multiplier of 148,37 divided by 146,68, or about 1,0115. A rent of 850 euros becomes 859,79 euros, and a rent of 1 200 euros becomes 1 213,83 euros. Charges, which are settled separately against actual expenditure, are not part of this calculation and are not capped by the index.

Does the 3,5 % cap still limit my increase?

No. The bouclier loyer was created by the loi n° 2022-1158 of 16 August 2022 and extended by the loi n° 2023-568 of 7 July 2023, and it capped the year on year variation of the IRL at 3,5 % in metropolitan France for revisions based on index quarters up to the first quarter of 2024. It has not applied since. In practice the point is currently academic, because the published year on year variation of 1,15 % is well below the level the old cap sat at, but any source telling you a 3,5 % ceiling protects you today is out of date.

My flat is rated G on the DPE. Can the landlord still apply the annual increase?

No. Article 17-1 III of the loi of 6 July 1989, as inserted by article 159 of the loi Climat et Resilience, prohibits both the annual revision and the works based increase for dwellings in class F or class G within the meaning of article L. 173-1-1 of the code de la construction et de l habitation. The prohibition was specified by decret n° 2022-1079 of 29 July 2022 and applies to leases concluded, renewed or tacitly renewed from 24 August 2022 in metropolitan France. It has no expiry date, and it applies whether or not the commune has any form of rent control.