Renting an Energy Sieve? Your Rights in 2026: Rent Freeze, DPE G Ban, and How Fast You Can Leave
A flat that never gets warm, radiators running flat out, and an electricity bill that hurts more than the rent: living in a passoire thermique (energy sieve) is a daily tax on comfort. But in 2026 the law is firmly on the tenant's side — twice. If you stay, the rent of an F- or G-rated home is frozen and class G has been banned from new leases since 2025. If you decide to leave, the notice rules (préavis) are more favourable than most people think — often 1 month instead of 3 — provided you claim the reduction correctly, send the letter the right way and count the dates the way the law does. This guide covers both halves: your rights while you stay, and the exact mechanics of leaving, including the zone tendue subtlety that most websites get wrong.
What makes a rental an energy sieve — and why the law now backs the tenant
A passoire thermique is a home rated F or G on the DPE (energy performance certificate). Two separate rules of the loi Climat et Résilience (n° 2021-1104 du 22 août 2021) protect tenants of these homes. The letting ban. An energy-hungry home is legally indécent and cannot be offered for rent, on a rolling calendar: the worst-G homes (> 450 kWh/m²/yr final energy) since 2023, all of class G since 1 January 2025, F from 2028 and E from 2034. The ban applies to new leases, renewals and tacit renewals — the full schedule is in our passoire thermique letting-ban calendar. If you are already in place, your lease continues; the ban does not evict you. The rent freeze. Since 24 August 2022, the rent of an F or G home in mainland France is frozen: no annual IRL indexation, no increase at renewal, no increase between two tenants — we detail every scenario in our F/G rent-freeze guide. If your landlord applied an IRL revision to your G-rated flat this year, that increase was unlawful. Staying put is therefore financially protected. But a frozen rent does not heat the living room — so the rest of this guide is about the other option: leaving, and how fast you can legally do it.
Leaving an unfurnished rental: 3 months by default — 1 month in listed cases
For an unfurnished (vide) lease, article 15, I of loi n° 89-462 du 6 juillet 1989 lets the tenant give notice (congé) at any time, without justification — the length is the only question. The default is 3 months, reduced to 1 month in the cases the article lists exhaustively:
| Ground (article 15, I) | Notice | What to attach |
|---|---|---|
| Dwelling in a zone tendue (1°, art. 17 al. 1 perimeter) | 1 month | Nothing required — state the ground and the address |
| First job, professional transfer (mutation), job loss, or new job after a job loss (2°) | 1 month | Proof enclosed with the letter |
| Health condition justifying a change of residence (3°) | 1 month | Medical certificate enclosed |
| Domestic violence — protection order, or partner prosecuted/convicted (3° bis, loi 2020-936) | 1 month | Court document enclosed |
| Tenant receiving RSA or AAH (4°) | 1 month | Proof of benefit enclosed |
| Allocation of a social housing unit (5°) | 1 month | Attribution decision enclosed |
| Any other situation | 3 months | Nothing — no reason needed |
The zone tendue trap: only the first list of décret 2013-392 counts
The most-used 1-month ground is the zone tendue — and it is also the one most websites describe wrongly. Article 15, I, 1° reduces the notice for dwellings in the perimeter defined by article 17 al. 1 of the 1989 law: the « zones d'urbanisation continue de plus de 50 000 habitants » of article 232 I 1° of the Code général des impôts. That perimeter is the first list annexed to décret n° 2013-392 du 10 mai 2013 — 1,434 communes after the extension by décret n° 2023-822 and the adjustments of décret n° 2025-1267. Here is the trap: many sites quote a figure of roughly 3,697 communes en zone tendue. That larger list adds 2,263 tourist-tension communes (article 232 I 2° CGI) where only the tax measures apply — surtaxe on second homes, taxe on vacant dwellings — not the 1-month préavis. This is the reading applied by ANIL and UNPI and matched by the official service-public simulator. A tenant in a seaside commune added to the tourist list who confidently gives 1 month of notice may remain liable for 3 months of rent. So before writing your letter, check which list your commune is on. The official notice-period pages on service-public.fr point to the state simulator, and AdminLanding's free notice-period simulator checks your commune against the correct first list and computes your exact end date in one pass. ANIL, the national housing-law agency, is the reference if you want to read further.
Claiming the 1 month correctly: state the ground, enclose the proof
The reduced notice is not automatic — the Cour de cassation polices the formalities strictly: - The ground must be stated in the letter itself, at the moment you send it. A tenant who gives an unmotivated congé and explains later stays on 3 months. - Personal grounds: the justificatif must accompany the letter. For the grounds tied to your situation (job, health, RSA/AAH, social housing), the supporting document has to be enclosed with the congé — produced later, it does not count (Cass. 3e civ., 11 April 2019, n° 18-14.256). - Zone tendue is lighter: mentioning the ground and the dwelling's address suffices; no attachment is legally required, since the landlord can verify the commune himself (Cass. 3e civ., 11 January 2024, n° 22-19.891). A word on the health ground (3°), because it matters in a cold home: it covers a health condition justifying a change of residence, evidenced by a medical certificate enclosed with the letter. If damp and cold have genuinely degraded your health and a doctor certifies that moving is medically justified, this ground can apply. Be honest about its limits: poor insulation by itself is not a listed ground — what counts is your medically attested condition, not the DPE letter of the flat.
When does the clock start? At reception — not when you post the letter
Article 15 accepts exactly three delivery channels for the tenant's congé, and the notice period runs from the day the landlord receives it: 1. Lettre recommandée avec avis de réception (LRAR) — the period starts the day the landlord signs for the letter. 2. Hand delivery against a récépissé or émargement — starts that day. 3. Service by a commissaire de justice (the officer formerly called huissier) — starts on service. An email, an SMS or an ordinary letter is invalid — it starts nothing at all. And the LRAR channel has a known failure mode: if the landlord never collects the letter, the notice never starts running (Cass. 3e civ., 24 September 2020, n° 19-16.838; confirmed for the electronic registered letter by Cass. 3e civ., 7 May 2025, n° 23-13.151). If your landlord is unreachable or plays dead, the commissaire de justice is the guaranteed route — it costs a fee, but the date of service is indisputable.
Counting to the exact day: de quantième à quantième
The notice period is counted day for day — de quantième à quantième — from the reception date, per the official rules on service-public.fr (F32360): - Letter received 5 September, 1 month of notice → the lease ends 5 October. - If the target month has no matching day, the period ends on that month's last day: a 1-month notice starting 30 January ends 28 February (29 in a leap year). - Weekends and public holidays count — nothing is extended. Two financial points for the exit: - Rent and charges remain due for the whole notice period, even if you hand back the keys earlier — unless the landlord agrees otherwise or re-lets the dwelling sooner (service-public.fr, F1168). - After the état des lieux de sortie, the security deposit must come back within the legal deadlines — AdminLanding's deposit-return guide walks through the timelines and the letter to send if it doesn't. If you would rather not do calendar arithmetic on a legal deadline, the free préavis simulator applies the quantième rule for you and returns the exact end date from your reception date and notice length.
And if the landlord wants you out? A completely different regime
Do not confuse your notice with the landlord's. A landlord cannot end the lease whenever he likes: his congé can only take effect at the end of the lease, with 6 months' notice for an unfurnished home and 3 months for a furnished one, and only on three grounds — selling the dwelling, taking it back to live in it (reprise, for himself or close family), or a motif légitime et sérieux such as repeated unpaid rent (service-public.fr, F929). The passoire angle cuts both ways here: a landlord whose G-rated flat can no longer legally be re-let sometimes prefers to sell — but he still owes you the full 6-month congé pour vente at lease end, with your statutory right of first refusal on an unfurnished lease. Nothing about the DPE class shortens his notice or weakens your protections. Finally, the usual caveat: rules, lists of communes and deadlines evolve. This article is general information, not personalised legal advice — before acting, check your own case against Légifrance, service-public.fr and ANIL.
Conclusion: A passoire thermique traps heat badly, but it should never trap you. If you stay, the rent is frozen and the letting-ban calendar keeps the pressure on the landlord to renovate. If you leave, the mechanics decide everything: 1 month furnished, 3 months unfurnished cut to 1 on the listed grounds, a ground stated in the letter with its justificatif enclosed, delivery by LRAR, récépissé or commissaire de justice, and a period counted de quantième à quantième from reception. The one mistake to avoid is trusting the wrong zone tendue list — only the 1,434 communes of the décret 2013-392 first list open the 1-month notice. Check your commune, compute your date, and put the winter coat on for one last season at most.
Frequently asked questions
Is my G-rated flat even legal to rent in 2026?
If your lease was signed before 1 January 2025, it continues — the ban does not evict you. What the loi Climat et Résilience blocks is offering a class G home for a new lease, a renewal or a tacit renewal since 2025 (the worst-G homes since 2023, F from 2028, E from 2034). Meanwhile your rent is frozen: no IRL indexation, no increase, as long as the home stays F or G.
Does living in a passoire thermique give me an automatic 1-month notice?
No. The DPE class is not one of the grounds listed in article 15, I of loi 89-462, and a furnished lease is already 1 month anyway. But two listed grounds often help: the dwelling being in the zone tendue perimeter (very common in large agglomerations), and the health ground if a doctor certifies that your condition justifies a change of residence — the certificate must be enclosed with the notice letter.
How do I check whether my commune really gives the 1-month zone tendue notice?
Check the first list annexed to décret n° 2013-392 — the 1,434 communes in continuous urban areas over 50,000 inhabitants (article 232 I 1° CGI) — not the larger ~3,697-commune list, whose 2,263 tourist-tension communes only carry tax measures. The official service-public simulator applies the correct list, and AdminLanding's free notice-period simulator (adminlanding.com/notice-period-france) checks your commune and computes your exact end date.
My landlord never picked up my registered letter — has my notice started?
No. The Cour de cassation holds that an LRAR the landlord never collects does not start the notice period (Cass. 3e civ., 24 September 2020, n° 19-16.838; same solution for the electronic registered letter in 2025). If the landlord is unreachable or refuses the letter, have the congé served by a commissaire de justice — the date of service is then indisputable and the clock starts immediately.
Do I have to pay rent during the notice period if I move out early?
Yes. Rent and charges are due for the entire notice period even if you return the keys before it ends, unless the landlord agrees in writing to release you earlier or a new tenant moves in with the landlord's agreement before the period expires. Budget for the overlap between the old rent and the new one when you plan the move.
I rent furnished — can I leave faster than an unfurnished tenant?
Yes, and with zero paperwork about your reasons: under article 25-8 of loi 89-462, the tenant of a furnished lease can give notice at any time with 1 month, no ground needed, whatever the commune. The delivery and counting rules are the same as for unfurnished leases: LRAR, hand delivery against récépissé or commissaire de justice, with the period running day for day from reception.
About the author:
Julien Maurice is the founder of AdminLanding and writes the editorial guides on Green Daily Fix covering French renovation aid, energy policy, and the administrative side of the energy transition. Contact: [email protected]
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