The French energy rating: current rules and recent reforms

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Updated on 11 August 2026. Since this article was first published in 2022, the way the DPE is calculated has been reformed twice, in July 2024 for small flats and on 1 January 2026 for electric heating. The letting bans have also started to take effect.

What is the DPE and which properties are concerned?

The DPE, France's energy performance certificate, is one of the technical surveys that must be handed to the buyer in a property sale. It measures the property's greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. Carried out by a certified surveyor, it forms part of the DDT, the bundle of technical surveys that also covers technological risk, wood-boring insects, lead and asbestos.

Only properties in mainland France are covered, provided the home is intended to be occupied for more than four months a year. The survey rates the property on a scale from A to G based on annual energy consumption in kWh. Expect to pay between 100 and 250 euros depending on the size of the property and its year of construction.

A certificate is valid for ten years, with one exception that still catches owners out. Certificates issued between 1 January 2018 and 30 June 2021 became void on 1 January 2025, whatever time was left on their ten years. If you are selling or letting on the basis of a survey from that period, it has to be redone.

What the 2021 reform changed for good

Several changes came into force on 1 July 2021, then on 1 January 2022. The first concern the calculation method and the legal weight of the survey, the second the information that must appear in property listings. These rules now form the backbone of the system.

A single calculation method

The reform harmonised how the survey is calculated. Where estimates were largely based on past bills, a single method now applies to every surveyor. It takes into account the quality of the building fabric and its insulation, the heating system, and consumption linked to lighting and ventilation.

One label, from A to G

The old certificate used two separate labels, one for energy consumption and one for greenhouse gas emissions. These now merge into a single label reflecting the property's overall energy performance. The document is clearer and more precise, since it includes an estimate of annual running costs.

A certificate you can be held to

Until 2021 the DPE was purely informative, unlike the lead or asbestos surveys. It is now a binding document that engages the seller's or landlord's liability. A tenant or buyer harmed by an inaccurate certificate can claim compensation. Only the recommended works listed on the document remain purely indicative.

What listings must display

Since 1 January 2022, property listings must show the energy label of the property offered for sale or rent, along with an estimate of annual energy costs.

Two calculation reforms have since changed the picture

This is the part most owners have missed. The calculation method has been revised twice since 2024, and those revisions pulled hundreds of thousands of homes out of the worst categories without a single day of building work.

Small flats reassessed in July 2024

An order of 25 March 2024, effective 1 July 2024, corrected a bias that penalised homes under 40 m². The calculation now uses a reference floor area with adjusted thresholds for those sizes. 140,000 homes moved out of the F and G bands through that correction alone.

In Nice, where studios and one-bedroom flats make up a large share of the older housing stock, this affects a great many properties.

Electric heating revalued on 1 January 2026

An order of 13 August 2025, effective 1 January 2026, lowered the conversion coefficient for electricity from 2.3 to 1.9. In plain terms, an electrically heated home now scores better for the same consumption.

Around 850,000 homes have left the worst energy bands as a result, and no property sees its label downgraded. If your Nice property runs on electric heating and was rated F or G on an earlier survey, its new rating is worth checking.

Crucially, the update is free and requires no new visit. It is obtained directly from the Ademe DPE-Audit observatory, using the reference number of the existing certificate.

Which properties can no longer be let?

Several measures target the worst performing homes. Since 2021, owners of F and G rated properties in high-demand areas cannot raise the rent between two tenancies without carrying out energy works. Since 2022 that restriction applies everywhere. Nice is classified as a high-demand area, so owners here have been concerned from the outset.

The ban itself is no longer a distant prospect. It has begun.

• G rated homes have been banned from letting since 1 January 2025
• F rated homes follow on 1 January 2028
• E rated homes on 1 January 2034

The ban applies to any tenancy signed, renewed or tacitly rolled over after those dates. An ongoing tenancy is not broken, but it cannot be renewed.

There is no automatic fine. The property is treated as unfit, which opens a court route for the tenant. The judge can order works, reduce the rent or suspend its payment until they are carried out.

An energy audit on top of the certificate when selling

When selling, an energy audit is required in addition to the certificate for the worst rated homes. It has been compulsory since 1 April 2023 for F and G, since 1 January 2025 for E, and will apply to D from 2034. Valid five years, it is also legally binding.

Buildings in co-ownership and holiday rentals

Buildings held in co-ownership must now have a collective certificate, on a staggered timetable by size: since 2024 above 200 lots, 2025 between 50 and 200, and since 1 January 2026 for 50 lots and under. It does not replace the individual certificate for each flat.

Holiday rentals follow their own regime since the law of 19 November 2024. Any new change-of-use authorisation requires a rating of A to E, rising to D in 2034. We cover this in our article on seasonal rental rules in Nice.

What does a poor rating cost at resale?

That question matters more to owners than the regulatory detail, and it now has a figure attached. According to the green value study presented by the Notaires de France in December 2025, 40 % of older homes sold in 2024 were rated E, F or G.

The price gap is clear. Against a comparable property rated D, a house rated G sells for around 25 % less, and a flat rated G for around 12 % less. The discount has widened as the deadlines have drawn closer.

For an owner weighing renovation against selling as is, that gap is the real number to work with. Our team can value your property taking its energy rating and its post-works potential into account.

What an overseas owner should keep in mind

If you own a Nice property from abroad, two points deserve attention. The energy rating is not a formality here, it determines whether you may let the property at all, and a certificate obtained before mid-2021 no longer has any value.

The rating also travels with the property at resale. A buyer will read it, and increasingly negotiate on it. Checking where your property stands, especially after the two recent reforms, is worth doing before you plan anything else.

How to improve your rating

The certificate includes recommendations and points to the property's least efficient elements. It therefore helps to target the works worth undertaking. Reducing primary energy consumption starts with insulation, then with the heating and hot water systems. Cutting the environmental footprint means reducing reliance on fossil fuels.

State support still exists, but its conditions have changed a great deal and are worth checking before commissioning a quote. The MaPrimeRénov' scheme was suspended twice, in June 2025 and again on 1 January 2026, before reopening on 23 February 2026.

As it stands, the whole-home renovation route is restricted to properties rated E, F or G and requires a gain of at least two bands, after a compulsory appointment with a France Rénov' adviser. Facade insulation and biomass boilers have been dropped from the single-measure route. And from 1 September 2026, whole-home renovation support will no longer be granted where gas heating is kept after the works.

Penalties for the seller or landlord

Failing to hand over the certificate

The buyer or tenant may apply to the civil court for damages.

A misleading property listing

Where a listing carries inaccurate information about energy performance, the buyer or tenant may go to court. The seller or landlord faces damages, cancellation of the sale or tenancy, and a fine of up to 3,000 euros, rising to 15,000 euros for a company.

A certificate issued by an uncertified surveyor

Using an uncertified surveyor exposes the seller or landlord to a fine of 1,500 euros, and up to 3,000 euros for a repeat offence.

Winter Immobilier advises you on your property project in Nice

Looking for more property advice, and for a clearer picture of the Nice market in particular? Come and see us at our estate agency in Nice Gambetta, or speak to one of our advisers by phone.

If you let a property and its rating worries you ahead of the coming deadlines, our property management service in Nice tracks these obligations on behalf of the owners we work with.