EPC and energy sieves: the timetable, and what changed in 2026

Where the ban timetable comes from

The timetable comes from the Climate and Resilience Act of 22 August 2021. It wrote energy performance into the definition of a decent home, with thresholds that tighten in stages. Each stage makes a home below the threshold unfit, and therefore impossible to let. The table below sets out those stages for mainland France.

One point of method saves a lot of needless worry. The ban bites only on contracts signed, renewed or tacitly extended from the relevant date onwards. A tenancy agreement signed before 1 January 2025 is therefore untouched as long as it is neither renewed nor tacitly extended. Nor does the measure apply to owner-occupied homes or to second homes.

Overseas, the timetable is later.

Class G homes are banned there in 2028 and class F in 2031, in Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, La Réunion and Mayotte. That gap has no effect in Sainte-Maxime. It is mentioned here simply to avoid any confusion.

One easing was introduced in 2025 at the court stage. A judge could not order works where architectural or heritage constraints make compliance impossible, as certified by a qualified professional. ANIL presents this exception as applicable from 2025, but the text behind it could not be identified. So it should be checked with the ADIL du Var before drawing any conclusion from it.

The rent freeze, a national rule rather than a local one

Rents on homes rated F and G have been frozen since 24 August 2022. The freeze applies across the whole country, in the private rented sector and in the social housing sector alike. It comes from the Climate and Resilience Act, so it does not depend on whether the town is a designated high-demand area. The confusion is common, and it costs those who fall into it.

The freeze reaches a long way. The landlord of an F or G home cannot raise the rent between two tenants, that is on re-letting. Nor can they raise it when the tenancy is renewed. Finally, they cannot apply the annual indexation to the rent reference index.

Two further points complete the picture. Seasonal holiday lettings fall outside the rent freeze scheme.

In designated high-demand areas, the annual decree on rent increases also lists F and G homes among the cases where no increase is possible. So the two rules meet, even though their basis differs.

The timetable has not moved by a single day. It is the thermometer that changed, not the date of the exam.

How long an EPC stays valid

An energy performance certificate is valid for ten years. To let a home, it must be less than ten years old on the date the tenancy agreement is signed. That period is simple, but it came with a major exception on 1 January 2025. EPCs produced before 1 July 2021, under the old method, stopped being valid on that date.

The official guidance points specifically to EPCs issued between 1 January 2018 and 30 June 2021. The practical consequence is clear as at 12 September 2026: any usable EPC is necessarily one produced from 1 July 2021 onwards, under the reformed method. So an owner who digs out an older certificate has to have a new one drawn up. The check takes thirty seconds, since the date is written on the document.

The EPC has been binding since 1 July 2021. That means the landlord or the seller can be held contractually liable if the document is wrong. As a result, a collective EPC for a building no longer removes the need for an individual EPC for the home. It can only serve as a basis for the individual certificate.

The rating rests on a double threshold, which often comes as a surprise. To reach a label from A to G, the home must meet a minimum threshold on each of the two criteria. The first criterion is energy consumption, the second greenhouse gas emissions. So the weaker of the two results sets the final label.

The real change in 2026: the electricity coefficient

Here is the most useful piece of news for a landlord in September 2026. The EPC converts the electricity used into primary energy with a coefficient. That coefficient stood at 2.3 for years. An order of August 2025 lowered it to 1.9 with effect from 1 January 2026.

The effect of that cut is mechanical. The same electricity use translates into lower primary energy use, and therefore into a potentially better label. According to ANIL, around 850,000 homes would leave F or G energy sieve status thanks to this first cut. The exact date and number of that August 2025 order could not be confirmed, and we say so in all honesty.

A second step is already written into law.

The order of 19 August 2026 lowers the coefficient again, from 1.9 to 1.7, with effect from 1 January 2027. It covers every home that uses electricity for heating, cooling or domestic hot water. The gain can reach a whole class, and two classes in rare cases.

Two safeguards come with this change, and they are worth knowing. No label can drop as a result of the new calculation. What is more, homes rated F or G can move out of those classes and escape the letting restrictions. The timetable itself stays the same: only the method of calculation changes.

The free recalculation through the ADEME observatory

An existing EPC stays valid for ten years, even after these changes of coefficient. So there is no need to call an assessor back. A free recalculation is possible, though, with no new visit, through the ADEME EPC observatory. That is the route to take for a home heated or cooled by electricity.

The step has a concrete benefit on the Var coast. Many homes in the gulf of Saint-Tropez are heated by electricity, often with reversible air conditioning. Those are exactly the homes that the change of coefficient can move up a class. A recalculation costs nothing and can change the right to let.

Here is the order to follow as at 12 September 2026. First, check the date of the EPC and the label obtained.

Then look at whether the home uses electricity for heating, cooling or hot water. If it does, ask the ADEME observatory for the recalculation before committing to any works.

The penalties attached to the certificate

Penalties do not target the unfit home alone. Using an uncertified assessor carries a fine of €1,500, rising to €3,000 for a repeat offence. Failing to send the certificate to ADEME also carries a €1,500 fine. Finally, wrong information in a listing can cost up to €3,000, and €15,000 for a company.

On the tenant's side, remedies come in stages. They start by asking in writing for the home to be brought up to standard, preferably by recorded delivery letter. If no agreement follows within two months, they can go to the departmental conciliation board or to court. The judge can order the works, suspend or reduce the rent, and award damages.

One last lever exists, and it is a powerful one.

Social security bodies can hold back housing benefit until the home is brought up to standard. The tenant can also ask their landlord for the EPC. An up-to-date certificate, handed over at signing, therefore avoids most of these difficulties.

Mediterranean climate: no special treatment, and we will say so plainly

An idea goes around on the coast, and it is wrong. The EPC makes no allowance for the Mediterranean climate. Thresholds for the E, F and G labels can indeed be adjusted, but only in climate zones H1b, H1c and H2d above 800 metres. Sainte-Maxime, at sea level and on the Mediterranean coast, gets no benefit from it.

Cooling is one of the five uses the certificate takes into account. The other four are heating, domestic hot water, auxiliaries and lighting. A cooling need therefore enters the consumption calculation, which can weigh on the result for an air-conditioned home.

Exactly how that calculation is triggered by climate zone could not be confirmed on an up-to-date page, so we are not claiming that a home in Sainte-Maxime is automatically charged with a cooling need.

The summer comfort indicator deserves an explanation too. It must be assessed and rated as good, fair or poor. But only passive summer comfort is assessed, and active cooling systems are left out, apart from ceiling fans. So installing air conditioning does not improve this indicator.

The conclusion is simple, and it is worth more than reassuring talk. What improves a label in the Var is insulation, windows and doors, passive solar shading and the way heat is produced. The mild climate brings no bonus under the rules. The new electricity coefficient, on the other hand, brings a real and free gain worth checking.

Where to check your own situation

Here, finally, are the right people to ask. The service-public.gouv.fr site publishes the official guidance on the EPC, on fitness for letting and on landlords' obligations. ADEME runs the EPC observatory, where the free recalculation is requested. ANIL and the ADIL du Var answer free of charge on an individual situation.

At LOCAMAXIME, every home offered by the year has a valid EPC, attached to the tenancy agreement. We follow the timetable and the method of calculation, because they bear directly on what we do. This article describes the law as it stands on 12 September 2026, and it will be updated as soon as a new text changes it. It explains the general rule and is not legal advice on a particular case.