Rent Delinquency Registry: The Good Idea Is Back, but Safeguards Are Lacking
On September 8, Housing Minister Vincent Jeanbrun, speaking before the Greater Paris Chamber of Notaries, revived the idea of a national registry of rental arrears. Landlords are in general agreement on the principle, but far less so on the proposed details.
An 18-square-meter studio generated 1,638 contact requests in less than a week. This figure, reported by Namirial, speaks volumes about the current balance of power in the rental market in major cities. Faced with such a high volume of interest, landlords no longer select tenants—they eliminate them. The most comprehensive application wins—or the one that inspires the most confidence—which isn’t exactly the same as the one from the most financially stable applicant.
It is against this backdrop that the proposal for a database of delinquent payments—which was shelved for the first time in 2020—has resurfaced. Arnaud Hacquart, president of Imodirect, has been advocating for it for over a year and formalized his proposal in writing in April and again in June. “It’s good news that the minister is taking this up. But we must not repeat the failure of 2020, when the proposal was swept aside in a matter of days because it hadn’t been properly developed,” he said.
Three Conditions to Avoid a Lifetime Rental Record
The first concerns access. The registry should be restricted to licensed professionals; it should not be accessible to individuals, nor should it be enforceable in private transactions, following the model of the national registry of consumer credit repayment incidents (FICP) in the banking sector or the Préventel economic interest group (GIE) in the telecommunications sector. An open registry would effectively become a blacklist.
The second concerns the trigger threshold. A delayed payment or a difficult month following a separation should not be taken into account. Only outstanding rent debts that are confirmed after the proceedings should be included, with immediate and automatic removal upon settlement, under the responsibility of the reporting professional.
The third is the most political. For Imodirect, the database is justified only if it comes with a real benefit for tenants: an automatic guarantee against unpaid rent for any applicant not listed in it, and an end to the systematic requirement for a permanent lease, a guarantor, and income equivalent to four times the rent. “This database makes it possible to reopen the market to atypical applicants—such as the self-employed, young workers, and single-parent families—who are currently excluded due to the fear of unpaid rent,” argues Arnaud Hacquart.
is concerned about the proposal to require tenants to provide a criminal record check. The minister mentioned an option in which applicants would provide information about their criminal history themselves, similar to the criminal record check required when applying for a job. Imodirect considers this approach ineffective. “Nearly one in four files already contains a forged document, often generated by artificial intelligence. One more certificate to provide means one more document to forge,” warns its president, who advocates for verification by a professional at the source.
The agency is calling on the government to enshrine the measure in legislation, in line with the mandate entrusted to Sylvain Grataloup and in coordination with the National Commission on Information Technology and Civil Liberties (CNIL), whose opinion should be sought in advance.
Imodirect points out that the proposal only makes sense if backed by two fundamental reforms it has long advocated: the widespread implementation of a rent default guarantee and the requirement to use a licensed professional for rental property management. “The solutions have been on the table for years—documented, costed, and ready to implement. What’s missing is neither the expertise nor the tools: it’s the courage to undertake a reform that won’t please either side on day one, but that will put housing back on the market,” concludes Arnaud Hacquart.
When it comes to tools, the issue of document forgery extends beyond the file itself. Namirial, which sells identity verification and electronic signature solutions, advocates for a rental process in which the file ceases to be a stack of supporting documents and instead becomes a set of authenticated evidence. “The real challenge isn’t replacing paper with a PDF. It’s enabling every stakeholder to instantly verify that a document is authentic, that the identity is correct, and that the signature is legally binding,” explains Michael Lakhal, the group’s chief product officer. The arrival of the European digital identity wallet and certified attributes could accelerate this shift.
For a landlord, the challenge goes beyond simply selecting a tenant. In a market where mistrust leads to requirements for a guarantor, a security deposit, and a security deposit equal to four times the monthly rent, solvent applicants are ultimately deterred, and vacancies are prolonged. Rental returns depend on more than just the listed rent.
