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  • A legislative turning point took place in France in 2014, with the implementation of the law for access to housing and renovated urban planning (ALUR). One of the main obstacles to the use of elevation and the full exploitation of the dimensions was then the land use coefficient (COS), an urban planning rule which limited the built density. On many plots the density authorized by the COS was lower than that of the prescribed template. In these cases, either the buildings were established in the depth of the plot and therefore lower than the authorized height, or they were established on the street front, within the height of the authorized templates and not as deep as the template. authorized. The ALUR law removed this coefficient (COS). All buildings which had not reached the maximum authorized height thus had a new and sometimes significant potential for elevation, within the prescribed dimensions. Following the passage of the ALUR law, Atelier Parisien d’Urbanisme estimated that 11,520 buildings on the street had the possibility of being raised, or 12% of the built stock without counting the buildings at the back of the plot. This is considerable for a city like Paris. In addition to having abolished the COS, the ALUR law notably opened up additional rights of dimensions on street corners - where the impact of the cast shadow is the most minimal - and modified the principle of voting, in co-ownership, the sale of air rights.
  • In 2014, the French Senate unanimously passed the ALUR law, which introduced qualified majority (two-thirds of the votes, representing half of the owners) for all cases, following an amendment by the Greens. The right of veto was converted into a right of first refusal: within two months of completion, the owners of the rooftop flats can be the first to buy the new homes, after the expiry of this period the homes will be offered on the market. Explicitly, besides alleviating the housing shortage, the amendment cited energy transition as an argument: from the proceeds of the new homes, the existing owners could make their buildings more sustainable.
  • An increase allows you to benefit from advantageous taxation:
    1. Exemption from taxation on real estate capital gains, under conditions1;
    2. Temporary exemption from property tax for two years from completion (CGI: art. 1383).
    3. There is no aid specifically dedicated to raising the height, the aid from Anah being intended to finance the rehabilitation of existing buildings. However, the energy gain resulting from this operation, if it reaches 35%, can be taken into account to benefit from MaPrimeRénov’ Copropriété. Thus, the elevation entitles you to aid, but it must be part of an overall renovation project.
    4. The elevation is an opportunity to carry out work on the existing building, particularly intended to improve the energy performance of the building.
    5. In addition to the benefit of a reduced VAT rate of 5.5% for work to improve the energy quality of residential premises2, aid can be mobilized:
    6. Eco-PTZ (individual and co-ownership): this is an interest-free loan (CCH: D.319-1 et seq.) to finance energy saving work carried out on private areas and common areas of the condominium. There is an individual eco-loan and a co-ownership eco-loan intended for the co-owners' union;
    7. Aid from Anah, including MaPrimeRénov’ Copropriété: this is aid for work to improve the energy performance of co-owners’ housing, open to co-owners and unions, under certain conditions;
    8. Energy saving certificates (EEC): this is aid for work to improve the energy performance of housing, open to co-owners and unions, under certain conditions.

Links

  1. ALUR law, 2014
  2. The Atelier Parisien d’Urbanisme report on upward extension   potential after ALUR law
  3. Alur Law
  4. Taxes deduction
  5. To the Paris bioclimatic PLU 

City policies

Paris

A new place given to upward extension

  • In 2024, the municipality of Paris implemented a new town planning regulation that is « bioclimatic ». Since the passage of the ALUR law in 2014, the City of Paris has revised its local urban planning plan (PLU) twice, in 2016 and in 2024. Each time adjustments concerned upward extension and its uses. The 2016 modification encouraged the greening of roofs and reinforced the obligation to create housing when extending upwards, by increasing the percentage of minimum surface area dedicated to housing to 90% of the new surfaces created on the roof. Like many European metropolises, Paris is experiencing growth in both the number of office buildings and their vacancy, while available housing tends to reduce dramatically.
  • The revision of the PLU implemented in 2024, which became “bioclimatic PLU”, reviewed the constructability and air rights directly according to the impact of the projects on the quality of life in the city. The heights of the maximum construction gauge have been revised depending on the width of the streets: they have been reduced on narrow streets and increased on medium and wide streets, which has the consequence of having removed old potentials and of having opened new ones. A constructability bonus is also granted if the project is associated with the waterproofing of courtyards, which makes the elevation a tool serving local urban issues.
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