The 2026 EPC Reform: Your Property May No Longer Be an Energy Sieve

For two years, the energy performance certificate (DPE, diagnostic de performance énergétique) was the nightmare of Paris investors. A property rated F or G was one that could soon no longer be let, hit with a discount, and ruled out automatically by well-informed buyers.

Then, on 1 January 2026, the calculation method changed. And with it, the country's energy map.

What changed, in one sentence

The electricity conversion coefficient – the figure that converts electricity consumed into “primary energy” for the EPC calculation – fell from 2.3 to 1.9 on 1 January 2026.

The direct consequence: every electrically heated property has its official consumption figure recalculated downwards. Mechanically, its energy label improves.

✅ The scale of the effect: According to figures from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, around 850,000 properties are lifted out of energy-sieve status (classes F and G) purely because of the reform, with no works carried out at all. Most are Fs moving to E, with a significant share of Gs moving to F.

Important: no label gets worse

The new method can only improve a property's rating, or leave it unchanged. No property sees its score fall. It's a one-way effect, favourable to owners of electrically heated properties.

Why this is decisive for a buy-to-let purchase in Paris

The timetable banning certain properties from being let remains unchanged, however:

• Since 1 January 2025: properties rated G can no longer be let out or have their lease renewed.
• 1 January 2028: it will be the turn of properties rated F.
• 1 January 2034: properties rated E.

The reform's lever works like this: an electrically heated property rated F in 2025 – and therefore doomed from 2028 – can move to E in 2026. It gains six extra years of visibility in one go (a 2034 deadline instead of 2028).

For an investor, this changes everything: a property disqualified yesterday can become lettable and negotiable again, often at a price still shaped by the old label.

How to check a property's new rating – without a new diagnostic

Good news: there's no need to commission a new EPC. The Ademe (the French environment and energy agency) has launched an online service that recalculates the label under the new method, using the Ademe number shown on the original EPC.

• Retrieve the Ademe number from the existing diagnostic report (it appears at the top of the EPC).
• Enter it on the Ademe's DPE-Audit Observatory.
• You'll get the recalculated, legally binding rating, at no cost and with no new visit from an assessor.

⚠️ The point to remember: The reform only applies to electrically heated properties. A gas- or oil-heated property rated F or G remains an energy sieve, with its ban timetable and rent freeze intact. And European regulatory pressure (the EPBD directive, being transposed into French law from September 2026) will keep the requirements on the worst-performing properties in place.

The APPARTE analysis

This reform opens a window that few buyers have factored in yet. On the ground, we see properties still listed and negotiated as energy sieves, even though their recalculated label tells a different story. This is exactly the kind of information gap a buyer's agent exploits on your behalf: spotting the property the market is undervaluing because it's still working from the old scale.

APPARTE factors the recalculated EPC into every property analysis

Before presenting you with a flat intended for letting, we check its real rating in light of the 2026 reform and its letting timetable. Book an appointment.