Buy-to-Let in Paris: Why You Should Target EPC Class D in 2026

In Paris's older housing stock, the energy performance certificate (DPE, diagnostic de performance énergétique) is not just a label: it's a factor in price, letability and risk. And counter-intuitively, aiming for maximum performance isn't always the right call. The best trade-off centres on class D.

The timetable that shapes everything

The Climate and Resilience law (loi Climat et Résilience) sets out a timetable banning certain properties from being let:

• Since 2025: properties rated G can no longer be let (new lease, renewal, re-letting).
• 2028: properties rated F.
• 2034: properties rated E.

On top of this, since 2022, there has been a rent freeze on F- and G-rated properties: it's impossible to raise or index the rent as long as the property remains an energy sieve (passoire thermique). In Paris, a high-demand area, this double penalty is very real.

Why not class E?

Class E is only banned in 2034 – that's a long way off. There is a discount at purchase, but it remains modest: it's more of a negotiating point than a real depreciation. An informed buyer can secure a reduction of a few percentage points. But this is a property on which the 2034 deadline will weigh sooner or later, and which will eventually require works.

Why not class A, B or C?

Because they are rare in older Paris buildings – less than 10% of the stock. This scarcity sometimes commands a purchase premium. You end up paying for a level of performance that the rental market doesn't reward proportionately: a capped rent doesn't pay more for an A than for a D. Overpaying for energy virtue eats into your return.

✅ Why class D: It's the Paris market's benchmark – the level at which there's neither a discount nor a premium. A D-rated property sells at the going rate for the area, lets with no timetable constraints, and escapes the rent freeze. It offers the best ratio of regulatory security to purchase price.

The 2026 nuance: the reform of the calculation method

Since 1 January 2026, the new electricity conversion coefficient has reclassified hundreds of thousands of electrically heated homes – Fs becoming Es, Gs becoming Fs – with no works carried out. In practice, a property advertised as an energy sieve deserves to be recalculated before any decision is made: its real rating may be more favourable, while its price may still reflect the old scale. This is a source of opportunities for those who know where to look.

How a buyer's agent factors the EPC into a property's scoring

At APPARTE, the EPC feeds directly into our assessment grid, on two fronts:

• Value-uplift potential: an F or G bought at a discount, whose renovation cost (often €400 to €800/m² in Paris to gain two classes) is partly covered by grants – MaPrimeRénov', CEE energy-saving certificates, zero-interest eco-loans – can become a profitable D. That's a strategy, not a flaw.
• Deal-breakers: conversely, a co-owned property whose renovation depends on a general meeting vote, or where the extra cost of works cancels out the discount, is ruled out. The whole challenge is telling an energy-sieve opportunity apart from an energy-sieve trap.

This transaction-by-transaction analysis is precisely what makes the difference between buying a price and buying a return.

APPARTE assesses every property on its real return

Recalculated EPC, cost of works, available grants, letability: we score every opportunity before presenting it to you. Book an appointment.