Question 17562 — overseas

Summary

Mrs. Mereana Reid Arbelot draws the attention of the Minister of Cities and Housing to the failing legal regime of the Visale guarantee, which in fact deprives many Polynesian students of normal access to rental housing when they settle in France for their studies. The Action Logement group, within the framework of which the Visale guarantee is deployed, finds its legal basis in articles L. 313-17 to L. 313-20-5 of the code construction and housing. The Visale guarantee itself, on the other hand, was not created by any law or decree: it results from an agreement concluded between the State and Action Logement, launched on January 20, 2016 and since renewed by successive five-year agreements, the last covering the period 2023-2027. Its concrete conditions of application thus fall under internal directives of Action Logement Groupe and not of the law. As a result, no legislative or regulatory provision requires a lessor or a real estate agency to accept this guarantee: the owner remains free to choose his method of guarantee, subject only to not basing his refusal on a discriminatory reason prohibited by article 225-1 of the penal code, as recalled by article 1 of law no. 89-462 of July 6, 1989. This legal void results in the fact that, according to a LocService study from March 2024, only 56% of private landlords actually accept this system, even though it is guaranteed by the State. This legal vacuum deprives Polynesian students in particular of any fallback solution in the event of refusal. Article 22-2 of the law of July 6, 1989 and Decree No. 2015-1437 of November 5, 2015 set the exhaustive list of documents required for a deposit, among which is the tax notice on income. However, in application of organic law no. 2004-192 of February 27, 2004 establishing the autonomy status of French Polynesia, which confers on French Polynesia exclusive tax jurisdiction, Polynesian families are not subject to French income tax and cannot therefore produce such a tax notice. Their resources are also mentioned on their pay slips in Pacific francs (CFP), a currency that landlords are unfamiliar with. A traditional physical guarantor is therefore difficult for these families to accept. Polynesian students can still obtain the Visa guarantee: its granting depends solely on the status of the student, not on the tax situation of their family. The problem is therefore not access to Visale, but its recognition once obtained. If a lessor refuses it, the Polynesian student cannot fall back on a physical guarantor as a French student would do, for the reasons explained above. Accommodation in CROUS residences does not constitute a general fallback solution either: the number of places is limited and the allocation is subject to social criteria, so that not all students concerned have access to it. These students then find themselves without any solution for accommodation. She asks him if the Government intends to make acceptance of the Visale guarantee compulsory by landlords and real estate agencies, by modifying the construction and housing code, and what measures it intends to take so that a system financed by national solidarity really benefits overseas students who meet the conditions.

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