Overview
- Que Choisir Ensemble published an audit in early July that found 95% of sampled online listings in cities with rent control exceed the legal ceilings for a 15 m² student studio.
- The study reviewed ads on SeLoger, Leboncoin, PAP and Gens de confiance across 11 university agglomerations, sampling 15 listings per city and 50 in Paris to check legal and administrative conformity.
- Investigators found 73% of listings had at least one irregularity, with 36% omitting the mandatory Energy Performance Diagnosis (DPE) and non‑compliance rates reaching near or at 100% in several major university towns.
- Que Choisir Ensemble warned that a shortage of CROUS student residences forces about nine in ten students into the private market where average asking rents for small studios run near €600 a month and reach about €984 in Paris.
- The association urges platforms to verify legal conformity of ads and calls for stronger municipal enforcement and preservation of rent‑control rules to protect students and reduce unaffordable private rents.