News Digest: Fairer Energy Ratings for Old Houses & Will France’s 2021 Inheritance Law Be Overthrown?

Low and middle-income households in France that are eligible for the means-tested “back-to-school grant” or l’allocation de rentrée scolaire (ARS) should receive the funds this week. Eligible households will receive between €423.48 per child between 6 and 10 years, and €462.32 for a child between 15 and 18 years, to purchase textbooks, stationery, and other items required for primary school (école primaire), secondary school (college), or high school (lycée).

Payments are made by the CAF and should be paid automatically to your bank account today – August 19th (usually they will go in straight away, but it’s worth waiting 24-48 hours before chasing it up, just in case it’s delayed by your bank). If you aren’t currently registered with the CAF, you’ll need to do that first.

Read our guides:

Allocation de Rentrée Scolaire – Back to School Grant

Preparing Your Child for La Rentrée in France

A recent meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) in the UK has highlighted the importance of representation for the estimated six million Brits who live overseas. To address the issue, a coalition of international citizens’ rights groups – including New Europeans UK, Brexpats – Hear Our Voice, and Unlock Democracy* – have joined forces to propose the appointment of a UK MP devoted to overseas citizens.

At the beginning of the year, the UK finally changed the rules to allow overseas residents the right to vote in UK elections – previously, British citizens who had lived overseas for more than 15 years lost this vote and were, controversially, not able to vote in the Brexit referendum that would affect their lives arguably more than anyone. This was an important step in protecting and supporting overseas citizens’ rights, but campaigners are now pushing for the UK to establish an MP to represent Brits living overseas. There is currently no one representing the rights of these citizens – instead, they fall under the constituency of their last residence in the UK. As such, their representative MP is highly unlikely to have any experience of the issues faced by overseas citizens they represent. Similarly, the minority voice of a few overseas citizens in one constituency is often a gross misrepresentation of the very real – and often widespread – issues experienced by overseas citizens as a whole.

France was put forward as a good example, with campaigners pointing out how the country has overseas constituencies and MPs to represent the unique needs and issues that affect citizens of its overseas territories. And France isn’t the only example – several EU countries also have dedicated overseas MPs, so there is a strong precedent for the UK to follow.

To raise awareness of the issue, campaigners are encouraging British citizens overseas to send a postcard to their UK MP, urging them to support the creation of an overseas MP. A postcard is not only on-theme for overseas residents, but it’s hoped that they will stand out amid the many letters received by MPs.

You can search for your UK MP and their contact details here.

*The coalition of overseas citizens’ rights groups also includes Liberal Democrats Abroad,  Labour International, Liberal Democrats Overseas, British Overseas Voters Forum, and Bremain in Spain.

All French properties are required by law to have an Energy Performance Certificate or ‘diagnostic de performance énergétique’ (DPE) in order to be rented out or sold, and France has been tightening regulations in recent years. Under the current regulations, properties with the least energy-efficient ratings – E, F, or G – must also carry out an energy audit when selling their property to inform the buyers of the required improvements needed to bring the property up to a higher rating. Accordingly, properties ranking lower than D tend to be trickier to sell and command a lower than market price. In addition, G-rated properties may not be offered for rent in France, and this rule will be extended to F-rated properties by 2028 and E-rated properties by 2034.

However, while the push to increase the energy-efficiency of French homes is largely supported, the strict criteria used to detirmine the energy ratings has drawn criticism, especially from owners of older homes that use traditional construction methods not accounted for under the new rating system and homes that use electric heating, which are penalised far more than their gas-heated counterparts.

A new law has recently been passed to redress this, at least in part, which will come into action from January 2026. Notably, the electricity conversion coefficient in the calculation of the DPE will be lowered to 1.9 from 2.3, effectively allowing some 850,000 properties to move out of the critical F and G categories.

France’s controversial 2021 inheritance law has been a source of stress for many French property owners, as it essentially overrides the EU-granted right to elect for your French assets to fall under the law of your nationality. Many British, American, and other foreign citizens who own French property have taken advantage of this option, choosing to write a UK, US, or other Will and avoid their French property being subject to France’s forced heirship (succession) laws. The right to do so is protected by a 2012 EU regulation.

However, in 2021, France introduced a new law that obliged French notaires to offer a portion of the deceased’s French estate to any bloodline children not provided for – essentially, reinforcing the original succession law. The premise for the law was allegedly to protect daughters from being cut off from inheritance under Sharia law, but those in opposition argued that its effects would largely be felt by European and American owners instead, which certainly seems to be the case. Since then, a number of foreign owners and their legal representatives have complained to the EU Commission, and a petition was filed to the European Parliament, arguing that this goes against EU regulation.

After a long wait, the EU Commission finally got around to handling the claim last year. A recent update states that the Commission has proposed several options to the French authorities and has given them 10 weeks to respond, which means we should know more by the beginning of September. While both the Commission and the French authorities seem to be playing their cards close to their chest, it’s likely that some agreement will be reached, as most legal advisors agree that the French law clearly goes against EU regulations.