In order to promote social ties between generations, but also to meet the strong demand for housing from young people, the 2018 law on the development of housing, development and digital technology, known as " Momentum ", has established a solidarity intergenerational cohabitation system. Thus, any elderly person can rent, or sublet, part of their home to a young person, according to well-defined conditions. Explanations.
Solidarity intergenerational cohabitation designates a mode of housing which allows people aged 60 and over to rent or sublet (by informing their tenant who, in passing, cannot oppose it) part of their housing. to people under the age of 30. These seniors can either own or rent their homes. It can also be social housing.
This form of cohabitation between generations, which therefore goes further than just renting, is governed by conditions that have been set by the law on the development of housing, development and digital technology (the Élan law), in what is called an intergenerational cohabitation contract, also known in everyday language as an "intergenerational lease" even if this type of rental contract does not meet the strict legal definition of the word "lease" which does not include the cohabitation aspect.
A so-called "intergenerational" lease meets certain conditions. First, an age condition as explained above, whether for the elderly person who rents part of their home or for the young person who comes to live with them.
The legalization of solidarity intergenerational cohabitation responds to various societal problems. Isolation of the elderly is one of them. In France, it is estimated that just over a million seniors over the age of 60 live alone, away from their family or friends, and who no longer have any ties with society. A figure that is increasing and an isolation that particularly affects people aged 80 and over. This loneliness weighs psychologically of course, but it can also have consequences, sometimes serious, on the health of seniors. On the other hand, young adults face great problems in finding housing due to their often low incomes and the scarcity of properties to rent at a reasonable price.
The intergenerational lease provides a solution to these two problems:allowing the senior to benefit from a day-to-day presence, and offering inexpensive housing to the young person. Indeed, this type of lease allows people under 30 to rent part of a dwelling without having to pay real rent, but by paying a financial contribution, the amount of which is much lower (it generally corresponds to the share of the charges induced by the presence of the young person in the accommodation). This compensation is, moreover, agreed between the senior and the young person by mutual agreement, except in the case of social housing. This is why this payment can be only symbolic, or even zero.
Because an intergenerational lease provides for the payment of a lower rent, and unrelated to the traditional rental market, this contract may provide for the young person to perform minor services for the elderly, without any financial compensation. However, this is not an obligation. These services can take the form of presence time, meal sharing or taking out the trash, for example. Under no circumstances can these be services that could be provided by traditional human service structures.
An intergenerational lease provides that young people who rent or sublet part of the accommodation of a person aged 60 and over can benefit, like all tenants, from social housing assistance such as Personalized Housing Assistance (APL) or the social housing allowance (ALS), except if he is related to his lessor.
In the same way, a senior, already a beneficiary of the APL as a tenant, will not see the financial contribution of the young person with whom he lives taken into account in his resources for the calculation of his housing allowance.
The duration of an intergenerational lease is not determined by law, it can be freely agreed. This cohabitation contract can be terminated either by the senior or by the young person, under the same conditions. In this case, the notice period provided is short since it is 1 month.
