2. Home Improvement Grants in France

1. 2.1. French Housing Improvement Agency
   2.2. Eligible Persons
   2.3. Eligible Properties
   2.4. Eligible Works
   2.5. Level of Grant
   2.6. Application Process

2.4. What Works are Eligible for a Home Improvement Grant?

The eligible works are widely defined and effectively anything that is required to bring the property up to a minimum decent standard may be considered eligible.

Landlords, in particular, need to demonstrate that following completion of the grant aided works the whole property will be to a minimum legal standard.

However, given the amount of grant aid available it is not the purpose of the grant to finance the complete renovation of a derelict property. Accordingly, a property that is in need of complete reconstruction is not ordinarilly eligible, although each case is considered on its merits.

Even though the property may be otherwise in a good condition, it may well still be eligible for grant assistance towards energy saving works.

The same grants are also available for adapation works for elderly or infirm persons. Before such works could be agreed there would need to be an assessment carried out by the Commission des droits et de l’autonomie des personnes handicapées (CDAPH).

Landlords are also eligible for a grant towards the cost of conversion works for change of use to residential, as adapation works carried out by a landlord to a property occupied by an elderly or infirm tenant.

Th communal areas of a copropriété are also eligible.

It is imperative that you do not start the works until the grant has been approved. However, if you have started some work, but need grant assistance with other, unrelated work, then you can still apply.