Lausanne Policy of Housing
The rents of 142 dwellings are long -term corseted
By reselling half of the buildings purchased by pre -emption, the city takes a stage in its housing policy.
The Avenue de France 71-73 building was sold to the cooperative housing company Lausanne for an amount of 14 million francs, with a right of area of nineteen years. © Florian Cella / Tamedia
Florian Cella / Tamedia
- The city of Lausanne will resell seven buildings acquired by preemption to housing cooperatives.
- The SCHL becomes the largest buyer with four buildings for 47 million.
- Cooperatives will have to renovate housing while keeping the current tenants.
- Sales income will finance real estate acquisition and municipal energy renovations.
Lausanne’s housing policy has taken an important step. Of the fifteen buildings acquired by the municipality by its right of pre -emption, seven, totaling 142 dwellings, will be sold to cooperative companies. The municipal parliament must still validate the operation. Since 2020, the city has used this right, which allows you to acquire a building by replacing the private buyer. She spent a total of 142 million for the fifteen buildings.
They did not sell like hotcakes. In February 2023the city has launched calls for tenders to resell the first eleven buildings acquired thanks to the right of pre -emption. Four did not find takers. “Each cooperative is free to apply and it makes its choice according to the interest it has for the building, its state, its financial capacities,” notes trustee Grégoire Junod. A second municipal notice should arrive this fall with new sales proposals.
The seven buildings in the process of being sold were purchased by the city between 2020 and 2022: “If this operation has taken more time than expected, it is because between the moments of purchases and today, interest rates have varied a lot, explains Grégoire Junod. The rates were very low during purchases, before increasing sharply, then gradually drop to the initial level. ”
For the time being, out of the seven buildings whose resale is on the rails, four will go to the purse of the Lausanne cooperative housing company (SCHL) for a total of 47 million. This makes the largest buyer SCHL. Its current park has 101 buildings in French -speaking Switzerland, mainly in Lausanne and in its agglomeration.
Three other actors are more modest. CODHA, Geneva cooperative with 20 buildingsThe commons, young cooperative making its first purchase, and building ABC SA (225 dwellings with moderate rents), mainly in the hands of the city.
Lausanne owner of the land
In this operation, the municipality of Lausanne remains the owner of the land (worth on average almost 16% of the initial purchase price) and sells buildings in area of area for nineteen years. The trustee recalls philosophy: “Buildings are sold to cooperatives, but with important conditions: rent control lasts twenty-five years, according to Vaud law. Thanks to the area of area which will link cooperatives, this rent control extends to all its duration, that is to say ninety years, renewable. The ceilings fixed by the State can only evolve in the event of significant inflation or modification of the reference rate. ”
Owner cooperatives have another major obligation: to clean up housing within five years, while maintaining current tenants. In return, they are exempt from paying the 3% annuity to the city for the first ten years. In addition, half of the new tenants will have to be chosen outside the members of the cooperatives. A PLR Matthieu Carrel postulate had offered this opening.
The cash that will pay the cooperatives for buildings amounts to a total of 57 million. A half of this sum will return to the city’s real estate acquisition fund, now almost exhausted. The other half will finance the energy renovations of municipal buildings, to respect its climate plan. With the perception of annuities from 11e Year, the operation has a slight benefit, also underlines the trustee.
For Grégoire Junod, a “virtuous” model
“Our model is quite virtuous for public finances, the sustainability of affordable rent housing, the protection of tenants and the sanitation of buildings,” says Grégoire Junod.
The socialist in the campaign for his re -election does not forget the criticisms of the right and real estate circles. “What worries them is that these real estate operations can reproduce on a larger scale because they are profitable,” says Grégoire Junod. But that’s good. By playing an important role in the real estate market, the city allows you to maintain a housing offer accessible to everyone. ”
Lausanne, July 4, 2025, the building located at Avenue de France 71-73. © Florian Cella / Tamedia
Florian Cella / Tamedia
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