How long to receive French renovation grants - and why it is getting longer

Processing and payment times for home renovation funding applications are getting longer in France, prompting a group of frustrated applicants to mount a protest against the delays in payments last week.

The group protested outside the offices of the Agence nationale de l’habitat (ANAH), which manages the MaPrimeRénov' payment scheme, on May 12. 

MaPrimeRénov' is a government-funded financial aid scheme that helps property owners to apply for funding to pay for energy renovations to improve the energy consumption of their property.

Read also: MaPrimeRenov: How to claim grant for energy upgrades in French home

Thierry Flak, of the Ile-de-France-based company Home Expert Habitat, has been among those to call for a “national protest” against what he calls the “dysfunctions” of the scheme. He has also started a petition called ‘Sauver la rénovation énergétique : exigeons des réponses de l’ANAH et du Gouvernement !' (Save energy renovation: demand answers from ANAH and the government!'). So far, 77 people have signed.

Mr Flak has claimed that the “malfunctioning of MaPrimeRenov’ (is causing) “an unprecedented crisis…particularly in large-scale renovation projects”, and is calling for guaranteed payment deadlines, with compensation in the event of delays.

Petition signatories have said that they have suffered from:

• No news about their assistance

• Applications being blocked or withdrawn “arbitrarily” (they claim)

• Delays in processing and payment delays of several months, or even more than a year

• Repeated requests for supporting documents

• Lack of contact with staff

• No right of appeal

They are also calling for independent audit of grant withdrawals when they happen, and a “transparent” right to appeal process.

Average processing and payment times

Despite the protests, ANAH told Capital that the average processing time for MaPrimeRénov' applications is: 

• 63 days for renovations involving a single type of work (e.g. a boiler upgrade)

• 105 days for large-scale renovations (e.g. multiple upgrades or changes)

The average time taken to pay MaPrimeRénov‘ after the work has been completed, is:

• 49 days for single-measure renovations 

• 35 days for large-scale renovations

Read also: French grants covered 30% costs to replace my old oil-fired boiler
Read more: Do we have to pay back eco grants when we sell our French home? 

Longer times help fight fraud, says ANAH 

ANAH has denied the “malfunctioning of the scheme”. It acknowledged that current processing times are “indeed longer since the beginning of the year”, but said these were legitimate, due to:

• A “high volume of applications for major renovation projects”

• The late adoption of the finance law (delayed by last year’s vote of no confidence in the Barnier government)

• Necessary extra checks (such as anti-fraud checks) on the companies carrying out the work.

The authority said that it “disputes certain figures reported by the media”, and said that enhanced checking procedures are not designed to be punitive or to deliberately prolong the process, but to “give each party the opportunity to prove their good faith”.

ANAH is increasingly withdrawing MaPrimeRénov payments “in whole or in part’” following these enhanced checks, it said, as part of measures taken to reduce fraud.

Read more: High level of fraud hits French government energy scheme 
Read also: Tips to avoid home renovation scams in France 

Fraudulent applications have become such an issue in recent years that the government has repeatedly said it is considering scrapping the scheme altogether.