APL up 1.15% from 1 October — and a new rule for students

From 1 October 2026 French housing benefits have risen by 1.15%. This covers all three: APL (aide personnalisée au logement), ALF (allocation de logement familiale) and ALS (allocation de logement sociale). The increase is confirmed by an order of 28 September 2026.

The figure is not arbitrary. Housing benefits are revalued every 1 October against the IRL rent index for the second quarter of the current year, and the IRL for Q2 2026 rose by 1.15% year on year — the same in mainland France, in Corsica and in the overseas regions and departments. For comparison, the October 2025 revaluation was 1.04%.

The recalculation is automatic, but worth checking

CAF or MSA apply the increase themselves; no application is needed. The source nonetheless advises checking in your online account that the recalculation went through and that the updated amount is being paid, and contacting your CAF or MSA if something does not match.

There is one detail that makes the increase easy to miss entirely. For tenants, APL is generally paid directly to the landlord, who deducts it from the rent. So the increase shows up not as money arriving in your account but as a smaller amount on your rent call.

The common mistake: applying later than you move

APL is not backdated, and that costs money. The rules work like this:

• the benefit is due from the first day of the month following the month of the application;
• payment lands on the 5th of each month.

The source gives an example: move in on 15 October, rights open in November, and the first payment arrives on 5 December. Which yields a simple practical rule: the CAF application goes in during the month you move, not when a free evening turns up. Missed months are not recovered.

The conditions that most often catch newcomers

These points come from the Service-Public reference page on APL (verified 1 July 2026).

Residence permit. A foreign national can receive APL while holding a valid titre de séjour.

A separate rule for students, new since 1 July 2026. A student from outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland whose titre de séjour was issued for studies can receive APL in only one of three situations:

1. they receive a means-tested grant (bourse sur critères sociaux from CROUS, or a regional grant in the health and social field aligned on those criteria);
2. they are in work;
3. they hold an apprentissage or professionnalisation contract.

This is a substantive change: before that date a student permit was not in itself an obstacle.

Main residence only. APL applies to housing occupied at least 8 months a year (with exceptions). Not to a second home.

The housing must be conventionné — covered by an agreement with the state. The landlord is obliged to tell you. Most HLM housing is covered. The housing must also be located in France and meet the décence and peuplement criteria — fitness for habitation, and size matched to the number of occupants.

Renting from a relative

Here the rules distinguish by degree of kinship. APL is not available if the landlord is your ascendant (father, mother, grandfather, grandmother) or descendant (child, grandchild), or the same relative of your spouse or PACS partner. Renting from a brother, sister, uncle, aunt, cousin, nephew or niece, however, can qualify.

Other things worth knowing

• Assets count only above €30,000 — property and financial assets, yours and those of the people in the household.
• A rent increase during the year does not immediately change the APL. The recalculation happens automatically from 1 January of the following year, based on the July rent.
• Payment can be suspended if the housing stops meeting the décence and peuplement criteria, or if the occupant refuses to let inspectors verify.

APL is calculated individually: rent, dependants, household income and assets all feed in. An amount cannot be stated in advance — CAF's site has a simulator for an estimate, and the application is filed in the same place.