Rent regulations are to be applied across 412 local authorities in the Greater Paris region, capping the amount landlords are allowed to charge in rent, French Housing Minister Emmanuelle Cosse announced on Wednesday.

Rent caps in central Paris have been in place since August last year in an attempt to curb rapidly rising prices.

Under the regulations, no landlord would be allowed to charge more than 20 per cent per square metre above the ‘median rent’ in that area – a rate which is annually assessed by a local rent observatory.

However, rent caps in Paris have begun to hike up rent prices in surrounding areas.

New regulations will affect 8 million people in the Greater Paris region, most of them living in areas just outside central Paris.

“It was important to start in Paris and send a signal, but now it’s time to go beyond,” Ms Cosse told France Bleu radio.

“There are areas where the rent is too expensive in the Greater Paris region and this measure will restore purchasing power to the households affected.”

Whether to apply rent caps is being left to local authorities to decide, and so some areas are left with rapidly rising rent prices if their mayor does not implement the regulations.