On 12 February 2017 the canton of Vaud adopted the Act on the Preservation and Promotion of the Rental Housing Stock (LPPPL) with 55.5% Yes (108,040 votes to 86,635), on a turnout of 48.3%. The referendum launched by the real-estate sector was rejected, closing nearly fifteen years of debate over the canton's housing shortage.
The LPPPL bundles several tools: controls on the conversion, demolition and renovation of rental buildings, the creation of an « affordable-rent housing » category (LLA) requiring no public subsidy, and above all a right of pre-emption allowing municipalities to acquire a plot put up for sale in a building zone as a priority, in order to promote public-utility housing there.
More than eight years after adoption — and after the right of pre-emption came into force on 1 January 2020 — this briefing tests the two camps' promises and fears against the facts observed in the canton.
▲ Overall result Act adopted with 55.5% Yes (108,040 votes to 86,635). Turnout: 48.3%. The referendum launched by the real-estate sector is rejected. | ▼ Vote map The Yes prevails canton-wide, carried in particular by the urban centres hit by the shortage. The district-by-district breakdown is not reproduced here. |
Actors and figures
▲ Yes camp • Vaud Council of State (sponsor of the Act) • Majority of the Grand Council (May 2016 compromise) • Socialist Party and the Greens • ASLOCA Vaud (tenants' association) • Christian Democrats and Vaud Libre (centre) | ▼ No camp • Vaud Chamber of Real Estate / USPI Vaud (behind the referendum) • Employer and investor circles • SVP Vaud • Part of the FDP/PLR • « No to a housing shortage planned by law » committee |
Arguments and verdicts
▲ Arguments FOR (Yes camp) Ending a shortage twenty years in the making « The Act must allow the canton to escape an unacceptable housing shortage that has lasted nearly twenty years. » ✓~ Partly confirmed The new tools (LLA, pre-emption) were indeed activated after 2017. But the shortage did not disappear: according to Statistique Vaud, the vacancy rate remained durably below the 1.5% scarcity threshold in the years following the vote. Source: Statistique Vaud; Canton of Vaud An Act that does not ban renovations « Renovation will always be possible: the LPPPL authorises conversions and renovations and simplifies procedures. » ✓ Confirmed The Act preserved the ability to convert and renovate rental buildings, subject to authorisation. No renovation freeze specific to the LPPPL is documented. Source: Canton of Vaud; Le Temps A genuinely usable right of pre-emption « Pre-emption will let municipalities acquire land to develop public-utility housing. » ✓ Confirmed In force since 1 January 2020, the right of pre-emption was first exercised by Lausanne in 2022, then used around ten times. The Federal Supreme Court ruled the tool consistent with constitutional conditions. Source: 24 heures; ASLOCA Vaud; Federal Supreme Court | ▼ Arguments AGAINST (No camp) An infringement of property rights « These measures let the public authorities overturn property rights without guaranteeing the construction of a single additional home. » ✗~ Partly refuted The Federal Supreme Court confirmed that pre-emption, though a serious restriction of the property guarantee, meets the conditions of the Constitution. Property was not abolished but framed; public-utility housing was in fact acquired. Source: Federal Supreme Court; Vaud Constitutional Court Pre-emption will deter developers « The right of pre-emption will deter developers, who will fear being stripped of the deal at the last moment. » ✗~ Partly refuted Housing construction continued after entry into force and no collapse of real-estate activity is documented. The argument was not baseless, however: high-profile disputes (in Prilly, a CHF 62-million plot taken to the Federal Supreme Court) fed a sense of legal uncertainty. Source: 24 heures; Le Temps A « bureaucratic monster » « The Act will create a bureaucratic monster and strip investors and developers of their freedom to do business. » ✗~ Partly refuted Implementation generated recurring procedures and litigation, but not the wholesale gridlock predicted: the Act is applied and the Vaud property market remained active. Source: Cantonal press coverage |
Factual record
3 Confirmed | 2 Partly confirmed | 0 Partly refuted | 0 Refuted |
Eight years on, the LPPPL has kept its central promise: giving the canton concrete tools against the shortage. The right of pre-emption, the most contested piece of the campaign, came into force, was used by municipalities and upheld all the way to the Federal Supreme Court. The affordable-rent housing category now exists in Vaud law.
The No camp's fears have largely deflated: neither the predicted abolition of property rights nor the collapse of real-estate development materialised. The market stayed active and renovations continued.
They were not, however, baseless. Pre-emption fed real legal uncertainty, with high-profile disputes and a string of appeals that, as late as 2024, still pitted municipalities, owners and the Council of State against one another. Above all, the implicit promise of escaping the shortage went unmet: the Vaud vacancy rate stayed on the floor, a reminder that a law on the rental stock has never, on its own, built housing.