Since 1 October 2026, Wallonia has replaced its Habitation grants with two loans, the Rénopack and the Rénoprêt. They are reserved for the least energy efficient homes and require a jump in PEB (EPB) rating. The home energy audit is now the real first step.
Since 1 October 2026, Wallonia no longer pays out Habitation grants to renovate your home. Regional support now takes the form of two loans, the Rénopack and the Rénoprêt, reserved for projects that genuinely improve a home's energy performance. Here's what's changing, who can benefit, and why everything now starts, more than ever, with the home energy audit.
What changed on 1 October
The old scheme has ended. To find out whether it still applies to you, only one thing matters: not the date of the quote, nor the start date of the works, but the date the complete application was submitted, including the final invoice. If your site wasn't finished and invoiced by 30 September, or if you hadn't submitted an application, the new scheme applies.
The Walloon Government definitively adopted the new scheme at the end of September. According to a statement from the Walloon Minister for Housing and Energy, Cécile Neven, from 1 October 2026 regional support takes the form of loans, whose terms are adapted to the applicant's income. These loans are conditional on achieving a result in terms of the energy savings generated by the works.
The logic has therefore changed. Support no longer goes to isolated works, but to coherent renovation projects. Simply replacing window frames or a boiler is no longer enough to qualify for support. It's a question of financing, but above all a question of design.
Rénopack or Rénoprêt depending on your situation
Both loans already existed. Their eligibility conditions have been revised.
The Rénopack:
- It's an interest-free loan combined with, depending on household income, a reduction in the amount to be repaid. This reduction replaces the former grant.
- It covers households in income categories C1, C2 and C3, with a reduction of 50%, 40% and 15% respectively.
- The beneficiary must hold a real right over the home and commit to occupying it within 24 months of the loan being granted.
- There's a bonus for materials: a 5% increase for eco-materials.
The Rénoprêt:
- It's an interest-free loan or a preferential-rate loan compared with market conditions, determined according to the nature of the works, the applicant's profile and their income category.
- It's accessible in particular to households in category C4, to landlord-owners and to associations of co-owners.
The figures to remember:
- Category C1 goes up to €28,900 in income, and category C4 from €67,100.01 to €122,800.
- The borrowing cap rises from €60,000 to €75,000 for a single-family house.
- For a flat, each unit can get a Rénopack or Rénoprêt of up to €60,000 for the private parts.
A simple example: a category C1 household borrowing €75,000 interest-free benefits from a 50% reduction. They therefore repay around €37,500. These are approximate figures. The lending body (the Société wallonne du Crédit social or the Fonds du Logement, depending on your profile) calculates the exact amount.
The rating jump becomes the entry condition
This is the most significant change for your project. According to the Walloon Government, for homes with a G or F rating, the works must allow at least an improvement to a D rating. For homes with an E rating, they must allow at least a C rating to be reached. In concrete terms, that means ESPEC ≤ 340 kWh/m².year for rating D, or ESPEC ≤ 255 kWh/m².year for rating C.
Conversely, a home already rated D, C, B or A no longer qualifies for the Rénopack or the Rénoprêt. The scheme includes a safety valve: exemptions remain possible where the required rating cannot be reached for duly justified technical, functional or economic reasons.
What this means in practice:
- A 1960s house rated G often needs several areas tackled at once: roof, walls, joinery, heating, ventilation. Insulating only the roof is usually not enough.
- The order of the works matters. If you insulate the façades from the outside, the roof overhangs and window sills need to follow suit. It's best to plan for this from the start.
- External wall insulation changes a façade's appearance and thickness. Depending on the case, this may require a planning permit under the CoDT (the Walloon planning code, broadly comparable to the Flemish VCRO). This should be checked before signing anything.
- A major renovation is also a chance to rethink how the house works: opening a kitchen onto the garden, letting in more light, turning a well-insulated attic into bedrooms.
Why the home audit comes before any quote
To access the loans, households must have an audit carried out before the works begin. This audit is included on the list of eligible investments, so its cost can be added to the financing. It must be carried out by an auditor approved by the Walloon Region and must be recent: have the audit carried out or updated (less than a year old), unless you fall under category C1 and the lending body itself assesses the rating.
Even in that particular case, the audit remains the tool that lets you choose the right sequence of works to reach the target rating at the best cost.
Pitfalls to avoid:
- Asking for quotes item by item before the audit. You risk pricing up a project that doesn't reach the required rating.
- Relying on an old PEB (EPB) certificate. The starting rating and the target rating must be demonstrated by an up-to-date audit.
- Starting the works too soon. Without a prior audit, you lose access to the loan.
- Forgetting the rest of the project. The audit deals with energy. It doesn't design your future kitchen, doesn't solve the stability of a load-bearing wall, and doesn't prepare a planning application.
This is where the architect comes in. The audit provides an energy roadmap. Our job is to turn it into a coherent project that fits your budget, complies with planning rules and improves your everyday life.
How STARC and Optibim support you
At STARC, we regularly renovate old houses and farmhouses in the provinces of Namur and Walloon Brabant. Our approach, with the support of Optibim, our in-house engineering office:
- A site visit and building survey, using a 3D scanner where needed, to start from accurate drawings.
- Reviewing the home audit with you, or coordinating with an approved auditor if the audit still needs to be done.
- Sketching out an overall project: spaces, light, insulation, services, with an estimated budget per item.
- Checking the rating jump through Optibim's PEB (EPB) calculations, and a stability analysis if walls are being opened up or floors reinforced.
- A planning application file where needed, a specification document, and comparison of contractors' quotes.
- Site supervision, including an air-tightness test (blower door test) to check the quality of the work.
To help you choose the right loan, the scheme relies in particular on the Guichets Énergie Wallonie, the Espaces Wallonie, local energy renovation platforms and the Société wallonne du Crédit social (SWCS). These services guide you on financing. We support you on the project itself.
Do you own a home rated E, F or G and wonder whether your project could qualify for the Rénopack or the Rénoprêt? Get in touch with STARC in Gembloux. We'll look together at your audit or your starting situation, the works needed to reach the target rating, and the best way to bring them together into a genuine architecture project.
Frédéric Odent