The main-residence lease in Belgium: terms, regimes and termination

Compatri does not rent out housing and plays no part in your lease: this guide helps you understand your rights and find the right people to talk to.

Rental law is regional: the first question is not "which lease?" but "which Region?"

Since the sixth reform of the State, residential tenancy law is no longer federal. Each of the three Regions has written its own text:

• Brussels-Capital: ordinance of 27 July 2017, incorporated into the Brussels Housing Code and applicable since 1 January 2018, then amended by the ordinance of 4 April 2024, in force since 1 November 2024;
• Wallonia: decree of 15 March 2018 on residential leases, applicable from 1 September 2018;
• Flanders: the Flemish Residential Tenancy Decree (Vlaams Woninghuurdecreet) of 9 November 2018, applicable to leases concluded from 1 January 2019.

All three descend from the same ancestor, the old federal act of 20 February 1991, and look very much alike. But they diverge exactly where money is at stake: extending and breaking a short lease, when the landlord may give notice for works, indexation, the deposit regime. So never look for "the" Belgian rule: look for your Region's rule, and check the signature date too. A lease predating the regional text remains, in principle, under the old rules, and in Brussels some rules from the 2024 reform only apply to leases concluded or renewed from 1 November 2024.

The nine-year lease: the default regime

Duration

Unless validly agreed otherwise, a main-residence lease is deemed concluded for nine years. At term, it does not simply stop: unless the landlord serves notice at least six months before the end, or the tenant at least three months before, it is renewed on the same terms, for three-year periods. Many landlords discover that renewal far too late.

The tenant may leave at any time

This is the deliberate imbalance of the nine-year lease: the tenant may end it at any time, with three months' notice, without giving a reason. The price of that freedom is an indemnity if he leaves during the first three years: three months' rent in year one, two months in year two, one month in year three. After the third anniversary, three months' notice is enough, with no indemnity. This scale is the same in all three Regions; how to serve notice is covered in giving notice as a tenant.

The landlord needs grounds, or pays

• Personal occupation: at any time, with six months' notice, to occupy the property himself or have it occupied by a relative listed in the regional text (spouse, descendants, ascendants…). Occupation must in principle begin within a year and last at least two years; the exact circle of beneficiaries is not identical across the three Regions.
• Major works: six months' notice, for reconstruction or renovation work of a certain scale. In Brussels and Wallonia, notice is given for the end of a three-year period. In Flanders, for leases concluded since 2019, it may be given at any time, but for the end of the third year at the earliest.
• Without cause, against an indemnity: at the end of the first or second three-year period, with six months' notice, against an indemnity of nine months' rent at the end of year three, six months at the end of year six. This option exists in all three Regions.

Read your lease too: some of these options can be excluded or limited by contract. Notice given for personal occupation or works that is not actually followed through is expensive: in all three Regions, the landlord faces an indemnity of eighteen months' rent, barring exceptional circumstances. The ground must be genuine, and it must materialise. The landlord's side is covered in a landlord giving notice.

Counter-notice

Where it is the landlord who gives notice, a tenant who finds another home earlier may generally leave with one month's notice, without indemnity, even during the first three years. He does not have to sit out a notice period he did not trigger.

The short lease (three years or less)

What defines it

Its term is three years or less, it must be in writing, and it ends at its term, provided notice is served at least three months before expiry, by either party. In Brussels, a lease of less than six months ends at its term without any notice.

That is where the trap lies: nobody serves notice, the tenant stays on without the landlord objecting, and the lease automatically becomes a nine-year lease, deemed to have started on the short lease's commencement date, at the same rent. This is by far the most common accident in practice. Set a reminder four months before expiry.

Extension: once or twice depending on the Region

A short lease may be extended in writing, on the same terms, provided the total duration does not exceed three years. But the number of extensions is not the same everywhere: once in Brussels and Flanders, twice in Wallonia (so three successive contracts at most). Exceeding that frame, in number or in cumulative duration, flips the whole thing into a nine-year lease.

Early exit: here the Regions clearly diverge

Under the old federal act, a short lease could in principle not be broken before term. All three Regions have opened that door, each in its own way:

Before calculating anything, read your lease clause and the regional text (links at the end of this article).

Mandatory content

A written lease is compulsory. It must contain at least:

• the full identity of the parties;
• a precise description of the property;
• the commencement date and the duration;
• the rent, and how charges are billed (flat fee or provision);
• the explanatory annex required by the Region.

To which are added: the energy performance certificate (EPC/PEB), mandatory, whose data must already appear in the advertisement (see the mandatory EPC), the entry inspection report, drawn up jointly and annexed to the lease, meter readings, and a mention of the rental deposit and its form.

Finally: have the lease registered. It is free for a dwelling, it is the landlord's obligation, within two months of signature. As long as the lease is not registered, the tenant may, on each Region's conditions, leave without notice or indemnity: an unregistered lease mainly weakens the landlord. Everything is in registering the lease.

In practice

Finding a home, getting help

To search, the big portals such as Immoweb remain essential. Domilinko is a Belgian peer-to-peer rental site with no intermediary: listings carry a verified EPC certificate, owners' identities are verified, and the move-in inspection is done jointly, with photos and meter readings. For the method, see finding a home in Belgium.

In a dispute, before going to the justice of the peace, the regional housing services and tenants' associations will answer your questions free of charge.

Official sources

• Brussels-Capital Region: lease contracts: model leases, explanatory annex and notice templates for Brussels.
• Brussels Housing brochure on residential leases (January 2025): the Region's complete legal guide, including the 2024 reform (in French).
• SPW Logement: the main-residence lease: terms, notice and indemnities in Wallonia (in French).
• Vlaanderen.be: end and duration of the lease: short and nine-year leases in Flanders (in Dutch).
• FPS Finance: registering a lease agreement: free for a dwelling, within two months of signing.