Housing discrimination: what is prohibited, and what you can do

Refusing a candidate tenant is a right. Refusing them because of who they are is not. The line is written in the law, and Belgian judges enforce it. For people who have come from another country, it is often crossed quietly: a name that ends the call, an accent on the phone, an "it's already let" while the ad stays online, a rental deposit put together with help from the CPAS (the public social welfare centre). This guide explains where the line runs, how to gather evidence, and who to turn to.

The legal framework, briefly

At federal level, the anti-racism act of 30 July 1981 and the anti-discrimination and gender acts of 10 May 2007 prohibit discrimination in access to goods and services, housing included. Since residential leases were transferred to the Regions in 2014, each Region also has its own rules and its own inspection services.

Who handles your case depends on where the property is:

• Brussels and Wallonia: Unia, the independent public body that combats discrimination. In Brussels, the Regional Housing Inspectorate (DIRL) also takes complaints and can impose penalties.
• Flanders: since 2023 Unia is no longer competent for Flemish matters. Discrimination when renting a home in Flanders is reported to the Flemish Human Rights Institute (Vlaams Mensenrechteninstituut, VMRI).
• For grounds linked to sex, pregnancy or gender identity, the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men is the contact point in Brussels and Wallonia.

The protected grounds

Housing may not be refused, nor offered on different terms, on grounds including:

• origin, so-called race, skin colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, nationality;
• language;
• wealth, that is, means, and in particular the source of income;
• sex, pregnancy, maternity, gender identity and expression;
• age;
• disability, current or future state of health, a physical or genetic characteristic;
• sexual orientation;
• religious or philosophical belief, political belief, trade union belief;
• civil status and family situation (in Brussels, family responsibilities are expressly protected);
• birth and social origin.

The exact list varies from one text to another; Brussels lists more than twenty grounds. But the grounds that most often affect newcomers, origin, nationality, language and source of income, are protected everywhere.

Name, accent, nationality: the most common forms

• The refusal that follows the name or the accent. The flat is available until you introduce yourself. Note the time, the number, the exact words, and check whether the ad stays online.
• Demanding a Belgian identity card. A landlord may check your identity to draw up the lease, not sort candidates by nationality or residence permit. Such a demand is a distinction based on nationality, which he would have to justify.
• Requiring a guarantor resident in Belgium as a matter of course. An apparently neutral condition that in practice excludes many foreign candidates (see indirect discrimination below, and our guide on guarantors and joint sureties).
• Ads that sort in advance: "Belgians only", "perfect French required", "no CPAS". The ad alone is an offence.

Benefit claimants and CPAS-backed deposits

"I don't rent to people on social welfare." "Employment income only." Under Belgian law those sentences are discriminatory: they target the source of income, not its amount. That is the ground of wealth.

The line is clear:

• Legitimate: checking that the candidate has sufficient and stable means to pay the rent, whatever their source.
• Unlawful: excluding an income outright because it is unemployment benefit, sickness benefit, an integration income, a disability allowance or a pension.
• Also unlawful: refusing a rental deposit set up with help from the CPAS. When the CPAS uses a bank guarantee, the bank in principle uses a neutral form that does not tell the landlord where the money comes from. Deposit types and caps are covered in our guide to the rental deposit.

A replacement income is an income. Two candidates with identical means may not be treated differently according to where those means come from.

What a landlord may ask you

The Regions restrict the information a landlord may request from a candidate. In Brussels the list is closed, and a standardised application form exists:

• before the viewing: surname, first name and a way to contact you;
• to support the application: the amount of your financial resources, or an estimate, and the number of people in the household;
• to draw up the lease: an identity document showing your capacity to contract, and your civil status if you are married or legally cohabiting.

Asking about the nature or source of the income, for a criminal record extract or for detailed bank statements falls outside that frame. The Flemish and Walloon rules are worded differently: check those of the Region where the property is. To put together a complete file without disclosing more than necessary, see our guide to building a rental application file.

Direct and indirect discrimination

• Direct: the protected ground is the reason for the refusal. "We don't rent to large families."
• Indirect: an apparently neutral criterion puts a protected group at a particular disadvantage, without objective and proportionate justification.

Typical examples of indirect discrimination:

• requiring a permanent employment contract when the candidate has stable income of another kind;
• requiring a guarantor resident in Belgium;
• applying a rule such as "income at least three times the rent" mechanically, without looking at the household's real situation;
• refusing any file without employment income.

An indirect requirement is not automatically unlawful: it can be lawful if it pursues a legitimate aim (being paid) and the means are appropriate and necessary. But it is for the landlord to show it.

Proving it: situation testing and the burden of proof

The real reason is rarely written down. The law takes that into account: the burden of proof is shifted. If you present facts from which discrimination may be presumed, it is for the landlord to prove that he did not discriminate. Such facts may include:

• written exchanges (texts, emails, messages) where the reason appears;
• a pattern: several candidates with the same profile turned away;
• a situation test: two identical applications, differing only in the suspect criterion (the name, the accent), receive different answers. A friend who calls right after you and is offered a viewing is a clue to record precisely and bring to Unia or the VMRI.

In Brussels, the DIRL can itself carry out a discrimination test when needed to establish the offence, and impose administrative fines of 125 to 6,200 euros, more where there are several victims. Elsewhere the arrangements have changed in recent years: check the one that applies in your Region.

Your remedies

These remedies do not give you a right to the flat you wanted: they sanction the behaviour. Know that before you start, and keep searching in the meantime.

Keep searching, and not alone

To act, you need to know who turned you down. Use several channels, and keep at least one where you deal directly with an identified owner, such as Domilinko, a Belgian peer-to-peer rental site with no intermediary, where owners' identity and the listings' EPC certificates are verified. There as elsewhere, keep a written record of your exchanges.

You are not the first to go through this either. In your community on Compatri, compatriots living in the same city share their experience of agencies and neighbourhoods, and the contacts they trust: an association, a social service, a lawyer.

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

For landlords: choosing without discriminating

You are not obliged to rent to anyone at all: you may choose a solvent and reliable tenant, provided the decision rests on objective grounds, the same for everyone.

• What you may assess: the amount and stability of the means, from whatever source; their fit with rent and charges; the existence of a guarantor; the completeness of the file.
• What exposes you: an ad mentioning a protected ground, however politely phrased; an instruction to an agency to filter candidates, prohibited in itself; a ratio applied blindly; an unexplained refusal when several candidates with the same profile were turned away.
• How to protect yourself: set written criteria, the same for everyone, before publishing; record each application and the objective reason for the decision; reply briefly on that ground; keep only the necessary data, as the GDPR also covers unsuccessful candidates.

Our guide to choosing a tenant sets out the method.

This article is general information, not legal advice. In discrimination matters the analysis depends on the facts: contact Unia, the VMRI, the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men, a legal aid service or a lawyer.

Official sources

• Unia: report discrimination: Brussels and Wallonia, free and confidential
• Unia: discrimination based on wealth: replacement income, CPAS support
• Flemish Human Rights Institute: file a report: discrimination when renting in Flanders (in Dutch)
• Brussels Housing: discrimination in the rental market: complaints to the DIRL, information a landlord may request
• Brussels Region: strengthening anti-discrimination instruments in the rental market: situation tests by the housing inspectorate
• Institute for the Equality of Women and Men: sex and gender grounds