The landlord gives notice: grounds, deadlines, indemnities and sanctions

A main-residence lease is not an ordinary contract: it protects someone's home. Where the tenant may leave whenever he wishes subject to notice (see notice given by the tenant), the landlord may only end a nine-year lease in the cases defined by the law of his Region. A notice given outside those cases is void, and a correctly given notice whose ground never materialises is very expensive.

This also applies when you manage your property from abroad, as many diaspora members who own property in Belgium do: the deadlines run the same way whether you live in Brussels or in Kinshasa.

Three texts, one architecture

Each Region has its own: the Brussels Housing Code, the Walloon decree of 15 March 2018, the Flemish Residential Lease Decree. All three retained the architecture of the 1991 federal act (personal occupation, works, notice without grounds), but with real differences, especially for works and for short leases. Never transpose a rule read for another Region, and check the applicable text before you post your registered letter. Reread your lease too: in Brussels and Wallonia it may exclude or limit these termination options.

1. Notice for personal occupation

The most common ground, and the most closely policed.

Notice period: six months. As for the tenant, the period starts on the first day of the month following the month of notification. Notice served on 12 May makes the period run from 1 June to 30 November.

When: at any time during the nine-year lease, with two caveats:

• in Brussels and Wallonia, for third-degree relatives (uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces), the notice period may not expire before the end of the first three years of the lease;
• in Flanders, a notice given during the first three-year period may not expire before that period ends, whoever the beneficiary is.

Who may occupy: the landlord himself, his spouse or legal cohabitant, their descendants, adopted children and ascendants, and relatives up to the third degree (brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, nephews and nieces).

What the letter must contain: the ground, the identity of the future occupant and his relationship with the landlord. A notice that merely says "for personal occupation" is open to challenge. In Brussels the tenant may ask for proof of the relationship, which the landlord must provide within two months.

The duty that follows: occupation must begin within one year after the notice expires (or the property is handed back) and last at least two years, effectively and continuously.

The sanction: eighteen months' rent

If the announced occupation does not take place, or is not maintained, and the landlord cannot show an exceptional circumstance (unforeseeable and beyond his control), the former tenant may claim an indemnity equal to eighteen months' rent. On a rent of 900 euros, that is 16,200 euros.

Justices of the peace do apply this sanction, and bad faith need not be proven: the result is what counts. Concretely: never give notice for personal occupation "to see what happens", nor to take the property back and re-let it at a higher rent. The evicted tenant can check the occupation, ask for proof, and go to court.

2. Notice for major works

Notice period: six months.

When: this is where the Regions diverge.

• Brussels and Wallonia: only at the expiry of the first or second three-year period (end of year 3 or year 6).
• Flanders: at any time, but a notice given during the first three-year period may not expire before that period ends.

Cumulative conditions:

• the works comply with planning rules (permit obtained, or not required);
• they concern the part occupied by the tenant and make it uninhabitable: a façade, an attic or a garden is not enough;
• their cost exceeds three years' rent for the property, or two years' rent for all the units concerned where several units in the same building belong to the same landlord.

The documents: planning permit, detailed quote, costed description of the works or a building contract. In Brussels they must be provided with the notice or within two months; in Wallonia within two months of the tenant's request. A "works" notice with no file behind it does not hold.

Timing and sanction: the works must start within six months and be finished within twenty-four months after the notice expires (or the property is handed back). Otherwise, barring exceptional circumstances, the same eighteen months' rent indemnity is due.

3. Notice without grounds, against an indemnity

This door exists in all three Regions, but it is narrow and it is expensive.

When: at the expiry of the first or the second three-year period, not mid-period.

Notice period: six months, timed to coincide with the three-year expiry.

Indemnity: nine months' rent where the lease ends at the expiry of the first three-year period, six months' rent at the expiry of the second. It is owed to the tenant, on top of the notice period.

At the end of the nine years, by contrast, notice needs no ground: six months' notice before expiry is enough, with no indemnity. Without notice, the lease is extended for successive three-year periods on the same terms.

Short leases: little room

On a main-residence lease concluded for three years or less:

• No notice for works and no notice without grounds on a short lease.
• For the lease to end at the agreed term, notice must be served at least three months before expiry. Failing notice, or if the tenant stays on without objection, the lease is deemed concluded for nine years from the original start date, on the same rent terms. It is the costliest mistake private landlords make: a forgotten one-year lease becomes a nine-year lease.
• An extension is possible, in writing, on the same terms, without the total exceeding three years: once in Brussels and Flanders, twice in Wallonia.

The form of the notice, in every case

Selling does not end the lease

Selling does not extinguish the lease, but the tenant's protection is not the same everywhere:

• Brussels (sales since 1 November 2024): the buyer takes over the running lease; the seller must tell the buyer the property is let and give him a copy of the lease. A tenant with a lease of nine years or more also has, under conditions, a right of first refusal when the property is put up for sale.
• Flanders: the buyer steps into all the landlord's rights and obligations, even if the lease contains an eviction-on-sale clause.
• Wallonia: full protection requires the lease to have a certain date before the sale, which is what registration produces. Without a certain date, a tenant who has lived there for at least six months remains protected, but the buyer may end the lease for personal occupation, works or without grounds, with three months' notice served within three months of the deed.

In every case, registering the lease is the landlord's obligation, free of charge for housing, within two months: see our guide to lease registration.

Re-letting after the tenant leaves

If the tenant leaves of his own accord or at the end of the lease, nothing stops you from letting the property again. Be careful, however, after a notice for personal occupation or works: re-letting before the announced conditions are met exposes you to the eighteen months' indemnity. To re-let, Domilinko lets owners and tenants in Belgium deal directly, with no intermediary: the owner's identity is verified, the listing shows a verified EPC (PEB/EPB energy certificate), and the move-in inspection is carried out jointly, with photos and meter readings. See also our guides to letting your property, setting the rent, choosing your tenant and the mandatory EPC in listings.

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. It is general information, not legal advice: a badly reasoned or badly dated notice can cost eighteen months' rent, so have your letter reviewed by a professional before sending it.

Official sources

• Brussels: renon et congé (templates): the official notice templates, including the landlord's (in French; also available in Dutch).
• Wallonia: la résiliation du bail: grounds, notice periods and indemnities in Wallonia (in French).
• Walloon decree of 15 March 2018 (WALLEX): the text in force, article 55 on lease duration and notice (in French).
• Flemish Residential Lease Decree (Codex Vlaanderen): the Flemish text, articles 17 to 21 (in Dutch).
• Flanders: einde en opzegging van het huurcontract: the official Flemish summary (in Dutch).
• Justice of the peace: the court to turn to if a notice is disputed (in French).