Belgium Expat Forum

cocoa
Joined 2005
Posts: 4

18 years ago

dos and donts of renting in Brussels

18 years ago

Renting is very easy in Belgium, find out where you want to rent and go
around the area or look in the vlan, the Bulletin or go to an agency.

When renting there are rules which you must abide by. Most contracts are
for 3, 6 or 9 years but these are negotiable and can be as long as a few
months or a year. You will be asked for at least 2 or 3 months guarantee.
Beware though if the landlord asks for a cash or cheque as a guarantee then
this is illegal. Most reputable landlords will ask for a "guarantee
bancaire" (bank guarantee). This can either be:
a) the amount of the guarantee put into a separate account which is in both
the renters and owners name of the apartment. The money cannot be released to anyone unless a letter is sent by the owner that no money is due at the end of the lease for damages incurred. Once the bank receives this with a mention that the lease is terminated and the renter will be leaving the
apartment the money is then put into the account of the renter, minus any
sum for damages incurred. The advantage of this is that the account is
blocked and the renter keeps the interest during the period of rental. A
nice tidy sume afterwards; or
b) the bank will give a guarantee themselves for the amount but this is
usually in the case of large companies; or
c) if you do not have the money then the bank will allow you to take out a
loan on the sum, which is put into a blocked account.

Ask about the charges and what they include. Charges are always
provisional. In many apartments the charges will include hot/cold water
(metered), heating, cleaning lady for the communal area, servicing of the
lift (if there is one), servicing of the fire extinguishers, servicing of
the communal areas, servicing of the chimney (this is not always the case)
the concierge or person in charge of the running of the building. Charges
are paid for in advance and at the end of the year once all the bills have
been reconciled you are either reimbursed or asked to pay the difference if
more. Charges can go up slightly after a year depending upon the final
bills when they come in.

Landlords will not give you the keys to the apartment until they receive the
contract from the renter's bank to sign for the bank guarantee, but this
usually just takes a few days to come through.

You are also advised to take out insurance for your contents, any damage
caused by yourself etc, your insurance man will advise you or ask the
landlord who they use. The landlord will ask details about your insurance to
give to his insurance. It has happened before where a renter has said they
have insurance and when there was a problem then the owner has discovered
that no insurance was forthcoming and had problems with their own insurance
and the renter. If there is an open fireplace and you use it regularly then
you are advised to have it cleaned once a year and keep the certificate for
insurance purposes. Some buildings do the cleaning communaly and is part of
the charges, best to find out.

Once you have found somewhere that you want to rent and have signed the
lease then the fun part starts going through the inventory of the contents
that are in the apartment (whether furnished or not). This can either be
done between both the renter and the owner, cheaper, or through an agency
where both parties pay half the price, quite expensive.

If anyone is moving to Brussels for one year or more and looking for a furnished two bedroom apartment for rent with private garage please do contact me as my apartment is now up for rent. It is situated in woluwe st lambert in a quiet residential area.

cocoa

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