What are the key laws governing residential leases in your country which are different from non-residential leases?
Historically, the rules for residential leases were contained in the Federal Residential Lease Act. Since the sixth state reform (dated 11 October 2011), the subject matter of residential lease law has been regionalised. Consequently, the three Regions (ie Flemish Region, Walloon Region and Brussels Region) have adopted their own rules on residential leases. As a result, there are now three different regimes regulating residential leases in Belgium.
For each of the three different regimes, the rules are mandatory, meaning that parties cannot contractually deviate from the legal provisions.
The Flemish Residential Housing Code of 9 November 2018 (Decreet houdende bepalingen betreffende de huur van voor bewoning bestemde goederen of delen ervan/Décret contenant des dispositions relatives à la location de biens destinés à l'habitation ou de parties de ceux-ci) (published in the Belgian Official State Gazette on 7 December 2018) entered into force on 1 January 2019.
It applies to residential leases concluded after 1 January 2019. The Federal Residential Lease Act continues to apply in full to residential leases concluded before 1 January 2019.
The Walloon Residential Housing Code of 15 March 2018 (het Decreet betreffende de woninghuurovereenkomst/Décret relatif au bail d'habitation) entered into force on 1 September 2018.
It applies immediately to both existing residential leases and to residential leases which are concluded after its entry into force date on 1 September 2018. However, it does not apply to provisions regulating the following subjects: the minimum content of the written agreement, the fire insurance scheme, the possibility of cancelling short-term rentals and the rules on co-tenancy and student accommodation. For these provisions, the Federal Residential Lease Act continues to apply in full to residential leases concluded before 1 September 2018.
The Brussels Residential Housing Code of 27 July 2017 (de Ordonnantie houdende de regionalisering van woninghuurovereenkomst/Ordonnance visant la régionalisation du bail d'habitation) entered into force on 1 January 2018. It has been integrated into the pre-existing Brussels Housing Code of 17 July 2003.
Most of its provisions are only applicable on residential lease contracts which are concluded after the entry into force date, however, some of its provisions are already applicable on ongoing residential lease contracts.
