Tenancy & Land Lease

Rent and lease

Tenancy law can be divided into various sub-areas, and goes further than the mere renting of a house that serves as the principal residence.There are different regimes.

* renting a parking garage, renting an industrial building, renting a student community house

These provisions are included in Articles 1708-1762bis of the Civil Code. These provisions apply to all rent agreements that do not fall under one of the three special regimes and, on the other hand, apply in an additional manner in the case of housing rent, commercial rent and lease. If one of these special regimes applies, the parties cannot deviate from it.

Conversely, it can be included in an agreement that, for example, the housing rental law applies, although the rent in itself does not fall under for the commercial rental law, but under common rental law, given that these provisions are stricter than general rental law.

New types of rents have not yet been regulated by law and / or decree, and therefore fall under these general rental rules, which are flexible (additional law). Because in principle students cannot domicile in the city where they study (art.18§3, 16 ° RD 16.7.1992 on population register), the housing rental decree does not apply (attention: a separate regulation applies to the Brussels Region with the option of rental regime for the student).

A community house is a house that physically remains 1 house, where everything is common, with the exception of a bedroom or small living space. This can then be regarded as a multi-family home (1 living space in several residential entities, so with its own front door) and for which an environmental permit is required (stability and security). In these cases, the owner can conclude an agreement with 1 tenant, who can then sublet (insofar as the tenancy agreement does not explicitly prohibit this - Article 1717, 1st paragraph Civil Code), or the landlord will conclude 1 agreement with all parties and provide its own rules regarding payment of rent (financial solidartiy, for example) or cancellation (cancellation only possible if they all cancel, or separate cancellation is accepted by the landlord).

* housing rent.

This must be a written rental agreement concerning a home (furnished or unfurnished) that is used by the tenant as his main residence. The tenant must stay there continuously, and this with the consent of the landlord. This consent can be in writing or tacit. The Flemish rental decree has recently come into effect.

It is of course always advisable to draw up a written agreement, all the more so a housing rental agreement must also be registered. The absence of registration can sometimes even lead to the possibility for the tenant to immediately terminate the lease and even without paying any compensation. In addition, drawing up a written agreement is advisable to avoid problems of proof, as well to make correct agreements between parties so that you would not be confronted with unwanted problems or discussions afterwards We refer to the separate article on the Flemish housing rental decree .

* commercial rent

This concerns the rental of a property in which the tenant is going to exploit a business, whereby the tenant comes into direct contact with clients. This is discussed in detail in a separate article. Commercial lease

It is also important here to make written agreements. This is mainly prompted by the concern to indicate the commercial destination of the property. If this is not the case, the tenant can always prove the tacit agreement of commercial rent by all legal means.

If the destination is determined as a commercial rental during the rental period, the explicit consent of the landlord is always required.

* land lease

This regime applies in particular to the agricultural sector, and concerns the rental of farm buildings, agricultural land or plantations mainly used by the tenant in his agricultural business, excluding forestry.

"Agricultural farm" means the commercial exploitation of real estate with the objective to the production of agricultural products mainly intended for sale.

Someone who works a plot of land and harvests the products from it for personal use. In this case the lease law doesn’t apply.

With regard to all these different regimes in tenancy law, there is therefore a wide variety of rules and it is always necessary to make good written agreements.

Our office has special knowledge in all these matters and assists you in drafting or critically assessing the contracts, as well as in the event of a discussion between tenant / landlord concerning the implementation of the agreement.

If you would like more information about rent and lease, be sure to read the following articles:

Protection of tenants' quality of life with important sanctions. The Flemish Housing Code