Termination rental contract Belgium

Generally, for contracts of 9 years on paper, you can leave the apartment after, 3 years with a 1 month notice and no penalty. If you leave after 2 years, it's one month rent penalty and if you leave after 1 year, there is two months rent penalty.

Whereas with contracts smaller than this timeframe (for instance 2 years), if you leave the apartment after 1.2 years, you may be asked to pay for the remaining 8 months of rent.

Best is to come to and agreement with the land lord. At times they are ok if you can find someone to take over your contract.

Bottom line is that although there are these general terms, it depends on how you negotiate with the land lord. Just make sure you have the agreement written down on paper for official evidence.

Cheers,
N

Thanks for the reply! To pay for the remaining 8 months and not to live there sounds not very exciting

But I got it, i will need to negotiate

As a former Belgian lawyer I'd like to explain you shortly the Belgian legislation on renting for housing.
To have the best legal protection, it is important you register yourself officialy at the adress of the apartment you're renting and living at.
Generally the term for renting is 9 years. In that case you can give up the lease after 3 years completed if the landlord is informed officialy at least 3 months in advance.
If you want to give up the lease during the first year, you have to respect the term of notice of 3 months and after your lease, you pay a penalty of 3 months rent. During the second year the penalty is reduced to 2 months rent and during the thirth year it is reduced to 1 month.
You also can rent a housing for a short period, which may not last longer than 3 years. Giving up this contract is normally not possible unless negociated with the landlord.
Welcome in Belgium and good luck

Thanks a lot for your reply!

That is funny how lawyer gives half information. But ok, you can meet a lot of such cases here.
Here is site to read and you can find .pdf to translate and read.

https://www.notaire.be/immobilier/louer … principale

housing

Hi,

I want to ask something that my current contract ends at 31/12/2022 and I plan to move out. But my rent will start on 1/1/2023. Then I won't have time to move and clean. Is it possible to extend current contract for one month, that is I will move out at the end of January?  So that I have enough time to move and clean?

Thank you all in advance!

I am also new in Belgium, and just signed a contract for one year only. Most want 3, but there are still quite a lot of options which offer 1 year.

@Songqiao Cui Just talk with the landlord, everything is negotiable...

For short-term rentals is a notice period of 3 months. I kind of got scammed by ikoab.com after signing a contract agreeing to this 3 month notice period, now they decided is 6 months. And for what I heard, good luck getting your deposit back.. it sucks 😕

Hello, I would appreciate it if someone could help clear something for me. My parents have been renting the same apartment in Brussels since 2012. Originally, a 3 yrs contract, which is now on a rolling basis - and moved over to the '9year' + long contract. They handed in their notice on 31 March 2023 and want to move out on the 1st of May 2023. the landlord is asking for payment for May 2023 and June 2023. Is that correct? I thought there is no penalty for leaving the contract if you are on a 9-year contract-or longer. thanks