Leaving your home: notice explained
Renting in Brussels: length of notice, compensation depending on your lease, how to give notice and how to prepare your move-out, step by step.
BDW Invest ·
A new job, a growing family, a plan to buy. Whatever the reason for leaving, notice given correctly saves you unnecessary costs. Here is how to proceed.
Three months, in every case
As the tenant of a main-residence lease, you can leave at any time by giving three months' notice. This applies to a nine-year lease as well as a short-term lease.
Notice starts on the first day of the month following its sending. Notice sent on 12 March starts on 1 April: the lease ends on 30 June.
Compensation depending on your lease
| Type of lease and time of departure | Compensation to the landlord |
|---|---|
| Nine-year lease, ending in the first year | 3 months' rent |
| Nine-year lease, ending in the second year | 2 months' rent |
| Nine-year lease, ending in the third year | 1 month's rent |
| Nine-year lease, from the fourth year | None |
| Short-term lease, leaving before the end date | 1 month's rent |
| Short-term lease, ending at term with three months' notice | None |
A lease of six months or less ends on the agreed date and cannot be terminated earlier.
Giving notice properly
Notice must be given in writing: registered letter, bailiff's writ or hand delivery against acknowledgement of receipt. A simple email is not enough.
If several people rent together, all signatories of the lease sign the notice. Send it to BDW Invest, which forwards it to the landlord and prepares the next steps with you.
Short-term lease: watch the end date
If nobody gives notice at least three months before the end of a short-term lease and you stay in the home, it becomes a nine-year lease from its start. It can also be extended in writing, up to three years in total.
Two special situations
If the landlord ends the lease, you can leave earlier with one month's counter-notice, without compensation. If the lease was not registered, you can leave without notice or compensation.
Preparing your move-out
During the notice period, you remain responsible for the home and rent is due until the last day. We agree with you on viewings by prospective tenants, the date of the check-out inventory and the meter readings.
These rules apply in the Brussels-Capital Region. In Wallonia, notice and compensation are the same, but a short-term lease can only be extended once.
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