Belgium · Huurwaarborg / garantie locative

Rental deposits in Belgium: Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia

In Belgium your deposit doesn't go to the landlord. It sits in a blocked account in your name and only comes out with both signatures or a court decision. So any argument at the end is about one thing: what the move-in inspection says.

Belgium has three sets of rules, one per region. This guide covers leases for your main residence. Student leases have their own rules. Nederlandse versie · Version française

Maximum deposit

Flanders: three months' rent. Brussels: two months' rent for leases signed or renewed from 1 November 2024. Wallonia: two months' rent on a blocked account (up to three with a bank guarantee).

Where it goes

An account in your name at a bank, blocked for both sides, or a bank guarantee (including one arranged with the local welfare office, OCMW / CPAS). Not the landlord's own account.

Interest

Yours. If a landlord keeps the deposit instead of placing it in a blocked account, they owe you interest at the average market rate.

Getting it back

The bank releases it on a written agreement signed by both of you after the lease ends, or on a court decision. In Brussels (leases from 1 November 2024) it must be released within two months of returning the keys, unless there's a dispute.

Never pay a deposit into the landlord's account

In all three regions the money belongs in an account in your name (or a bank guarantee). A landlord asking for a transfer to their own account is a red flag: you lose the protection of the blocked account, and the landlord then owes you interest at the market rate. Ask for a blocked account at your bank, or use your bank's rental-deposit service.

The move-in inspection is mandatory

In Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia, tenant and landlord must draw up a detailed move-in inspection together (plaatsbeschrijving / état des lieux d'entrée), at shared cost, either while the home is empty or within the first month you live there. It's attached to the lease.

At the end, either side can ask for a joint move-out inspection, done after you've moved out and before you hand back the keys. In Brussels it has to happen within a month of you leaving.

Because the deposit only comes out with both signatures, these two reports decide almost every dispute. Check the move-in report carefully and add anything it misses.

What to do at move-out

1. Ask for a joint move-out inspection

Walk through the home with the landlord and compare it room by room with the move-in report. Normal wear from living there is not your cost.

2. Sign a release only when you agree

The release form you sign tells the bank how much goes to whom. If you don't agree with a deduction, don't sign; ask for the reasons and evidence in writing.

3. If you can't agree

Either side can go to the local justice of the peace (vrederechter / juge de paix). In Flanders, the landlord's claim to have the deposit released to them lapses one year after the lease ends.

Evidence decides the outcome

• Photograph every room on the day you get the keys, and keep the photos with your copy of the move-in report.
• Note anything the report misses and send it to the landlord in writing within the first month.
• At move-out, clean, then photograph the same views before the inspection.

Sources: Vlaams Woninghuurdecreet (art. 9 move-in inspection, art. 37 deposit) · be.brussels: Security deposit · Brussels lease brochure (January 2025) (Brussels Housing Code art. 220, 248) · Walloon lease decree of 15 March 2018 (art. 27 move-in inspection, art. 62 deposit) · Wallonia: two or three months?. General information, not legal advice.