overview
Information for landlords
Rent decree student rooms
The Flemish Housing Rental Decree. The present Decree applies to all student tenancy agreements concluded from 1 January 2019 for student accommodation in Flanders.
The Decree regulates the main aspects of the student tenancy agreement, such as the condition of the let property, the options for giving notice, the transfer of the tenancy agreement and sub-letting, the indexation and providing a rental guarantee.
Concluding a student tenancy agreement may give rise to a wide number of questions: which elements need to be included in the tenancy agreement? What is the term of the tenancy agreement? How are the rent and the costs and charges determined? What kind of rental guarantee is the landlord entitled to demand? Is the student allowed to terminate the tenancy agreement early? What to do in a conflict between the landlord and the student?
The brochure ‘The Flemish Housing Rental Decree for student tenancy agreements’ provides students and landlords with answers to all these questions.
The rental agreement
We only recommend a written rental agreement.
This is why Kotwest also has a model rental agreement.
Download the model rental agreement.
If you rent to international students, use the Dutch rental agreement and provide the English translation for information.
Please note: no changes may be made to the content of the rental agreement without written permission from Kotwest.
A contract should be drawn up in four copies: one copy for the tenant, one for the landlord, one for the college (Kotwest) and one for registration.
If you use our model rental agreement as a landlord, you can enjoy free info, advice and mediation from our services should problems arise.
If you wish to use a different rental agreement, you must have it checked by Kotwest before use, as well as your house rules!
Digital signature
Qualified electronic signature
When the tenant and landlord wish to sign the lease agreement digitally or remotely, they should use a qualified electronic signature. This electronic signature is legally fully equivalent to a handwritten signature, so it has the same legal effects. Moreover, a qualified electronic signature is recognised in all Member States of the European Union when it is based on a signature certificate issued in a Member State.
Qualified electronic signature with a Belgian e-ID. The following are required:
- e-ID with PIN
- A card reader
- Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
There is a simple manual on the e-ID Belgium website.
Qualified electronic manual in other EEA countries. (Qualified Electronic Signature) Each EU member state has its own way of providing a qualified electronic signature. For this reason, it is not possible to offer a detailed manual for each specific case. More information on each specific country can be found on the website.
Ordinary electronic signature
Is the tenant not from Belgium or another EEA country? Then fall back on an ordinary electronic signature. The tenant physically signs the lease and then scans or takes a photo of it.
An ordinary electronic signature is not equivalent to a handwritten signature because it does not guarantee the authenticity of the signature. However, due to the principle of non-discrimination, a court cannot reject the electronic signature merely because it is an electronic signature.
Clause in lease agreement
In all cases, always include the following sentence in the lease agreement and have it initialled by both parties. In this way, both parties to the agreement confirm each other's right to sign electronically:
"The parties acknowledge the legal validity of signing this agreement with an electronic signature by means of generally accepted and available software and/or exchange of in scanned or PDF signatures. Each party shall have the right to use the electronically signed version of this agreement as evidence of the parties' performance of this agreement."
Kotwest's model lease agreement includes this clause. Consequently, it can be signed either physically or digitally.
Kotwest general terms
Kotwest is a collaboration between VIVES, HOWEST & KULAK. On this website students can find rooms for rent in West-Flanders. We aim to bring landlords and students together. Students can find a room easily and landlords get free promotion for their rooms. In that context it's important to us to set some conditions:
Quality of the room
- Possess a warrant of exploitation no more than 10 years old. If new police regulations are in function, the rooms must meet the new standards within a year of their implementation.
- Smoke detectors are mandatory!
- Disapproved rooms or rooms that don't have a warrant of implementation within a year after the check-up (including suggestions) will be removed.
- The warrant of exploitation must always be provided to Kotwest at the landlord's initiative.
Rental agreements
Model agreement Kotwest:
- It's prohibited to make any changes to the model agreement without written permission from Kotwest.
- A version with blank space that can be filled out is available for free at Kotwest and can be downloaded from the website.
- When using the model agreement the landlord is entitled to free information, advice and mediation in case of queries or problems. Please go to the student services department at the student's school. Contact data are below
Non-model agreements:
- The rental agreement must be presented to Kotwest for approval before the first use of the room.
- We reserve the right to partially or completely disapprove rental agreements.
- Kotwest won't supply information, advice or mediation.
- These clauses are always cause for disapproval:
- Clauses charging interests in case of late payment
- Clauses pertaining to verbal elongation of the rental agreement
- Clauses that end the agreement using a severance term
- A rental deposit worth more than 2 months' rent
- All rental agreements must be made in four copies: one for the student, one for the landlord, one for Kotwest and one for registration. Contact data are below.
- Registration of all signed rental agreements is obligatory.
Website Kotwest
- Supplied information must be correct and up to date.
- Entry must be updated immediately after the rental agreement is signed.
- Kotwest regularly checks whether the information supplied to the site matches the information in the rental agreements.
Complaints/problems
- Service towards students can only be judged based on experience. A new landlord gets the benefit of the doubt. Landlords that are regularly complained about regarding bad service, unwarranted keeping of deposits, incorrect billing, lack of timely repairs, privacy violations... will be removed from Kotwest's database.
- Landlords are always invited to a meeting and will (depending on the gravity of the complaint) get a second chance. If a similar complaint with merit is filed at a later point, the landlord will be informed in writing that they won't be included in Kotwest's offer going forward.
Contact data for Kotwest partners:
- STUVO VIVES campus Brugge en Oostende en KU Leuven campus Brugge: Inge Eytorff, inge.eytorff@stuvoloods.be, 050 30 52 90
- STUVO VIVES campus Kortrijk, Torhout en Roeselare: Lien Reyns,lien.reyns@stuvoloods.be, 056 26 41 84 en Steve Vangroenweghe, steve.vangroenweghe@stuvoloods.be, 056 26 41 84
- Studentenvoorzieningen KU Leuven campus Kortrijk: Sarah Detremmerie, sarah.detremmerie@kuleuven.be, 056 24 62 99
- STUVO HOWEST: Brugge: Stael Isabelle, isabelle.stael@howest.be, 0479 917 117, Kortrijk: Simon Clinckemaillie, simon.clinckemaillie@howest.be 0497 71 00 05
Rules and regulations
Before signing up for Kotwest it's advisable to gather information regarding the rules and police regulations which are in effect in the city or town where you plan to rent out rooms.
We refer you to the link Towns on this website where you can find the governing rules per student town.
Do note: Kotwest reserves the right to remove student rooms which weren't approved by the city services from its files. If you can prove compliance with the regulations at a later date, we can include the room again..
Offering your rooms for rent
Do you have student rooms or studios for rent in Brugge, Oostende, Kortrijk, Torhout or Roeselare?
We'll be glad to meet you and inform you of Kotwest's functioning in a personal meeting.
Would you like information about the renting of student rooms?
Kotwest will be happy to help promote your student rooms and assist you in renting them out. We can give you information on average rental prices, rental terms, location in relation to the school, or model agreement, house regulations, assessments of room condition,....
We will also inform you of any preliminary steps you must take before we can include your room in our offer. We can also direct you to the city services that arrange permits and conformity labels.
Students cannot offer their rooms on Kotwest!
Problems during the rental period
During the rental period it's possible that problems might occur: a student might cause a disturbance, not pay the rent, end the contract without a valid reason,...
If you use our model rental agreement you can turn to us for information, advice and mediation free of charge.