Short-term lease

A short-term lease is a main residence lease signed in writing for three years at most. It can be extended in writing, on the same terms, as long as the total does not exceed three years: once in Brussels and Flanders, twice in Wallonia. It does not end on its own: the landlord or the tenant must give notice at least three months before the agreed end date. Only very short leases are exempt: three months or less in Wallonia, under six months in Brussels. Without notice in time, or if the tenant stays on without the landlord objecting, it becomes a nine-year lease running from the start of the first contract, at the same rent. The tenant can leave at any time with three months' notice. They then owe one month's rent as compensation in Wallonia and Brussels. In Flanders, it is one and a half months, one month or half a month's rent, depending on whether they leave in the first, second or third year. In Wallonia and Brussels, the landlord can end the lease after the first year to live in the home or house a relative there, with three months' notice and one month's rent as compensation. In Flanders, the landlord cannot end it early. This lease suits owners who want to stay flexible, for example before works or a sale.