Conformity certificate for a rental home in Flanders

What is a conforming home?

According to the Flemish Residential Tenancy Decree (Vlaams Woninghuurdecreet), a home conforms if it meets the basic safety, health and housing quality requirements of the Flemish Housing Code (Vlaamse Codex Wonen). These include: the surface area of the living areas, sanitary facilities, wind-tightness, insulation and heating, ventilation and lighting, safe electrical and gas installations, stability, accessibility, minimum energy performance and drinking water. The home must also meet fire safety requirements and be large enough for the number of occupants.

The Flemish Government divides the possible defects into three categories:

• Category I: minor defects.
• Category II: serious defects that pose no direct danger to safety or health.
• Category III: serious defects that cause conditions unfit for human habitation or pose a direct danger.

According to vlaanderen.be, a home conforms as long as there are no category II or III defects. It may then be let. See also smoke detectors, as a missing smoke detector is an obstacle to the certificate.

Do I need a certificate as a landlord?

The decree obliges the landlord to deliver the home in a conforming state, but not to produce a certificate. According to vlaanderen.be, the certificate is voluntary for owners. In most municipalities you do not yet have to produce it to let, but the municipality may make it mandatory through a municipal regulation, for a certain part or for all rental homes (for example certain neighbourhoods, the town centre or homes older than 20 years). More and more municipalities are doing so. Whether your municipality makes it mandatory can be found on the municipality’s website, at the housing desk (woonloket), or on the Geopunt map of Flanders showing municipalities that make the certificate mandatory or limit its duration.

The municipality can also shorten the period of validity, for example for rooms, homes with minor defects or damp problems.

What does it give you?

• Presumption of conformity. A certificate issued within three months before the start of the lease counts as a presumption that the landlord is delivering the home in good condition. The tenant can rebut that presumption by showing that there were defects at the start.
• Certainty about occupancy. The certificate states the maximum number of occupants.
• No nullity. A lease for a non-conforming home is null and void. The nullity must be established by the court. The court can, without prejudice to damages for the tenant, impose an occupancy fee based on the objective rental value. An exception is the renovation lease (renovatiehuurovereenkomst), in which the tenant carries out the works the landlord should have done. The tenant then applies for a conformity certificate.

How do you apply?

You apply for the certificate to the mayor of the municipality where the home is located. This can be done by secure delivery: a registered letter, a registered e-mail or orally at the municipal desk against a receipt. Since 1 September 2025 you can also submit the application digitally via the Formulierenloket (online forms desk) of Wonen in Vlaanderen (the Flemish housing agency), in municipalities that offer this option.

Anyone who is the owner, co-owner, usufructuary, long-lease holder, holder of building rights or (sub)landlord of a home that they let, offer for rent or make available, or for student housing, can apply. Anyone who wants to have a decision of unfitness or uninhabitability lifted can also apply for a certificate.

Time limits

• After your application, a municipal housing inspector visits the home and assesses it on the basis of a technical report.
• The mayor decides within 60 days of the application.
• If the mayor refuses, or does not decide within 60 days, you can request a conformity investigation within 30 days from the Grants and Housing Quality division (afdeling Premies en Woningkwaliteit) of Wonen in Vlaanderen.

Wonen in Vlaanderen can also issue certificates for an application for rent subsidy or when a home is sublet through a housing company (woonmaatschappij).

How long is the certificate valid?

In principle ten years, even if the home changes owner, unless the municipal council set a shorter period of up to ten years. The certificate lapses automatically in particular when:

• thorough renovation works are carried out for which the landlord could terminate the lease (article 18 of the Residential Tenancy Decree);
• the home is declared unfit or uninhabitable;
• the housing inspectorate draws up an official report for certain offences;
• the ten-year period or the period set by the municipal council has expired.

What if your rental home does not conform?

As a tenant, you can report defects to the municipality. It can have the home investigated by a housing inspector and apply the warning procedure or the unfitness and uninhabitability procedure; these procedures are free. You can also go to the Justice of the Peace (vrederechter): for defects already present at the start, you can ask for the lease to be declared null and void. If they arise during the tenancy through poor maintenance, you can ask for termination, or for the landlord to carry out the works with a rent reduction for as long as the defect lasts. See repairs: tenant or landlord and the Flemish Residential Tenancy Decree.

Which professionals to consult

• The housing desk or housing department of your municipality, where you apply for the certificate and read the municipal rules.
• The Housing Quality division of Wonen in Vlaanderen (telephone 1700) for questions about the standards and the procedure.
• A building surveyor or architect to have your home checked for defects beforehand. An EPB assessor (energiedeskundige) for the EPC (energy performance certificate). See EPB assessor.
• An estate agent who lets on your behalf. See estate agent.