Registering a lease agreement
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Please note, from 1 January 2025, you will need to register residential lease agreements in the Brussels-Capital Region with the Federal Public Service Finance and the Brussels-Capital Region (Dutch | French).
Registration
You can easily and quickly register your lease agreement online via MyMinfin.
It is even possible to register the lease of a family member or friend, even if you are not directly involved in the contract.
- Sign in to MyMinfin.
- Click on 'Een huurcontract laten registreren (MyRent)' ('Register a lease agreement (MyRent)’) in the 'Mijn woning en mijn onroerende goederen' box ('My home and my immovable property').
- Click on 'Huurcontracten' (‘Lease agreements’) left in the menu and next on 'Uw contract aanbieden' (‘Submit your lease agreement’).
- Enter the requested data.
- Enclose a copy of the lease in pdf format. This may also be digitally signed but with the eID.
- Send your application.
You will then receive an receipt notification, but this does not mean that your application has already been registered. We will record key data from the lease in an official register. Once we have processed your application, you will receive proof of registration (we call this the registration certificate). In fact, you will often receive the receipt notification and the registration certificate at the same time.
Should your application be incomplete, we will send you a request for more information or refuse your application.
Unable to submit your lease online via MyMinfin? You can also register your lease by post.
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What to do if you get an error message when uploading your PDF?
Did you receive this error message?
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The FPS Finance firewall has grown suspicious of your PDF and is blocking its transmission because something seems off.
Most likely, your file is either damaged or potentially hiding an unpleasant virus. The only thing you need to do now is to scan the PDF again. Do this using a computer that is well-protected with an antivirus program. Then restart your registration in MyRent from the beginning and try uploading the file again.
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How can I get a copy of a lease agreement, a delivery report or a proof of registration?
Copy of a lease or delivery report
Have you lost the original document? No need to worry: with a copy of a lease or delivery report, you can still prove what has been registered.
Moreover, you can also easily access and download them yourself for free in MyMinfin:
- registered leases via the tab 'My home' > 'Manage my agreements'.
- registered delivery reports (and leases) via the tab 'My Documents' and the filter 'Signed lease and delivery report'
Proof of registration
Do you need a proof of registration (a so-called registration certificate)? Are you unsure whether a lease or delivery report has ever been registered with us? You can find out by requesting a so-called registration certificate. If we find the lease or delivery report in our records, we will confirm this and you will receive proof of registration. If we cannot find the lease or delivery report, you will receive an official statement confirming this. Good to have if you do not want to take any chances.
Please note: a retribution is always charged for the request, even if no documents are found.
1. Fill in the application form.
Download the application form (Dutch | French | German) and fill it in completely.
Make sure you clearly state who you are and include the necessary supporting documents:
- Party directly involved: attach a copy of front and back of your identity card (when manually signing the form or sending it by post).
- Entitled party of a party directly involved: attach a copy of front and back of your identity card (when manually signing the form or sending it by post) and proof of your capacity as entitled party (marriage certificate, birth certificate, certificate or deed of inheritance, notarial deed , etc.).
- Mandatory or legal representative of the party directly involved: attach a copy of front and back of the identity card of the person signing as well as proof of your mandate.
- Mandatory or legal representative of an entitled party of a party directly involved: attach a copy of front and back of your identity card of the entitled party, proof of their capacity as entitled party (marriage certificate, birth certificate, certificate or deed of inheritance, etc.) as well as proof of your mandate.
- Third party (authorised by the justice of the peace): attach a copy of front and back of your identity card (when manually signing the form or sending it by post). Also attach the order from the justice of the peace showing that you are entitled to receive the copy or extract.
2. Submit your application.
This can be done quickly and easily online via MyMinfin.
Save the form including any attachments as a single pdf file and sign it with your electronic identity card.
Go to MyMinfin.be and submit the pdf via ‘Mijn interacties’ ('My interactions') > ‘Een document indienen of antwoorden op een brief’ ('Submit a document or reply to a letter') > ‘Ik beschik niet over een dienstcode’ ('I do not have a service code'). Then choose the document type ‘Aanvraag kopie van een document of opzoeking’ ('Applying for a copy of a document or search') from the list.
Are you unable to submit the application form online via MyMinfin? No need to worry, you can also simply send it by post. Fill in the form, sign it and send it along with any attachments. Search our office directory for the contact details of the appropriate department. Simply enter the name or postal code of the municipality in which the immovable property is located.
3. Pay the retribution.
We will send you a transfer slip with the payable amount of:
- 5 euros for a copy of a proof of registration (or registration certificate)
- 10 euros for a copy of the lease or delivery report itself
You will receive this slip via eBox (Dutch | French | German) (MyMinfin) or by post.
4. Only after you have paid, we will deal with your application and send you the copy.
After payment, you will receive the copy within 30 calendar days.
We cannot refund you, even if we do not find any registered private instrument during our search.
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The lessor should also register the delivery report.
That registration is free if the building is intended exclusively for housing:
- The delivery report should be submitted together with the lease agreement.
- The delivery report may also be submitted later, but together with the original copy or a copy of the lease agreement already registered free of charge, or a statement that the lease agreement has already been registered free of charge.
If you register a delivery report for a lease agreement that is not intended exclusively for housing, you will pay a 50-Euro registration duty.
It is not necessary to register the other mandatory attachments to a lease agreement.
However, if you submit them together with the lease agreement, the following rules apply:
- The attachments on minimum quality standards will be registered for free, even if they are not mentioned in the lease agreement. In fact, in Flanders, that attachment is no longer mandatory. It is the copy of the Royal Decree of 8 July 1997 and the Annex to the Royal Decree of 4 May 2007.
- Other attachments, such as the energy performance certificate, will be registered for free as long as they are mentioned in the lease agreement.
Obligations
The lessor should register the lease agreement.
The tenant can also register the lease if the rented immovable property is intended exclusively for housing. However, the tenant is not legally obliged to do so.
Moreover, in some cases it is not mandatory to draw up a written lease, as in the case of a student room or a second residence. Therefore, if no written lease has been drawn up, you obviously do not need to register it.
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What should definitely be in my lease?
A lease should contain a number of mandatory details. Without these details, we cannot register the contract.
Parties
The lease must contain the personal details of the tenant(s) and lessor(s):
- first names
- surname
- date of birth
- place of birth
- address
Is it a legal person? In that case, the following details should be included:
- company number
- company name
- address of the registered office
Does the company not yet have a company number? In that case, the address of the registered office is required, along with proof of the company number not yet assigned in the deed or in an additional statement at the bottom of the deed.
Leased property
The lease should include the following data:
- full address
- description of all rooms and parts of the property which are the object of the lease
- preferably also the cadastral data
Rent contractually due
The lease must clearly contain the following details about the rent:
- date on which the rent starts (day, month, year)
- duration of the contract (preferably with start and end dates)
- rental price (rent and charges)
Signature
Finally, the contract should include the following:
- date of signature of the contract (day, month, year)
- signature(s) of the tenant(s)
- signature(s) of the lessor(s)
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Depending on the situation, this should be within two or four months of signing the lease.
If, for instance, you rent out a house or a flat intended exclusively for housing, you must register the lease within two months of signing it.
For all other leases, you must register the lease agreement within four months of signing it. This includes, for instance:
- a house with a store or an office for professional purposes
- a business
- a company building
- a ground
- a parking space
Where the last day of the period falls in a weekend or on a public holiday, the deadline will shift in your favour to the next working day.
For example, if you sign a lease for a business on 1 February 2024, the deadline for registration would in theory be 1 June 2024. However, since that is a Saturday, the deadline will be extended to Monday 3 June 2024.
The cost also depends on the situation.
Registration of a lease is free if the house or flat is intended exclusively for housing.
Registration of any other type of lease (for instance a business property or a parking space) is payable. You must pay 0.2% registration duty on the total amount of the rent and charges imposed on the tenant for the duration of the lease agreement (and with a minimum of 50 euros).
In order to avoid any fines, make sure to pay this registration duty on time, within the four-month deadline.
For example: you register a three-year lease with a rent of 900 euros per month and 100 euros charges per month:
- The total amount on which we calculate the registration duty is 36,000 euros (36 months x 900 euros + 36 months x 100 euros).
- This means you will have to pay 72 euros in registration duty (36,000 euros x 0.2%).
Exception: If you rent out a building partly intended for housing and partly for other purposes (such as a store or office), the cost depends on the number of lease agreements you take out:
- In case of one lease for the whole building, you have to pay registration duty for both parts.
- In case of two separate leases (one for housing and one for the other purposes), we register the lease intended for housing free of charge and you only have to pay registration duty for the lease for the other purposes.
Legal protection
Registering the lease has advantages for both tenants and lessors. Once the lease is registered, it is binding on everyone. The agreement must be observed even by those who have not signed it.
On MyMinfin you can check for yourself if your lease is registered.
Protection of the tenant
If you rent a property and the lessor wants to sell the property, the new owner must observe the registered lease. This means that the new owner cannot simply evict you from your home.
Protection of the lessor (or owner)
If you rent out a property with a registered lease for a period of more than three years, the tenant must respect a period of notice to terminate that lease. This provides the lessor with a degree of stability and protection.
Even if you rent out a property that is intended for both housing and other purposes (such as a store or office), it is important to register the lease. That way, income taxes are calculated and taxed separately for the two parts of the property. In the absence of registration of that lease agreement, the entire net rental income will be taxed.