Registering a lease agreement

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. 

1. Sign in to MyMinfin.
2. 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').
3. Click on 'Huurcontracten' (‘Lease agreements’) left in the menu and next on 'Uw contract aanbieden' (‘Submit your lease agreement’).
4. Enter the requested data. 
5. Enclose a copy of the lease in pdf format. This may also be digitally signed but with the eID.
6. 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. 

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.

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.