The Constitutional Court confirms: Brussels landlords remain obliged to register at federal level
The Constitutional Court has cancelled the provisions of the Brussels Ordinance of April 25, 2024 that abolished the federal registration requirement for residential lease agreements. With these provisions, the Brussels legislator wanted to avoid that landlords in the Brussels-Capital Region have to comply with additional (in their view unnecessary) administrative obligations. The Federal Council of Ministers requested the annulment of these provisions because the Brussels legislator had exceeded its powers.
From January 1, 2025, landlords in the Brussels-Capital Region are obliged to register residential lease agreements in the new regional registration system. In addition, the Brussels legislator abolished the federal registration obligation for residential lease agreements. This is to prevent landlords from being faced with unnecessary administrative burdens.
The Federal Council of Ministers, which lodged an appeal for annulment of this repeal, argued that the abolition of the federal registration obligation for residential lease agreements constitutes an infringement of the federal competence regarding the registration formality for and the registration fee on residential lease agreements.
On April 3, 2025, the Constitutional Court upheld the Council of Ministers’ appeal for annulment.
The Court noted that, since July 1, 2014, the regions are competent to lay down specific rules on the rental of dwellings or parts thereof. On the basis of this competence, the Brussels Region is competent to provide for its own regional registration system for residential lease agreements, but this is limited to regulating the civil law consequences of such registration.
It does not allow regions to abolish the federal registration obligation, as this is a tax obligation introduced by the federal state on the basis of Article 170 § 1 of the Constitution.
Consequently, on April 3, 2025, the Constitutional Court annulled the abolition of the federal registration obligation in the Brussels Ordinance of April 25, 2024.
Note that landlords in the Brussels-Capital Region remain subject to a double registration obligation! They must register the residential lease agreement in both the new Brussels regional system and the federal system via MyRent.
In a previous article, we discussed the most important aspects of the new regional registration requirement. You can consult this on our website or via this link: https://be.andersen.com/en/news-belgium/renting-in-brussels-new-guidelines-for-registration-of-the-rent-contract-starting-1-january-2025
If you would like further information on this subject, please contact our specialists on info@be.Andersen.com or +32 2 747 40 07.
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