The Brussels Parliament has given urgent consideration to two proposed ordinances aimed at limiting the potential effects of the end of a freeze on the indexation of rents for energy-inefficient housing and commercial premises.
Landlords in Belgium are authorised to increase rents at the start of a contract, based on the official cost-of-living rate. However, during the pandemic, parliament passed an ordinance freezing the indexation of rents for energy-guzzling housing and commercial buildings. The freeze, which was subsequently extended, elapses in two weeks' time, so Brussels landlords will again be able to index their rents from 14 October.
Parliament has now been presented with a proposed ordinance by Martin Casier (PS), co-signed by an Ecolo legislator and seeking to prevent owners of energy-guzzling buildings from carrying out a double, catch-up indexation.
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A similar proposal, tabled by Thomas Naessens (Ecolo), co-signed by a PS legislator and covering commercial rentals, was also given urgent consideration shortly before the vote.
In addition, parliament will open discussion on a proposal by the opposition Belgian Workers Party (PTB-PVDA) to extend the rent freeze for properties located in energy-intensive areas.
Secretary of State for Housing Nawal Ben Hamou (PS) had proposed such an extension to the government, but coalition partners Open Vld and DéFI had opposed it.
They had argued that the freeze was exceptional in the context of the energy crisis, and that the country’s other two regions had refused to extend it.
