Four housing rights groups have brought what their lawyer called an unprecedented legal challenge against the Brussels-Capital Region Housing Company, seeking to block the sale of two buildings on the private market without social conditions attached.
At a hearing on Friday before the French-speaking civil court of first instance in Brussels, the associations asked the judge to impose an interim measure preventing the sale of the Ariane building in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and the Palais building in Schaerbeek.
The Brussels-Capital Region Housing Company, known as the SLRB, argued that the sale had been imposed on it by the Brussels-Capital Region, which expects to raise €54 million from the two transactions to improve its finances.
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The SLRB said it was simply implementing a 2025 decision by the Brussels government. “The SLRB is carrying out a decision of the Brussels government, in a context of immediate notification,” the company’s lawyer, Céline Estas, told the court.
The four associations, however, argued that the SLRB still has decision-making power because it owns the two properties.
Lawyers for the SLRB and the Brussels-Capital Region said the Ariane and Palais buildings, acquired in 2020, have never been designated as social housing. They argued that selling them would therefore not reduce the existing stock of social housing, because they were never included in that total.
They also said the sale of the two buildings is unrestricted and can therefore proceed on the private market without conditions. By contrast, other sales of SLRB-owned housing have been subject to social criteria.
According to the lawyers, this second wave of property sales is expected to bring in €73 million for the Brussels-Capital Region.
The judge is due to rule in December on the request for interim measures, ahead of a full hearing on the merits scheduled for February.
