The Council of State has turned down two petitions filed against the ban on visiting properties with a view to their rental or sale, imposed as part of the struggle against the coronavirus.
In early November, the Flemish and Walloon real-estate federations, CUB Vlaanderen and Feberia, had announced their intention to file a request with the Council for a suspension of extreme urgency of the ban, on the grounds that the measure, included in a ministerial decree dated 1 November, has no legal basis.
In a first ruling, the Council of State rejected the petition because none of the petitioners indicated why the measure had such severe consequences that a suspension of extreme urgency was required.
"None of the real-estate agents, none of the real-estate agencies, nor their professional union, has put forward concrete, verifiable elements showing that the financial and competitive injury invoked has consequences of such severity for the survival of the business or of the union that a suspension of extreme urgency is required,” the Council ruled.
“The two plaintiffs who feel their right to housing has been violated by the absence of prospects for finding new, quality and affordable housing on time have also not provided facts demonstrating the threat of imminent or real danger liable to justify a suspension measure,” it added.
In a second ruling the Council said the petitioners, i.e. the real-estate sector, had not shown that the suspension was required “since they have not produced any justificatory documents, figures or elements proving that the Council needs to examine the emergency application.”
The Brussels Times
