Measures to help renters and tenants
A new website to help landlords and tenants calculate a market rent for any property in Flanders registered 170,000 visitors on its first day of operation last week. The website, huurschatter.be, was launched by Flemish housing minister Freya Van den Bossche as part of her new Rental Plan. At one point, demand was so high, it crashed the server for a short time.
The Rental Plan is a collection of measures aimed at both landlords and tenants and includes subsidies to encourage owners to insulate their properties, incentives for landlords to work through a social rental agency and a rent guarantee fund to come into operation next year.
The website asks a series of questions about the property for rent and provides an estimate of a fair rent based on a range of criteria. The figure proffered is only indicative, but the intention is to give landlord and tenant a basis for discussion. The simulator does not cover the 19 districts of Brussels.
“The Flemish housing market is characterised by a large number of non-professional landlords,” Van den Bossche pointed out. “They do not always know what price to ask.” For too long, she said, the private rental market was “a blind spot” in Flanders’ housing policy – although most people rent at some point in their lives, and one in five families lives in privately rented accommodation.
