The site is designed to serve a similar purpose to the V-Test (www.vreg. be/doe-de-v-test), which allows consumers to find out their best option for electricity and gas supply. Searchers will fill in location, size of accommodation and any preferences, such as central heating or double glazing. The website then returns details on the price you should expect to pay in that area, based on the government’s database compiled from all existing rental contracts.

“As a tenant, the website offers the advantage that you will know immediately if the apartment or house you are looking at is asking too high a rent,” Van den Bossche said. “And it offers landlords an indication of how much they can ask.” About one in five people in Flanders rent apartments or houses.

The database also offers a picture of how rents vary across Flanders (see graphic). In the region as a whole, the average rent is less than €500 a month. According to Sien Winters, who helped compile the data for the housing support agency Steunpunt Wonen, the highest rents are on the edges of cities like Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent and Leuven. Inside the cities themselves, the availability of low-rent studios and apartments brings average prices down. The new website will be launched soon.

www.steunpuntwonen.be