The rental deposit in Belgium: four regimes, not one

Our sources were last verified on 13 August 2026 (reading of the official consolidated texts: Vlaamse Codex, Wallex, Moniteur belge via openjustice, SPF Économie, European e-Justice portal).

1. The table, regime by regime

Regime	Legal cap	Return deadline	Interest owed to the tenant	Where the money must be held	Statute	Verified
Flanders, main residence	3 months’ rent	No deadline set by the decree: release upon a written agreement drawn up at the earliest at the end of the lease, or a court decision; the landlord’s claim to have the deposit released in his favour is time-barred one year after the end of the lease	Yes: capitalised for the tenant	Individualised account in the tenant’s name with a financial institution (other forms provided by the decree)	Vlaams Woninghuurdecreet of 9 November 2018 (the Flemish residential lease decree), art. 37	13/08/2026
Flanders, student lease	2 months’ rent	3 months after the tenant moves out, unless the landlord contests by registered letter within that same period	Yes: capitalised for the tenant	Individualised account in the student’s name, or payment to an account designated by the landlord: the only one of the four regimes where the money can go directly to the landlord	Vlaams Woninghuurdecreet, art. 62 (scope of the student lease: art. 55)	13/08/2026
Wallonia	2 months’ rent (since 1 June 2023, down from two or three depending on the form)	No deadline set by the decree: release upon a written agreement drawn up at the earliest at the end of the lease, or a court decision	Yes: capitalised for the tenant; if the landlord keeps the sum without placing it, interest at the average financial market rate, then statutory interest after formal notice	Individualised account in the tenant’s name with a financial institution (other forms provided by the decree)	Décret du 15 mars 2018 relatif au bail d’habitation (the Walloon housing lease decree), art. 62	13/08/2026
Brussels-Capital, leases signed or renewed since the 2024 reform	2 months’ rent, whatever the form	2 months from the handing back of the keys, save for court proceedings; failing that, a surcharge of 10% of the monthly rent per monthly period started	Yes: capitalised for the tenant	Five forms, including the individualised account in the tenant’s name, with a financial institution approved by the FSMA, plus the personal surety	Code bruxellois du Logement (the Brussels Housing Code), art. 248 and 249 (ordonnance du 4 avril 2024)	13/08/2026
Brussels-Capital, leases predating the reform	2 or 3 months depending on the form of the guarantee	No numeric deadline: release upon a written agreement drawn up at the earliest at the end of the lease, or a court decision	Yes: capitalised for the tenant	Forms of the 2017 version of the Code, individualised account included	Code bruxellois du Logement, art. 248 and 249 (version of the ordonnance du 27 juillet 2017)	13/08/2026

Note on the Brussels reform: the ordonnance du 4 avril 2024 enters into force “le premier jour du mois qui suit le délai de 6 mois à dater du jour de sa publication au Moniteur belge” (the first day of the month following six months from its publication in the Moniteur belge, article 38), and it was published on 22 April 2024. Our sources contain no text stating the resulting date in so many words: we therefore cite the rule, not a computed date. The new cap and the return deadline apply only to leases signed or renewed after that entry into force, not to running leases (article 38 of the same ordinance).

2. What the three regions share: a deposit locked behind two keys

For housing leases, the three regional statutes organise the same mechanism: the deposit sits on an individualised account in the tenant’s name with a financial institution, interest is capitalised in the tenant’s favour, and nobody can touch the sum without one of two keys: a written agreement of both parties, drawn up at the earliest at the end of the lease, or a court decision. An agreement signed at move-in has no effect. And in Flanders as in Wallonia, the text adds that this decision is provisionally enforceable, without security or escrow deposit: a landlord who appeals does not freeze the release.

This lock does not cover everything, and the cases that fall outside it are named with their statute. The Flemish student lease allows the sum to be paid directly to the account designated by the landlord (Vlaams Woninghuurdecreet, article 62, § 2): there is then no third party and no lock any more, and the remaining protection is the three-month return deadline after moving out, with interest owed to the student. The personal surety, which Flanders allows with the landlord’s agreement (Vlaams Woninghuurdecreet, article 37, § 1er, alinéa 2) and in Brussels as a fifth form of guarantee (Code bruxellois du Logement, article 248, § 2, as replaced by the ordonnance du 4 avril 2024), is not a holding by a third party: it therefore does not fall under the two-key lock.

One reading trap, finally: “article 62” means nothing in Belgium until its statute is named. In the Vlaams Woninghuurdecreet, article 62 governs the Flemish student lease; in the Décret du 15 mars 2018 relatif au bail d’habitation, it governs the ordinary Walloon rental guarantee. This page therefore always names the statute before the article.

3. Outside housing: no protective regime

This is the other face of Belgian law, verified text by text: outside housing leases, no Belgian text identified by our sources caps the deposit, imposes a custodian, sets a return deadline or provides for interest. The Loi du 30 avril 1951 sur les baux commerciaux (the federal commercial lease law), read in its consolidated version, says nothing about the commercial tenant’s guarantee. For the rental of equipment, vehicles or machinery, our sources identified no special regime: the amount, the custody and the return belong to the contract. The only safeguard identified is the unfair terms control presented by the SPF Économie, which targets the manifest imbalance between the parties’ rights and obligations, no rule specific to deposits identified. For that case, see our page on the vehicle rental deposit.

4. Our method, and what this page does not say

Every row cites its statute, read on the official consolidated version, and carries its verification date. Where our sources do not establish a value, the cell says so: the Walloon decree sets no return deadline, and this page writes that instead of inventing one. When a text changes, the row is revisited and the verification date with it. The overview of all seven countries is on the main page of our observatory of deposit rules in Europe.

Frequently asked questions