The rental deposit protects the landlord against the tenant's shortcomings - unpaid rent, damage beyond normal wear and tear. It is neither a gift nor a first month's rent: it is a frozen sum, returned at the end of the lease if everything is in order. The rules fall under the Regions, and it is the one of the home that applies.
Where the deposit must be placed
The principle is common to the three Regions: the deposit is not handed over in cash to the owner and does not remain on their account. When it takes the form of a sum of money, it is placed on an individualised blocked account in the tenant's name, in a bank. The interest accrues to the tenant. Neither the landlord nor the tenant can touch it alone: release requires a written agreement from both, or a court decision.
A landlord who demands the deposit "in hand" or on their own account is outside the legal framework.
How much can be required?
The maximum amount depends on the Region and the form of the deposit:
- In Wallonia and Brussels, the deposit in the form of a blocked account is capped at two months' rent. A bank guarantee, built up through monthly instalments, can reach three months.
- In Flanders, the cap is three months' rent.
These rules have evolved in recent years and include support mechanisms for setting up the deposit for tenants who cannot advance the sum. Check the regime in force with the relevant regional source.
What it covers - and what it does not cover
The deposit serves to cover, at the end of the lease, any unpaid rent or charges and damage exceeding normal wear and tear. It does not cover ordinary rental wear: walls to refresh after several years of normal occupancy do not justify a deduction.
It is the entry inventory of fixtures, compared with the exit inventory, that makes it possible to decide. Hence the importance of a detailed and adversarial entry inventory: without it, the tenant is presumed to have received the property in good condition.
The return
At the end of the lease, after the exit inventory:
- if both parties agree, they sign the lifting of the block and the bank returns the deposit and its interest;
- in the event of disagreement over a deduction, release requires a decision from the justice of the peace, brought before them for that purpose.
The deposit is therefore never "lost" automatically: any deduction must be justified and, failing agreement, settled by a judge.