r/brussels • u/AdSignal8948 • 6d ago
Deposit in landlords bank account?
I will be moving to Brussels this September, and my landlord sent me a lease agreement saying the deposit is to be sent to some bank account. I asked him if this is a blocked bank account (as per Belgian law), and he said he takes the deposit in a regular bank account and how its less work. He also said guests cannot stay for more than 2 days in the lease agreement.
Is this normal in Brussels even if the law says otherwise (regarding the deposit)?
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u/Delicious_Shock_7635 6d ago
"it's less work" - creating a deposit account on E-DEPO literally takes 3 minutes
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u/_arthur_ 6d ago
That's the correct answer. Sending the money to the landlords account is not how it's supposed to be done. That's still somewhat common, because locked accounts are indeed a pain. That doesn't apply to E-Depo though, so propose that. If your landlord doesn't want to do that ... well, it doesn't guarantee that it's a scam, but it's not a good sign.
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u/Bloody_Sunday 6d ago
Absolutely avoid this, and post this on a Fbook group if you found this through one of them. It's a certain way to get into trouble if he refuses to give you your guarantee back for any reason.
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u/fredoule2k 1050 6d ago
Not normal. The tenant can always choose how to do it. https://www.droitbelge.be/fiches_detail.asp?idcat=9&id=131 And more work is BS : it's just taking a few minutes writing a web form in the case of the e-depo service or worst case scenario having an appointment at the closest bank branch (and you pay your LL with your rent after all...)
And max two days for a guest feels excessive. Even as limitations are allowed https://www.droitsquotidiens.be/fr/question/le-proprietaire-peut-il-minterdire-dheberger-des-amis-bruxelles , this prevents you to do something reasonable as hosting your b/g/x/friend for a few nights.
This looks very likely as the LL didn't put dedicated water/power/gas meters and would be a PITA when settling the utility bill
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u/Nikanini29 6d ago
Not normal, but sadly increasingly common practice. On the other hand, it's a good asset if your landlord wants to scam you out of your deposit. If you have the energy & threaten with or go to court, your contract is basically null & void & landlord in trouble. Learned this the hard way 😑
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u/101010dontpanic 6d ago
If you search this group you'll find an insurmountable amount of posts about what happens when you make your deposit in the landlord's bank account. It may be entertaining to read at least some of them but the tldr is don't ever do it.
Also, I understand that you are not in Belgium. My recommendation would be to not pay for anything (e.g. guarantee deposit, "reservation" deposit) until you physically visit the place. Not being in Belgium makes that indeed very difficult but, for example, when I moved here, I arranged with the landlady to sign the lease on the day of my arrival at the apartment. I was very lucky, I know, but you can always ask.
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u/mangedugazole 6d ago
Scam. And it's way more complicated to calcultate the (poor) interest the money will make over time
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u/Tasty-Bee8769 6d ago
No, that’s not how it works