Bagel Belly Blog

Leaky pipes

One of the biggest surprises for me since being in Belgium has been the huge difference between the UK and Belgian rental markets. In the UK, the law tries to be as balanced as possible, providing equal protection for landlord and tenant. In Belgium, the experience so far suggests that the law is quite heavily skewed in favour of landlords.

Witness for example the problem we're having at the moment: a leak in the bathroom that's been a problem since mid-January, and it seems all we can do is wait and hope that the landlord's good nature will finally result in a fix. The landlord's methodology so far seems to be to call out as many plumbers as possible to take a look, in the hope that one of them will eventually say "ceci n'est pas une fuite". All of them are saying "yes, there's a leak, it needs to be fixed", so I see more plumber visits in our future.

Meanwhile, we can't move out until the end of the lease without paying a financial penalty, and there's no guarantee we'll even see our three month deposit (and every likelihood we'll never see it again), despite having a cleaner that polishes the apartment until it shines on a weekly basis.

One thing I have learnt: it's difficult to google for legal advice in a foreign language. If any of my Belgian friends happen to know what our rights are, I'd love to hear from you.

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