A proposal is on the table to help tenants financially. Landlords might only index their rents if the energy performance of buildings is good. The objective is therefore to fight once morest energy sieves. The Brussels Government is discussing it today and the debate has also been launched in the Walloon Region. What do tenants and landlords think?
Nadine has been a tenant in Schaerbeek for eight years. Blocking or curbing the indexation of her rent would be excellent, almost vital news for her. “I already pay 825 euros being alone with my daughter“, she explains.”Increase would be a disaster and I don’t know where I will go. Maybe at my mother’s house. It would be impossible to pay.“
Concretely, the idea would be to prevent landlords from indexing their rents if the energy performance of their properties is not good. Some owners like Claudie are quite supportive. “Tenants are already wondering how they will pay their energy bills“, indicates Claudy, an owner. “I don’t see why cornering them in addition for a sum which in general is not colossal.“
The owners’ union is once morest
However, this proposal is far from unanimous. “It is not the energy consumption in the building or in a dwelling that has increased“, explains Eric Mathay, president of the owners’ union in Brussels. “It is the price of energy that has increased. We therefore do not see why private donors should bear the burden.“
The very different opinion on the side of the Syndicate of tenants. “Rather than limiting the indexation of rents to those who have a low PEB, we are rather in favor of applying a generalized limitation of a maximum of 2% of the indexation“, indicates the secretary José Garcia.
The French example
This model is inspired by the French example. Since August 24, the rents of dwellings that have an energy performance certificate F or G can no longer be increased. “In France, they announced this in 2016“, reprimanded Eric Mathay. “They gave owners 5-6 years to improve the energy score of their buildings. And today, the deadline is here.“
The trade sector is also following all these discussions very closely because many traders are now tenants.
