Brussels' proposed new regionalised system for registering leases, aimed at combatting exorbitant rents in the city, has been criticised by Federal Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V), who argues that the measure impinges on Federal competencies.
Brussels State Secretary for Housing Nawal Ben Hamou (PS) put forward a proposal for the region to establish a comprehensive database of all rental contracts to list housing costs per neighbourhood. This was conceived as the majority of residents in the city are renters, and prices have become increasingly unaffordable. Ben Hamou argued the system would help better monitor the housing market to combat excessive rents.
If approved in the plenary session of the Brussels-Capital Region Parliament, the system would from 1 January 2025 require landlords in Brussels to register their residential leases with the regional administration, rather than using the Ministry of Finance platform MyRent. This was done to avoid overburdening landlords with a double registration process. Registering the new information would also be a condition for indexing rents or allowing rents to be increased if works are carried out.
However, the proposal has been met with opposition on the federal level. Van Peteghem wrote a letter to Ben Hamou, criticising the system, which he believes encroaches on federal powers, La Libre reported. He also called out the fact that the relevant federal authorities were not consulted about the measure, even though the bill contains "the abolition of the federal obligation to register residential leases".
Problems for taxpayers
According to Van Peteghem, the Brussels-Capital Region does not have the power to abolish this obligation", which is "seriously detrimental to the interests of the Federal State", he said, referring to the Council of State ruling on the bill. It noted that this "prevents the federal government from exercising its fiscal powers".
Aside from the issues this poses for the government, he argued that this would also lead to problems for Brussels taxpayers, especially with regard to the new system for deducting rental charges, which would then be "impossible to apply in Brussels", or to the new VAT rate system for demolition and reconstruction.
He called on the region to lift the cancellation of the federal registration to be lifted and warned Ben Hamou that if the legislative process continues, he will submit "a request for the annulment of this ordinance to the Constitutional Court" and take steps to annul the text altogether.
A meeting scheduled between both cabinets was brought forward to Monday 15 following the letter. The aim is to find a way to meet the federal government's concerns without forcing Brussels residents to register their leases twice.
