Find out how your landlord might be discreetly ripping you off;
✔ Most renters in Flanders, especially those with dependent children, unknowingly overpay property taxes
✔ While homeowners get automatic benefits, renters must navigate the application process, if they even know about it
✔ Some landlords may withhold information or refuse to pass on rebates, leaving tenants, especially non-Dutch speakers, at a financial disadvantage
Many residents of Flanders are currently paying hundreds of euros in unnecessary property taxes every year.
The overwhelming majority of renters in Belgium's Dutch-speaking region are unaware of the fact that, if their household consists of two or more dependent children or someone with a disability, they can request a reduction in their home's property tax rate from the Flemish authorities. Their landlord is then legally obliged to pass the reduced rate on to them, according to De Standaard
Unlike tenants, homeowners automatically receive this tax reduction without needing to apply: a difference that some experts have criticised as unfairness of the Flemish tax code.
"In practice, the scheme favours owners," explained the newspaper's columnist Ruben Mooijman. "They get the benefit without realising it, while the tenants have to apply for it – assuming they already know they are entitled to it."
"Tenants are also more likely to have lower incomes than owners. This is therefore an advantage that high-income people benefit more from in practice than low-income people."
A hefty amount
According to Luc Vlerick, a volunteer at Ghent-based refugee housing charity Thope, tenants who apply for the tax reduction typically receive a rebate of "between €153 and €457 per year per family." He describes this as "a hefty amount for low-income people".
Vlerick noted that in many cases landlords illicitly benefit from the scheme without informing their tenants. "Both [landlords are tenants] will be informed via a letter from the Flemish tax authorities [when the tax reduction is approved]," he explained. "But many tenants – especially socially weaker people, or refugees who speak little Dutch – do not understand this. If the owner then does not mention the tax reduction they can keep it to themselves."
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Vlerick's comments were echoed by Sara Waelbers, a legal policy officer at Flemish tenants' rights group Vlaams Huurdersplatform, who agreed that "there are owners who simply refuse to pass on the money". She stressed that renters are legally entitled to reclaim a tax rebate up to five years after their original lease has expired.
Waelbers also emphasised that the Flemish Government could "easily" address this issue by making tenants automatically eligible to receive the tax reduction. "This problem could easily be solved by automatically granting the discount for renters as well. It can't be that hard, can it? This is pure Kafka."
