The parliament of Brussels is planning legislation that will make it impossible for landlords to evict tenants who are behind on their rents. The bill, put forward by the city’s Socialists, would see the city step in to pay arrears. It would block evictions in winter.
Secretary of State for Housing Nawal Ben Hamou, a Socialist, says she doesn’t want those who can’t pay ending up on the streets. Her proposals include changes to the eviction procedure, a generalised winter eviction moratorium on all public and private housing in the region, the creation of a fund to cover rent arrears, and the setting up of eviction monitoring.
On an annual basis, around 600 evictions take place, according to the state secretary. These include people who are divorced and can no longer pay the rent on their own, and those who have fallen ill and cannot work.
The examination of the amendments will take place on 25 May. The debate and vote in plenary should take place in early summer, in time for the bill to enter into force before next winter. Similar legislation exists in Berlin and in Paris.
In the parliament’s housing committee most parties expressed support, although not everyone agrees on implementation details. Extra costs generated by the law would be balanced by the lower costs for homeless shelters, some deputies believe.
The Marxist Belgian Workers’ Party party said the proposal constitutes social progress though added it has doubts regarding access to the solidarity fund for large landlords who are faced with insolvent tenants during the moratorium. It wants access reserved for small landlords.
Some politicians are sceptical. Brussels MP Celine Fremault (from Les Engagés, a centrist party) says she fears vulnerable tenants could be excluded if landlords decide not to risk renting their property to low-income tenants. Her colleague from the Flemish nationalist N-VA party, Mathias Vanden Borre, said he prefers the system applicable in Flanders, where there is a fund to combat evictions. He called the proposal “proto-communist hocus pocus”.
Vanden Borre said judges can already prolong eviction terms, and the proposal is therefore disproportionate. It also harms landlords’ rights, he said in a press release. “The extension of eviction terms and the moratorium would result in tenants being able to stay in the property for as much as a year and a half without paying any rent.” He sees a resemblance with earlier legislation on the energy market in Brussels. “Numerous energy suppliers have left the market due to the extreme protection of defaulters.”
Fighting poverty, controlling housing quality, and tackling abuse should be the policy priorities,” Vanden Borre concluded.
"A disaster foretold – After a year, Berlin’s experiment with rent control is a failure: Rents may be down, but so is the supply of homes"https://t.co/IzIFSATUpg pic.twitter.com/xks8boX7Op
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) March 11, 2021
