Social rental agency, housing company and the property ownership condition: who checks what

A sociaal verhuurkantoor (SVK, social rental agency) leased homes from private owners and sublet them to vulnerable tenants, with support. A sociale huisvestingsmaatschappij (SHM, social housing company) built and let its own homes. The decreet van 9 juli 2021 (decree of 9 July 2021) brought the two together in the housing company: in each area of operation there has been only one social landlord since 2023, which manages both its own stock and the leased homes. The transition was completed during 2023 and 2024.

For tenants, the landlord changed its name; the rules for registration, admission and rent were harmonised in the Vlaamse Codex Wonen (Flemish Housing Code) and the implementing decree. The leased homes also fall under the social rent regime of Book 6 of the Codex.

Anyone who rents a home that the housing company has leased on the private market is a social housing tenant like any other. The property ownership condition applies in full: no home or building land in full ownership, in Belgium or abroad, and the obligation to report an acquisition spontaneously. The sworn declaration is signed at registration and the rent is calculated in the same way, with the same social rent reduction.

In the past, SVKs checked less for property abroad than SHMs did: the agencies were small, had no legal department of their own and focused on support. However, tenants of an SVK may also show concrete indications of foreign property, for example an inheritance or a family home. Since the merger, the housing company can deploy the same investigation for all its tenants and use the Flemish framework agreement with reimbursement of the costs.

In the housing company, the roles are divided as follows.

• Property in Belgium is checked by the company itself, via the data of the FOD Financiën (FPS Finance), at registration and periodically.
• Property abroad cannot be verified by the company itself; in case of a concrete suspicion, it has this investigated by an agency that works with lawyers on site. See when you may start an investigation.
• The supervisory body of Wonen in Vlaanderen monitors compliance with the rules by the housing company and can request case files.
• The justice of the peace decides in the event of a dispute about termination and recovery.

The private owner of a leased home is not involved in any of this: the housing company is their tenant and continues to pay the rent, even if the subtenant loses their right. For the owner, nothing changes.

For case managers coming from the SVK world, investigation into foreign property is often new. Three points of attention:

1. The same suspicion, the same standard. A long stay abroad, an inheritance, a report: the same concrete indications apply as for the company’s own stock, and the same limit: never on the basis of origin.
2. The same consequences. In the event of a hit, the housing company can terminate the lease and recover the social rent reduction; see recovering the social rent reduction. The leased home then becomes available for the next candidate on the waiting list.
3. Support and verification go together. That the housing company supports a tenant does not stand in the way of verification. The justice of the peace in Hamme held that verification in fact forms part of the social landlord’s mission.

A pre-check usually gives, within 1 to 2 weeks, an initial picture of whether a case merits further investigation.

Sources: decreet van 9 juli 2021 (decree of 9 July 2021) amending various decrees relating to housing (Vlaamse Codex); Wonen in Vlaanderen on housing companies.