The Flemish government has limited the indexation of rents by emergency decree, with immediate effect.
Properties that have an EPC value of E or F will be frozen for a year. Rental properties with an EPC value D may only be half indexed.
Families are confronted with high energy bills. Those energy prices also push the index upwards, causing rents to rise. Tenants in homes with a low energy score are particularly hard hit as a result.
The limitation of the rent indexation should prevent this. About 107,000 tenants live in an apartment or house with an EPC value of E or F, the most energy-hungry homes. The rent for these homes would be maintained for a year. Homes that do not have an EPC may also not be indexed. A halved indexation will apply to rental properties with an EPC value D. Nothing will change for A+, A, B and C.
What about the owners of rental properties?
What is good news for tenants with a high energy bill is less good news for owners of less energy-efficient rental properties.
Higher price increases due to inflation also affect rental property owners:
- material prices and hourly rates of contractors continue to rise to unprecedented levels.
- they are also confronted with a higher energy bill.
Finding a budget for renovation is therefore not so obvious.
In order to index you need to renovate & to renovate you have to invest.
If you invest enough in insulation, you can keep the rental indexation, says Minister of Housing Matthias Diependaele (N-VA).
But those interventions are not affordable or feasible for everyone. There is a need for a real renovation revolution. Yally wants to play a role in this.
Many owners don't have the “time nor the inclination” to start this. For them, Yally is dé dream partner. It takes quite a bit of knowledge, time and administrative work to renovate cost-effectively.
Do you sometimes think about selling your (rental) home? Be sure to contact us without obligation!