Domicile at a student room: can a student register at their kot?

Domicile, main residence and temporary absence

Your domicile is the address where you are registered in the population register. In Belgium it must match your main residence: the place where you actually live for most of the year. The municipality decides on the basis of the facts, usually after a check by the local police officer.

There is an exception for students. Under the rules on population registers, pupils and students over sixteen who are still financially dependent on their parents and stay elsewhere are considered temporarily absent for the duration of their studies. Their main residence remains the parental home. A student room is therefore generally not a domicile address, and the student does not have to change anything.

An absence of more than three months can, however, be reported as a temporary absence to the municipality of the main residence. Cities such as Ghent confirm that Belgian students do not need to change their address when moving into a student room. For the landlord, this means that usually nobody is registered at the room address, which has consequences for local taxes.

When can or must a student register at their student room?

Temporary absence is an option, not a duty to stay registered with the parents. If the room or studio really becomes the place where the student lives, they should register there. Think of these situations:

• The student no longer goes home at weekends and during holidays, and lives in the studio all year round.
• The student is no longer financially dependent on their parents, for example after graduating or with their own income.
• There is no parental address left to return to.
• An international student staying longer than three months must report to the municipality. In Leuven, international students staying longer than ninety days register in the foreigners' register or waiting register at the room address.

Consequences for the student: child benefit, study grant and insurance

Registering a domicile at the room address has consequences that students and parents often underestimate. As a landlord you do not have to follow these up yourself, but it helps to know them when a student asks:

• Child benefit (Groeipakket): moving into a student room without changing address changes nothing; the parents keep receiving the Groeipakket. A young person from sixteen who no longer lives with their parents and has their own domicile can receive the Groeipakket themselves. Payment then moves to the student.
• Study grant: a student living in a room receives a higher Flemish study grant, but only if they are not domiciled at the room address. A lease in the student's name of at least eight months is also required for enrolment for a full academic year. Having their own domicile does not automatically make someone an independent student either: that depends on their own income.
• Tax dependency: a child who temporarily leaves the family home to study normally remains part of the household for personal income tax. With a separate domicile elsewhere, this may be questioned.
• Insurance and health fund: policies such as family liability insurance often link cover to the household. Have the student and parents check with the insurer and the health insurance fund whether anything changes, before the address is changed.

Consequences for the lease: student lease or main residence

For the landlord this is the key point. Title III of the Flemish Residential Lease Decree, with the rules on student leases, only applies if the student does not, with the landlord's express or tacit consent, use the room as their main residence. If you give that consent, the lease falls under title II, the rules for main residences. Among other things, this means a lease that in principle runs for nine years, different notice rules, a different indexation regime and more protection for the tenant.

If a student registers without your consent, according to the FAQ of Wonen in Vlaanderen this does not change the nature of the lease: it remains a student lease. As a landlord you generally cannot check whether a student has registered at the room address, unless they tell you.

So state clearly in the contract that the room may not serve as a main residence, and include the student's home address. If a student stays on after graduating, the student lease is not converted automatically: it ends on its expiry date. A new contract with a former student is no longer a student lease. Read more about the content in our guide to the student room rental contract.

Room or studio: what changes for the landlord?

Under the Flemish housing quality rules, a room (kamer) is a dwelling lacking one or more basic facilities (toilet, bath or shower, cooking facilities), which the occupant must therefore share. A studio has these facilities of its own. That distinction determines which quality standards apply, and it plays a role in how cities regulate student housing.

With a studio that has its own kitchen and bathroom, the step to a main residence is smaller. If you knowingly rent a studio to someone who registers their domicile there, you are concluding an ordinary main residence lease, with the obligations that come with it. Cities such as Ghent and Leuven use a conformity certificate or room label for student rooms; check the city overviews to see which rules apply in your city.

Local taxes: second residence tax and property tax

Several cities levy a tax on second residences. Leuven and Ghent also apply it to student rooms where nobody is registered in the population, foreigners' or waiting register on 1 January. For rooms let to Belgian students this is almost always the case, because they stay domiciled at home. The owner is liable for the tax, but may pass it on to the student if the contract says so.

• In Leuven no second residence tax is due if someone is registered at the address on 1 January, and a reduced rate applies to licensed rooms and studios let to a student. More on room management in Leuven.
• In Ghent you can request an exemption with a valid conformity certificate. More on room management in Ghent.
• Other cities have their own regulations and rates. Check your municipality's regulation.
• As the owner you pay property tax (onroerende voorheffing) regardless of who is domiciled there. Whether a domicile at the address has other tax consequences for you is best discussed with your accountant.

Practical advice for room landlords

These arrangements help you avoid surprises:

• Include a clause in the student lease stating that the room may not serve as a main residence.
• Include the student's home address in the contract.
• Ask for proof of enrolment at an educational institution, as title III only applies to students.
• Set out in the contract whether a second residence tax is passed on.
• If a student still wants to register at the room, discuss it openly and conclude a different type of lease if needed.
• Register the lease within two months via MyRent. See our guide to registering a lease via MyRent.

How Kotmaster helps

In Kotmaster you create digital leases from templates, with your own clauses on main residence and home address, and have them signed with itsme®. You register leases and inspection reports in one click via MyRent, and all documents per student are stored centrally. Want to see how this works for your rooms? Get in touch.

This guide provides general information and is not legal or tax advice. Rules on domicile, social benefits and local taxes can change and differ per municipality; check them with the competent service or consult a specialist.