Student room utility settlement: charging energy, water and internet correctly

Which costs can you charge separately?

Title III of the Flemish Residential Lease Decree states that the rent for a student room covers both the use of the room and all costs and charges. So you may factor costs such as property tax (onroerende voorheffing), cleaning of shared areas, the lift, end-of-lease cleaning, bin bags you provide or an administration fee at signing into the rent, but you cannot charge them on top. Use of a washing machine or dryer that is mentioned in the contract or inspection report is not charged separately either. The KU Leuven student housing service also points out that costs for metering consumption and for maintaining or managing installations belong in the base rent.

Because the rules are mandatory, a clause that imposes extra costs anyway is deemed not written. The student does not have to pay those costs, and if you try to recover them through the deposit at the end, the student can challenge that before the justice of the peace. More on how the contract is structured is in our guide on the student room rental contract.

There are four exceptions, which you may charge separately only if the contract expressly provides for it:

• Energy: electricity, gas or other heating. According to the Flemish government's FAQ, you may include the taxes on the consumption of gas, electricity and water, because they are directly linked to consumption.
• Water.
• Telecommunications, such as the building's internet subscription.
• Tax on second residences, if your municipality levies it. The tax applies to a full calendar year, so you only pass it on in proportion to the part of the year the student is a tenant, even if the municipality uses 1 January as its reference date.

Advance payments or a flat fee

For the permitted consumption costs you choose between two systems. Which one you use is set out in the contract.

• Advance payments with a settlement. The student pays an advance, for example monthly, and at the end you settle on the basis of actual costs and supporting documents. You refund any surplus and may ask for any shortfall. If the contract only says the student pays a contribution towards costs, the Flemish government treats it as an advance, so you must settle. An advance may be increased by mutual agreement, but the final settlement remains mandatory.
• Fixed flat fee. The student pays a fixed amount regardless of actual consumption, and there is no settlement. A flat fee is the exception and must be expressly agreed in the contract. During the lease you may not change it unilaterally or index it. Only by mutual agreement can you raise it, lower it or convert it to actual costs. Unlike a regular lease, in a student lease neither party can force that conversion through the courts.
• New contract with the same student. In a following contract you may adjust the flat fee, even by more than indexation, because the limit on price increases between consecutive contracts applies to the base rent and not to the flat fee. The student must of course accept the new contract.

Splitting shared costs fairly with distribution keys

In a student building, several rooms often share one meter or one internet connection. The decree does not prescribe a distribution key. According to the KU Leuven student housing service, without individual meters you split the costs based on the main meter and the distribution key stated in the contract. So state in every contract which costs you split, with which key and across which rooms.

Record the meter readings for electricity, gas and water, including sub-meters, together with the student at move-in and move-out. The inspection report is the natural place for this. Without start and end readings, consumption per period is hard to prove. How to approach the inspection report is explained in our guide on the student room inspection report.

Choose one logic per building and apply it consistently. If a room stands empty for a while, it makes sense for you to bear that room's share; in any case, record how you handle it, so the other students do not unexpectedly pay more. These are the most common keys:

• Individual meters or sub-meters per room: the most accurate, because each student pays for their own consumption.
• Equal shares per room: simple and suitable for fixed costs such as a shared internet subscription.
• Per m²: logical for heating when rooms differ a lot in size.
• Per occupant: useful when some rooms are occupied by two people.
• A combination: for example electricity per sub-meter, water per occupant and internet in equal shares per room.

What must the settlement contain?

A good settlement lets the student check every amount. Stick to this content:

• The period and the room the settlement relates to.
• For each item (energy, water, telecoms, second-residence tax), the actual cost, in detail.
• The meter readings at the start and end, or the main meter and the distribution key applied if there are no individual meters.
• The total of the advances paid.
• The balance: what you refund or what the student still owes.

Supporting documents and timing

The student is entitled to the supporting documents, such as the energy supplier's invoices, the water bill and the internet subscription. If you manage a building with several units, the Flemish government considers an overview of the costs sufficient, provided the student can inspect the documents at your premises.

Title III sets no fixed date for the settlement, but with advance payments you must settle at the end of the contract in any case. Since a student lease usually runs for one academic year, that coincides with the student leaving. KU Leuven recommends sending the settlement as soon as possible, preferably within three months, the same period that applies to returning a deposit held in your own account. If the supplier's final invoice has not arrived by then, agree with the student on how to proceed: wait for the invoice, make a provisional settlement based on previous consumption at current rates followed by a final one, or ask the supplier for an interim statement.

Settling against the rental deposit

You may settle an outstanding balance from the settlement against the rental deposit; you refund a surplus to the student. How this works in practice depends on where the deposit is held.

• Blocked account in the student's name: the bank only releases the money on the basis of a written agreement between both parties, drawn up no earlier than the end of the lease, or a court decision. So include the settlement balance in that release agreement.
• Landlord's account: you return the deposit with interest within three months after the student has left, unless you dispute the return within that period by registered letter. According to the Flemish government's FAQ, a literal reading of the decree requires that letter even if you and the student agree in writing on a deduction for consumption costs. To be safe, send it.
• Costs you were not allowed to charge separately cannot be recovered through the deposit either.

Common mistakes in the cost settlement

These mistakes cause the most disputes or lead to amounts you cannot enforce:

• Charging cleaning, waste, maintenance or an administration fee separately, while the rent must be all-in.
• Charging consumption costs without the contract expressly providing for it.
• Raising or indexing a flat fee during the lease without the student's agreement.
• Collecting advances and never settling, or settling without supporting documents.
• No distribution key in the contract, or changing the key from year to year without agreement.
• Not recording meter readings at move-in and move-out.
• Charging the full annual second-residence tax to whoever rents on 1 January.
• In a new contract with the same student, charging separately for costs that were included in the all-in rent of the previous contract. According to the Flemish government, this is not allowed.
• Not mentioning the costs in an advertisement: every public announcement must state at least the rent and the costs and charges.

Regular leases, Brussels and Wallonia

Under a regular lease for a main residence in Flanders, the rent is not all-in. A distribution principle applies there: costs linked to the use of the home are for the tenant, costs linked to the ownership rights are for the landlord, and the property tax may never be passed on to the tenant. The Flemish government has drawn up a non-exhaustive list for this. There too, costs must match actual expenses unless a fixed amount was expressly agreed, they must be shown in a separate account and the tenant receives the supporting documents on request. Unlike in a student lease, either party can ask the court at any time to revise a flat fee or convert it to actual costs. The statutory rent indexation is calculated there on the base rent, excluding the costs and charges the contract expressly places on the tenant.

If you let in Brussels or Wallonia, different rules apply: Brussels regulates student leases in the Brussels Housing Code, Wallonia in the Walloon decree of 15 March 2018 on residential leases. This guide only covers Flanders; for properties in those regions, check the local rules separately.

How Kotmaster helps

With the cost settlement module in Kotmaster you split costs such as energy, water and internet across your tenants, using distribution keys per building. Kotmaster offsets the advances paid, draws up the settlement per tenant and prepares the deposit for return, with any deductions backed up. Through the bank integration, payments are matched to the right tenant automatically, so you can see which advances have come in. If you work with Odoo, Exact Online, Octopus or Billit, Kotmaster connects to your accounting, and the built-in AI assistant answers your questions directly in the app. See the features or get in touch for a demo.

This guide provides general information about the Flemish rules for student leases and is not legal advice. If you are unsure about a specific situation, consult a lawyer, notary or your landlords' association.