Student housing management in Kortrijk

A growing student city

At the start of the 2025-2026 academic year, Kortrijk had 18,676 students according to the city, up from 17,519 a year earlier. They study at four institutions: VIVES (12,233 students in Kortrijk), Howest (4,500), KU Leuven Kulak (1,600) and Ghent University Campus Kortrijk (343).

The supply of student rooms is growing too. In March 2025, the city counted 3,150 student rooms, with around a thousand more in development. Students mainly look for a room in March and April, often via Kotwest, the regional student housing platform. Landlords who have their rooms ready by then, with a valid label and a clear lease, let them fastest.

The Flemish kotlabel is mandatory in Kortrijk

Kortrijk was the third Flemish city to make the Flemish kotlabel mandatory, through its general police regulations. Since 1 March 2025, the label has replaced the former mandatory operating permit for student rooms. If you let rooms to students in Kortrijk, you need the label.

The label guarantees three things: housing quality, fire safety and a valid permit. In practice, that means:

• a conformity certificate confirming the room meets Flemish housing quality standards;
• a positive fire safety certificate from the fire service or a fire safety inspector;
• a permit for the number of rooms you let.

What the label means for your administration

The Flemish kotlabel has no expiry date of its own: it stays valid as long as the underlying certificates are valid. If your conformity or fire safety certificate expires, so does your label. As a landlord you need to track those dates actively, especially with several buildings. Labelled rooms also appear in the public register on kotlabel.vlaanderen.be, where students and parents can look them up.

The usual letting rules still apply. Under the Flemish Residential Tenancy Decree you can ask at most two months' rent as a deposit, you draw up an inspection report together and you register the lease free of charge within two months via MyRent. See also our guide on the student room deposit.

Landlords in Kortrijk: common questions

Many Kortrijk students follow professional bachelor programmes with internships, and university colleges allow enrolment during the year. That sometimes raises questions about ending a lease or subletting. A student who stops studying can end the lease with two months' notice, on presenting proof from the institution. For students going on exchange or an internship, Flemish rules allow subletting to another student without your consent.

Clear leases are therefore half the work. Our guide on the student room lease lists the mandatory and recommended clauses.

Deposits and move-out: avoiding disputes

The end of the academic year is the busiest moment for many Kortrijk landlords: dozens of students leave within a few weeks. Without a good inspection report, you are in a weak position in any discussion about damage. Without a valid move-in report, the room is presumed to still be in its original condition.

A few rules to remember for student leases in Flanders:

• The deposit may never be paid in cash; it goes into a blocked account in the student's name or into your account.
• If the deposit is in your account, you repay it with interest within three months after the tenant leaves, unless you dispute the repayment within that period.
• A separate deposit for keys or badges is not allowed: it is included in the maximum deposit of two months' rent.

Kotmaster: student housing management from Kortrijk

Kotmaster was built in Kortrijk and still has its home base there, alongside offices in Ghent and Leuven. With Kotmaster you store your conformity certificates, fire safety certificates and permits centrally per building, so you are ready for the kotlabel inspection. You create leases digitally and have them signed with itsme®, you do inspection reports with photos on your smartphone, and registration via MyRent takes one click.

Payments are followed up automatically with reminders and rent is indexed correctly. Want to get to know us first? Read our story or request a demo.