Repairs: who pays for what?

The principle, in one sentence

The owner must deliver and maintain a dwelling in good condition; the tenant must look after it and return it as he received it, normal wear and tear excepted.

From which the split follows:

• Major repairs and major upkeep — anything touching the structure, the building envelope and heavy equipment — fall on the owner;
• tenant repairs and day-to-day upkeep — anything flowing from everyday use of the home — fall on the tenant.

The three Regions (Brussels, Wallonia, Flanders) each have their own residential tenancy text, and each provides for, or refers to, a list of tenant repairs. Those lists are your best referee in case of doubt: find the one for the Region where the property is. They are not strictly identical, and a generic "Belgian" answer does not exist.

What falls on the TENANT

Day-to-day upkeep, minor maintenance, and any damage caused by his fault or negligence.

Heating and hot water

• The annual boiler service and chimney sweeping. This is maintenance, not a repair: it falls on the tenant, who should keep the certificate. (The frequency of the compulsory inspection depends on the type of installation and on the Region: check.)
• Bleeding the radiators; replacing a faulty bleed valve.

Plumbing and sanitary fittings

• Seals (silicone, tap washers), shower hoses, shower heads.
• The cistern mechanism and float, the toilet seat.
• Unblocking traps and accessible pipework — unless the blockage comes from an embedded pipe or the building's common stack.

Electrics and joinery

• Bulbs, fuses, switches and sockets damaged through use.
• Greasing locks and hinges; replacing a lost key.
• Small paint touch-ups and filling holes the tenant drilled.

Safety and ventilation

• The smoke detector batteries (the detector itself is supplied and fitted by the owner — it is compulsory in rented dwellings in all three Regions).
• Cleaning or replacing ventilation filters.

Outdoors

• Upkeep of the garden the tenant enjoys: mowing, trimming hedges, weeding; clearing gutters reachable without scaffolding.

Window panes

• A pane broken during the lease is presumed to be the tenant's responsibility. It is a presumption: it falls away if he shows the breakage was caused by hail, a storm, a defect in the property or a third party.

What falls on the OWNER

Everything to do with the structure, ageing and heavy equipment.

• Weathertightness: roof, façade, walls, floors, window frames and windows (their replacement).
• Replacing the boiler or water heater, and heavy repairs (heat exchanger, burner, circulation pump).
• Embedded pipework and the common drainage stack.
• The electrical installation where it is worn out or non-compliant, and the consumer unit.
• Structural damp: infiltration, rising damp, condensation caused by a defect in the building's insulation or ventilation. Mind the nuance: condensation caused by the occupant failing to air the property is another matter — that is where expert reports are fought.
• Fitting the smoke detectors, and replacing units at end of life.
• And more broadly, everything that becomes necessary through the passage of time rather than through faulty use.

Normal wear and tear is NEVER the tenant's

This is the most important principle of the whole article — and the one most often violated in exit statements.

A lived-in home ages. Paint yellows, parquet acquires a patina, bathroom seals grey, carpet flattens under the furniture. That is not damage: it is wear and tear, and the tenant does not answer for it. After six years of occupation, a landlord cannot demand a fresh coat of paint at the tenant's expense.

In practice, an expert applies a depreciation coefficient: if a floor covering has a ten-year life and has served seven, at most three tenths of its value may be claimed — and even then, only where the damage exceeds normal wear. Do not pay new for old; do not claim new for old.

Symmetrically: the tenant is presumed liable for damage arising during the lease, unless he shows it is due to wear and tear, force majeure, a defect in the property or the act of a third party. The presumption exists — it is simply rebuttable.

The inspection report: the centrepiece

All this theory is worth nothing without proof. And the proof is the entry inspection report.

Where there is no detailed entry report, the tenant is as a rule presumed to have received the property in the state it is in at exit. In other words: the landlord can claim nothing. It is the heaviest sanction on the careless landlord — and it applies by itself, without a trial.

At exit, you compare, item by item, with the entry condition. The statement may only cover the difference — less wear and tear. If works are needed and leave the property unlettable, an immobilisation indemnity may be added, but its duration must be justified.

Do it properly: room by room, dated photos, meter readings, both signatures. An inspection dashed off on the day of the key handover, on the corner of a table, protects nobody.

In case of disagreement

Two mistakes never to make. Tenant: do not stop paying the rent to apply pressure — it is the surest way to turn a strong case into a termination at your fault. Landlord: do not withhold the deposit on your own authority without a written agreement or a court decision; an unjustified retention rebounds on you.

Domilinko's role

Domilinko equips precisely the point where these disputes are won or lost: the joint inspection report, with photos, meter readings and both parties' signatures, at entry and at exit; the timestamped key handover; the messaging that keeps a written, dated trace of every repair request. The day a disagreement arises, you do not have to reconstruct six months of exchanges from memory.

Domilinko, however, does not intervene in the performance of the lease: the platform does not collect the rent, offers no rent-default insurance, no payment guarantee and no delegated property management, and the deposit is constituted off-platform, on a blocked account. Repairs are, and remain, a matter between landlord and tenant.