Viewing a rental: the checklist that avoids bad surprises

# Viewing a rental property without bad surprises

A viewing lasts twenty minutes. It often commits you for two to nine years, a rental deposit, and an energy bill you will pay every month. There is no second chance: once the lease is signed and the inspection done, what you failed to see becomes your problem. Here is what to actually look at.

Before you go

• Reread the ad and note: rent, charges (fixed sum or provisions?), energy rating (EPC/PEB), floor area, storey, availability. In Belgium the energy performance certificate is compulsory in every rental listing: an ad with no rating is already a bad sign.
• Look up the address on a map: real walking distance to the stop, the station, the shops, the school. Then switch to satellite view: what is behind the building?
• Check internet coverage at the address on the operators' sites. A missing fibre connection is discovered too late otherwise.
• Prepare your file (see below): good files get picked the same day.

On site: what costs money

1. Damp — defect number one

The most common, the most expensive and the hardest to get fixed. Look for:

• Black spots or fuzz in cold corners, behind furniture, above window frames, on the bathroom ceiling.
• Saltpetre (powdery white deposit) or blistered paint low on the walls, especially on the ground floor and in the cellar: rising damp.
• A musty smell: open a closed cupboard, the cellar. The smell does not lie.
• One freshly repainted wall among old ones, or furniture oddly pushed against a wall: ask to move it.
• A dehumidifier in a corner: that answers the question.
• Ventilation: are there air vents in the window frames, a mechanical ventilation unit, an extractor hood venting outside? A well-insulated but unventilated home grows mould.

Visit, if you can, in cold or wet weather: that is when thermal bridges show.

2. The EPC — what you will pay every month

The certificate gives a consumption in kWh/m² per year and a class. Two honest warnings:

• The scales and the calculation methods differ between Regions. A Walloon "C", a Brussels "C" and a Flemish "C" do not cover exactly the same thing. Compare the figure in kWh/m²/year instead.
• That figure is theoretical primary energy, computed on standardised use. It rates the building; it does not predict your bill.

Even so, the order of magnitude speaks. Take the specific consumption, multiply by the floor area, then by the price per kWh of your energy:

> 80 m² at 350 kWh/m²/yr = 28,000 kWh/yr.

> 80 m² at 100 kWh/m²/yr = 8,000 kWh/yr.

A ratio of one to three and a half. On a heating bill that means hundreds of euros a year, sometimes over a thousand. The price per kWh varies a lot by energy source, supplier and moment: use today's tariff, not a figure read somewhere.

The question worth more than any certificate: "May I see the energy bills for the last two years?" Actual consumption is the best predictor.

3. The windows

• Single or double glazing? Hold a small flame near the glass: two reflections = single glazing, four = double.
• Condensation between the two panes = the seal is dead. The glazing no longer insulates.
• Open and close every window: does it jam? Is the seal crushed? Is the bottom of a wooden frame soft (rot)?
• Do you feel a draught running your hand around the frame?

4. Heating and hot water

• Which system? Condensing gas boiler, oil, electric (storage) heating, heat pump, collective heating. Direct electric heating is the most expensive to run: that is a negotiating point.
• How old is the boiler? Read the data plate.
• Ask for the last maintenance certificate and its date. Periodic servicing is compulsory, but its frequency differs by Region (typically yearly for oil, every two or three years for gas). A missing or five-year-old certificate says a lot about how the property is managed.
• Turn on the taps. Run the hot water: how long before it arrives? Test the shower while another tap runs: does pressure hold? In a flatshare, a small boiler kills the second morning shower.
• Touch the radiators and spot the rooms that have none.

5. Electrics

• Count the sockets per room (old flats have three).
• Look at the consumer unit: modern breakers and an RCD, or porcelain fuses? The latter signals a very old installation.
• Ask whether an electrical inspection has been carried out and whether it is compliant.
• Each Region imposes safety, health and equipment standards on rented housing and has an inspection service. Obviously dangerous housing may not be let — report it.

6. Meters and charges

• Are the meters (water, gas, electricity) individual? A shared meter means an allocation by shares, and endless arguments.
• Are the charges a fixed sum or provisions with an annual reconciliation? Provisions with a statement are the healthier norm: ask for the statements for the last two years.
• What exactly do they cover (water, collective heating, common areas, lift, building manager)?

7. Noise, light, neighbourhood

• Stop talking and listen for thirty seconds: traffic, neighbours, the lift, the ventilation of the shop downstairs.
• Orientation: open the compass on your phone. A north-facing living room will never see the sun.
• Come back a second time, at another hour (an evening, a Saturday). The lovely bar on the corner closes at three.
• Look at the letterboxes: how many units, what state are the common areas in, is there a building manager?

Questions to ask the landlord

What to bring

A complete file, ready to leave behind, often makes the difference:

• identity document;
• proof of income (recent payslips, employer's certificate, grant certificate, tax assessment for the self-employed);
• household composition;
• contact details and, if you have one, a good-payment certificate from your previous landlord.

Also know what a landlord may not demand: the Regions restrict the information that can be requested from a candidate, and refusing someone because their income comes from a benefit is discrimination. Our article on housing discrimination sets out those limits.

The warning signs of a scam

• You are asked for money before the viewing ("booking fee", "to hold the property"). Never pay to view.
• The landlord is unreachable, abroad, offers to post the keys, will not meet you.
• The price is clearly below market for the area. There is always a reason.
• The inspection or the registration of the lease is refused.
• You are asked to pay the deposit into a personal account, in cash, by instant transfer, in crypto or in gift cards.
• Pressure: "three people are waiting, you must sign tonight".
• The photos appear elsewhere (a reverse image search finds them in another city).
• The landlord's identity does not match the owner of the property.

On Domilinko

Listings are moderated and landlords go through KYC before publication; a listing cannot be approved without an energy rating. The exact address is never public: you see the municipality, the postcode and an approximate point, and the full address is disclosed once your application is accepted or your booking confirmed. Your tenant file is reusable from one application to the next — you do not rebuild it at every viewing. And the contradictory inspection (photos, meter readings, signatures) is time-stamped on the platform.

Domilinko does not collect the rent of a lease and does not hold the rental deposit: the deposit is set up off-platform, on a blocked account.