FAQ's and HOUSE RULES

NEW BELGIAN LAW since December 2013:

« L’art. 1714bis du Code civil stipule que les baux portant sur des chambre destinées au logement d'étudiants doivent être établis dans un écrit qui devra mentionner l'identité de toutes les parties contractantes, la date de prise en cours, la désignation de tous les locaux et parties d'immeuble couvrant l'objet locatif et le montant du loyer.
Il n’est donc pas licite de louer une chambre à un étudiant sans faire de bail écrit. A noter, en outre, qu’en vertu de l’article 1714 du Code civil, tel que récemment modifié par la loi du 21 décembre 2013, tout bail écrit doit mentionner, pour les personnes physiques, leurs nom, deux premiers prénoms, leurs domicile et date et lieu de naissance.

Basically the new law obligates to have a written contract. To do so, 1st register, and then the contract gets filled in automatically. You have a button in your private area, that says “download”. You can either upload your signature, and the system will sign it automatically for both parties, and download it as a PDF file, or you can print it, sign it, scan it and send it to me in PDF format.

FR - CLIQUEZ ICI POUR TÉLÉCHARGER un bail SPÉCIMEN/EXEMPLE

EN - CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A SPECIMEN/EXAMPLE of the contract

IMPORTANT CLAUSE: "Le preneur s'engage à occuper le immeuble en bon père de famille".
Which means: The tenant agrees to occupy the building as a good father should.

• FLEXIBILITY
  We offer flexibility.
  • For the contract, now it's all is electronic. The moment you pay the 200 Euros to reserve the room, we sent you a link for you to register and accept these terms and conditions, which are based on previous experiences. If you need something for your university, we can send you a signed certificate saying that you leave in one of the addresses between the dates that you stay there.
  • You can leave the room at any moment:
    • You just need to give a 1 month notice
    • and pay a 1 month indemnity.
    • If you want to leave the room right a way, you can always find someone to take the room and you get your entire security deposit back, otherwise you would need to pay a 1 month indemnity.
    • You have a fix contract, for a fix period.
    • The contract can be broken if no one took your room from the date when you said you were going to leave the room. That’s why it’s important to have the correct departure date.
  • How to break the contract, STEP BY STEP: steps to follow:
    • So, if your room is still available, you can break the contract.
    • When you break a contract you need to give a one month notice and pay a 1 month indemnity.
    • The one month notice has to be given one day before the one month notice starts. So, you would give it before the 30th or 31st of the month.
    • For example: you give the notice the 30th of March. That means you will stay in the room for April. And you will leave the room the 1st of May.
    • So, you will stay in the room for one more month, and pay the rent for that month.
    • And you will have to pay a one month indemnity.
    • If you forgot and you give the one month notice the 1st of April instead of the 30th of March, then you would have to stay for April and May, and then leave the room the 1st of June.
    • If you find someone that takes the room, and that person corresponds to the requirements ( age, studies, and dates ), and is accepted by the other flatmates and by the owner, then you can leave the room whenever you want, without having to pay any indemnity.
• Make sure at all times to have the correct departure date in your profile, which is the one that shows in my website. If someone reserves your room from that date on, you are oblige to stay until that date, and leave the room on that date. So, the moment there is a change in your date, first check that the room is still available, and if so, just login and change it.
• For security reasons you can not sublet your room. If something would happen you would be responsible for it. If you get caght subleting your room, you'll be penalized for the entire time of the sublet.
• The contracts start the 1st of the month. We rent the rooms for full months. Specially in holidays, such as Christmas, Easter, Summer, in which dates you have to pay for the entire month.There might be exceptions in which the contract would start in a different date, so you would pay a prorata of the nights, or at the half of the month, the 16th of the month, in this case you would only pay half the month's rent.
• You are suppose to leave the room the 1st of the month. If you would need to leave the room a few days after, because of your flight, you would have to pay 55 Euros for each extra night.
• The departure date has to be notified 1 month in advance.

• BOOKING OR RESERVING THE ROOM
  To reserve or book a room, you would need to pay 200 Euros.
  • The 200 Euros are part of your payments for the first month rent, and security deposit.
  • We can not give you the key until the 1st. month rent + 2 month security deposit are paid. If you already paid 200 euros to reserve the room, you would need to pay the 1st. month rent + 2 month security deposit - 200 euros.
  • The 200 Euros are our only guarantee that you will take the room, so if then you decide not to take it, we would keep them. You still need to notify us at least 1 month before your entry date, otherwise, you will have to still pay the first months rent.
  • You can pay the 200 Euros to reserve a room in a few months. This way we guarantee that you will have a room. If you don't like the room, you can always move to another one the next month, depending on availability.

• INCLUDED
  The following things are included and need to be taken care of:
  • Smoke detector.
  • Fridge.
  • Dishwasher
  • Washing machine
  • Dryer
  • Microwave - Oven
  • Gas stove or Vitroceramic stove.

• NOT INCLUDED
  Everything else, for example:
  • 9V battery for smoke detector: when you arrive to your room, make sure to bring with you a 9V battery, to test your smoke detector.
  • Pillow
  • Sheets
  • Cover or Duvet
  • Towels
  • Consumables: Bulbs, toilet paper, shower handles or shower heads, shower tube, all small appliances such as vaccum cleaner, iron, water heater (you have a microwave to heat up water), toaster (you can toast in a pan or with the microwave grill), ironning board, racks to dry your clothes (you can dry your clothes in the dryer), etc., the 9V alkaline battery for the smoke detector (this is your responsibility, so in case of fire we don't take any resposibilities). First thing to do when you move in is to test the smoke detector. So, you are responsible for all the usables, such as bulbs, batteries, etc. and you're supposed to replace them for the same or better ones than the ones you have at the moment. Therefore, LED bulbs, low consumption halogen bulbs, low consumption bulbs, and 9V alkaline batteries

• RESPECT THE NEIGHBOURS
  Don't forget there is other people living in your same building, so be respectful:
  • No noise can be made in the hallways and stairs, some neighbours have complained about noises. So, no chats can be carried out, no gsm talking in the hallways, and if we need to talk we can do it whispering.
  • When walking with heels and/or hard sole shoes, please, try to tip-toe.
  • Smoking is forbiden in all common areas of the building.
  • When having visits, please, tell them not to ring other ring bells, other than the one of your house.
  • Please, don't put any stickers with your name in the interphone, or mailboxes. Just give your exact address, and you will receive your mail without a problem.


• SECURITY
  This is VERY IMPORTANT for you, your flatmates, and for the neighbours in the building
  • If you will live in Melsens, please read this very important section regarding key & badge. To open the main building doors you need a badge. A badge is like a card that has been programmed with a code to activate a magnetic lock. The badge will be with your keys, and it's very important to keep the badge in good condition, otherwise, it will stop working. The badge has a hole to put it in the key ring, but from experience I can tell you that the hole breaks very easily. So, please, don't put it in your key ring. Please keep the badge in a better and safer place, I would recommend you to put it inside your walled, like a credit card. Most likely you won't have to take the badge out, by just putting your walled near the reader the door will open. If you loose it, or break it, each extra badge costs 30 Euros + delivery, and delivery it has to be done in hand, to your name, which I don't know how much that will cost yet, but it will be expensive. Besides, if you loose it, everyone in the building will have to recode their badge and change the inside code of their badges to a new code, so try not to loose it.
  • For security reasons, please, don't lose the key. The security in the appartment will decrease, and these are special high security laser cut keys that cost 30 Euros each, plus delivery, each key needs to be ordered and takes between 2 to 3 weeks. So don't loose them. .
  • Lock the door if you think you are the last one to leave the house


• MAINTENANCE OF THE ROOM AND COMMON AREAS
  How to keep everything in good condition:
  • By law you are suppose to maintain everything in good condition, you are suppose to clean the walls with a semi-humid towel if necessary. (Le bailleur s'engage à l'occuper en bon père de famille.).
  • You're not allowed to hang anything in the walls, so you're responsible to leave the walls in the same way they were at the beginning. If we need to paint the walls. The stains will be charged at 5€ the cm, the scratches at 10€ the cm, the holes at 5€ the mm, in case that an entire wall needs to be painted, the square meter of paint will be charged at 50€, and the entire room will be painted.

• WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU MOVE IN (CHECK IN)
  When & how should I move in to the room? Steps to follow when you move in:
         When should I move in?
• During weekend days
• Entry time is around midday, but it's all dependant on availability of someone to open you the door. The best is to exchange phone numbers.
• During weekdays entry date is around 18:00, unless someone can open you before The best is to exchange phone numbers.
• If you arrive before 12:00, you will have to arrange with the old tenant for you to drop the luggage.
• If you arrive before 18:00, you might find that the common areas might be a bit dirty, that is normal since all the flatmates didn't have time to clean after breakfast since they run to work or school.
  How should I move in?
• If you already paid everything by bank transfer, the key will be waiting for you in your room.
  Depending on the time of arrival, we'll arrange with someone in the house to open you the door.
• If you still have to pay, we'll set an appointment for you to pay before you get the keys.
  - if you already paid the 200 Euros to reserve the room, you will need to pay the rest.
  1st. month of rent + the 2 month security deposit - (minus) 200 euros already paid
  - If you haven't paid anything yet you would need to pay the
  1st. month of rent + the 2 month secuirty deposit.
• The best is that you pay by bank transfer this way you have automatic proof of paiment.
  
• We don't accept cash payments
When you arrive to the room:
• Take photos of everything, when you'll move out you can take the same photos. The more the better.
• You need to buy 1 ( 2 pour lits double ) Waterproof protection for the mattress from the first night. Please, take a photo of the mattress without the protection cover, and then another one with the waterproof protection cover.

                         16 EUR - 80x200cm - http://www.ikea.com/be/fr/catalog/produits/70253126/

• Check that the room is clean
• Check that there is nothing broken
• Check the smoke detector battery by pressing the "test button", if it doesn't beep, you need to replace the 9V alkaline battery, which is not included.
  
• ATTENTION: IF THERE IS ANY PROBLEM YOU HAVE TO REPORT IT BY EMAIL THE FIRST DAY WHEN YOU ARRIVE, and send us as many photos as possible to justify what's wrong.


• WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU MOVE OUT (CHECK OUT)
  When & how should I leave the room and the common areas?

When you leave the room you are suppose to clean it and also everyone should help clean the common areas.

First, VERY IMPORTANT, don't forget to leave the keys in the room


It's very important that the new person moving in, arrives to a clean place.


How should I leave the room?

• Empty the room
• It should look like in the website's pictures
• Don't leave anything in the room, or in the storage areas. Throw all garbage away 1 week before moving out.
• Clean the windows glass and frame, inside and outside. Please, don't use a green sponge it will scratch the glass, and you'll be responsible for it. Dry it with paper napkings. Be carefull not to fall.
• Wipe all the surfaces, door, door frames, door handle, window, window frames, plinth (baseboard, [FR]la plinthe, [ES] el zocalo, [NL] plint, [IT] zoccolo, plinto,) etc.
• Empty the room and broom the floor everywhere.
• Sweep the floor.
  The common areas:
• Everyone should help clean the common areas when someone moves out. WC's, bathrooms, showers, living, halls, corridors, stairs, and kitchen.
• If when we do the inspection we have to clean anything, we'll have to charge you 150 Euros. So, please, make sure to leave everything in perfect conditions. We always recommend to leave things better than how you found them.
• Take photos, before and after.
• If the new person moving in complains, and it’s something reasonable, that would be your responsibility. If the week of your departure is not your turn to clean the kitchen, please, change turns with the person responsible. VERY IMPORTANT: The most important thing is to arrange things in the common areas, and specially big things, so that there are no big things lying around such as bottles, boxes, cardboard, cleaning utensils on the floor, backets, garbage, recycling, obstacles, posters, etc. It should look like in the pictures on the website.
  

 

When should I leave the room?
• During weekend days
• You can stay in the room until 12:00, sometimes the new tenant will arrive before that, so you have to arrange for them to leave their luggage.
• If your flight departures after 12:00, you can arrange with your flatmates for you to leave your luggage in the common areas.
• During weekdays entry date is around 18:00, unless someone can open you before
• You have to leave the building & room keys on top of your table
• The building key costs 30 Euros + 30 Euros delivery. This is if you do the copy, which we need to arrange an appointment. If we have to do so, we have to charge you 75 Euros extra. These are special keys and you need a card to be able to copy them, so you need an appointment.
• For security reasons you have to return it.
• If you forget to leave it in the room, you will have to send it by UPS 24 hour service.
• We'll have to issue a temporary key and charge you for the key and delivery from the key company (below points apply).




• SECURITY DEPOSIT (GARANTIE LOCATIVE)
  The purpose, and how does it work.
  • We ask for 2 month security deposit.
    
  • The purpuse of a security deposit is in case you break something in the household, it would be deducted from your deposit.
    
  • The security deposit can not be used to pay the last month rent, or the last months rent.
    In the room
  • If you break something, you could replace it, and we would still give you the 100% security deposit.
  • If you prefer that we replace it, we would need to charge you the material, the transport costs costs (75 Euros inside Brussels), and the labour costs (75 Euros/hour; min. 1 hour).
    In the common areas
  • If you break something in the common areas, you should also pay for it.
  • If noone declares something broken in the common areas, everyone in the household would have to pay for it.
  • If you report something you broke in the room or in the common areas, we would deduct the transportation.


• VISITS & SHOWING OF THE ROOM
  You are responsible for the visits & showings of your room and common areas.
  • The main purpose of a visit is that the new potential tenant visits the room and common areas.
  • Therefore, the room and common areas should be clean. (See next section)
  • The second purpose since you are sharing, is that the new potential tenant meets as many current tenants as possible. So, Saturdays and Sundays are the best days to arrange visits, when most people might be home, and you have day light.
  • If someone wouldn't match any of the criterias, or you believe it wouldn't fit in the house, notify us as soon as possible with a good justification.
  • You have to arrange a minimum of 3 visits per week.
  • If for some reason someone visiting would complain that it wasn't clean, you would be responsible for that (150 Euros fine).
  • If due to the fact that the room didnt' get rented because it wasn't clean, you will pay rent until the room gets rented.
  • You will have to facilitate times for showing your room. Normally, after work or school. If for some reason you can not do so, you will have to organize with you flatmates, so that they can show your room. Default to do so, will implicate that the room won't get rented, and if we receive complaints from people that tried to visit the room and couldn't because of you, we will consider that you continue renting the room until it gets rented.
  • The better you handle the visits the less visits you will have and the sooner the room will get rented. So, if you keep everything clean at all moments, everything will be smoother. On our end we try to help and organize visit by giving you a one day notice, but sometimes, some people need to decide between rooms in the last minute, and they need to visit it right away, so since this is a team work, and if you can show it right away, it would be greatly appreciated and it's good for all. In this situations if the room is not super clean you can't be blamed for it since we didn't give you a sufficient notice.



YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES WHEN YOU LIVE IN A SHARED HOUSE:

• STUDENT HOUSE VS HOTEL or Airbnb:
  
  • Many people thing a student room is like a hotel, or Airbnb, but the fact is that if that would be the case you would be paying 100 EUR per night.
  • A student room is like if you would be renting your own apartment, with the difference that you share the common areas.
  Therefore, here is a list of things that you as a tenant are responsible for in a regular basis:
  • Keep the dishwasher clean and with salt and rising liquid at all times. See section, how to clean the filters and blades.
  • Keep the washing machine clean. Clean the filters in a regular basis. See section: how to clean the filters.
  • Keep the microwave clean, and clean it without using too much water, or you risk to get water in the electronics.
  • Clean the syphons of the lavabos and sinks. Just unscrew the syphon, clean it, and screw it back. Pay attention to how the joint ( black rubber ring ) is placed, and don’t forget to put it back the same way. Make a movie to know how to put it back.
  • Unclog drains with a plunger, never with chemicals, and keep them clean in a daily basis. Don’t unscrew the drains.
  • Take air out of heaters (radiators). If one heater (radiator) doesn’t work and the others work, that means it has air, so you need to take the air out with a PURGEUR key ( 1 Euro in Brico ). The best is to take the air out of all radiators at the same time.
  
  • Add presure to the heating system. Attention, in some places this is done automatically, for example in Rue Stevin and Rue Antoine Dansaert. So, in these addresses you don't need to do it. When you take air out of the heaters, the pipes loose pressure, so you need to add pressure. What does it mean to add pressure? You just add water to the heating system pipes. You should never put more than 1,5 bars of pressure, or you should never go over the red area, so you need to be very careful. If you don’t know how to do so, please ask.
• WHAT DO DO WHEN AN APPLICANCE BREAKS DOWN:
  
  • First, don’t wait time to report it. The sooner you reported the sooner the problem will be solved.
  • If an appliance breaks down, you need to explain step by step what the problem is, and what you do.
  • You will need to take photos and if necessary make a movie, showing step by step what you do, and when the problem happens.
  • Most issues are due to lack of cleaning of the appliance. Or negligence when cleaning it with too much water. So, make sure to clean all filters and surfaces.
  • Then, if a technician needs to come, I’ll give you his phone, and you can arrange the visit with the technician. You live in the house. So the technician will come to your house.
  • If no one can be there during the week, then arrange the visit for Saturday.
  • You will need to pay the technician ( most likely in cash ). Ask for the bill.
  • Then send the owner a copy of the bill, ( a simple scan or photo is fine ) and the owner will reimburse you into your account ( BIC and SWIFT).
• HOW TO UNCLOG PIPES AND DRAINS
  
  • Please, never use chemical products. If you do so you will damage the pipes. So, you are responsible for the consecuences of using chemicals
  • To unclog you just need to use a tradicional PLUNGER:
  
• CLEANING OF THE COMMON AREAS:
  
  • The moment you start living in a shared house you are responsible to the rules of the house.
  • You have to respect the cleaning rules, and schedules, even if you are never in the house, there are no excuses.
  • There cleaning schedules are set by the same people living in the house, and these have to be followed.
  • In case this is not done properly, if the majority of the people living in the house signs a paper saying that you're not participating, you would need to pay a 10 Euros fine per day, until they withdraw this penalization; with a minimum of 7 days penalization since the first action. (see also next point). If the majority of the people living in the house decides for a specific reason to cancel your stay, they could do so. In that case, you would need to move out within 1 month. So, it would be considered a forced “fin anticipe du bail” from your part, with all the consequences that this section includes, which would mean that you would need to pay us a 1 month indemnity.
  • You also have to respect the common shopping, for example, toilet paper, bulbs, batteries, detergent.

    VERY IMPORTANT, regarding the dishwasher
    

  • Regarding the dishwasher detergent it's compulsory to buy only Calgonit brand products, including Salt & Rinsing products.
  • The dishwasher has a sensor that will block the machine with "white brand" detergents, and needs a techinician to unblock it.
  • The dishwasher walls and it's sprays, arms & blades have to be cleaned and unplugged after each washing cycle, this is part of the cleaning process, and it should be included in the cleaning schedules.
  • If a technician would need to come and he would say the problem was due to bad cleaning of the machine, the tenants will have to pay the intervention.

    

    Use salt. Remove the spray arm by just unscrewing, there are 2 or 3 spray arms, (top, middle & bottom). You just have to unscrew. Then you need to clean it with a pointy knife or wire like in the picture. then rinse it will water through the big middle hole. It takes less than 1 minute to do so.

  VERY IMPORTANT, regarding the washer & dryer
  

  • Regarding the washer & dryer, in the same way the dishwasher needs some care, both washer and dryer also need some care.
  • Both machines have a filter, it's important to keep the filter clean for the proper functioning of the machine.
  • The dryer's filter is very easy and simple to clean. Normally it's easy to find, and normally it's in the door of the dryer, or next to the detergent container, and you will notice it's full of dust.
  • The washer's filter is a bit more complicated, still simple but requires more attention.
  1. The filter is normally located at the front bottom of the machine, you might need to take out the front bottom cover
  The filter lid might have a screw as security, so that the filter doesn't open with the vibrations.
  
  2. Before taking the filter off. The machine has to be stopped, and empty of water. So, no water inside. So, you should do the process at the end of a cicle. Or before starting a new cicle.
  3. Before taking the filter off, you need to lift the front of the machine, so that the water won't come out.
  4. If the machine is underneath a table, pull the machine half way out of the table.
  5. Before taking the filter off, put some towels underneath the tray.
  6. Then place a deep tray underneath to collect the water.
  7. Then unscrew the security screw.
  8. Then unscrew the filter lid.
  9. Then pull out the filter. There will be 3 to 5 liters of water coming out.
  10. Then clean the filter properly
  11. Here are several videos ilustrating the process:
  • Video 1
  • Video 2


• ENVIROMENTAL FRIENDLY
  Respect the earth, so don't waste energy:
  We constantly find people that leave the window open, the heating on, the light on, and the left for work. Ventilation is important but has to be done in a controlled way. You should ventilate while you're in the house. You can do so for 5 to 15 minutes. Otherwise, you'll loose the heat of the walls, which is what keeps the household warm, and that's what takes most energy to reheat.
  
  
  • Don't forget that when you leave to work, or to school, you'll be there for at least 9 hours away, so:
  • It is true that all the charges are included but we shouldn't waste energy because of this, if so there will be a penalty of 100€: For instance:
    • If you open the window to ventilate the room, please make sure to switch off the heater (radiator) since it has a thermostat. The thermostat is in number 3, which corresponds to 22 degrees. For the house to warm up properly, it is necessary that all the walls get warm, and this can only be achieved with everyones cooperation. So, please, don't ventilate for more than 15 minutes.
    • Don't leave the water running.
    • Don't leave the lights on.


• PAIMENTS OF THE RENT
  When am I supposed to pay the rent
  • You should pay be the 1st of each month.
  • For international paiments, take under consideration that it takes 3 days for the paiment to be effective.
  • If you are not in the EU you will be charged a comission, normally it's around 9 euros. This works in both directions. So you have to take that under consideration, the comission is both times on your charge. We don't return the security deposit in cash.
  • We don't accept cash payments.


• DELAYS OF PAYMENT
  What happens when I pay late?
  
  • Any amount due by the taker and not paid 7 days after its expiry will automatically produce without setting in residence, with the profit of the backer, an interest of 5% per month starting from its expiry, the interest of any started month being due for the whole month, plus 10 Euros administration fee for each reminder (Rappel) sent.