Both are allowed in Wallonia. A main-residence lease can be furnished or unfurnished, and either way it falls under the decree of 15 March 2018 with the same core rules on duration, deposit and inventory. For a furnished let, a detailed inventory of the furniture is strongly advised alongside the fixtures inventory.
Nothing in Walloon law forces a landlord to choose between furnished and unfurnished letting. A home let as a main residence is governed by the decree of 15 March 2018 whether or not it comes with furniture, so the protective framework on duration, notice, deposit and indexation applies in both cases (logement.wallonie.be, 2018). Furnishing is a commercial decision, not a legal category that escapes the rules.
The main practical difference is the inventory. For an unfurnished let, the mandatory entry inventory of fixtures under Article 27 records the condition of the property itself. For a furnished let, that same inventory should be paired with a detailed list of the furniture and equipment provided, item by item, so responsibility for the contents is as clear as for the walls and floors (logement.wallonie.be, 2018). Skipping the furniture list leaves disputes over a damaged sofa or missing appliances almost impossible to resolve.
Furnished lets tend to suit specific markets: students, young professionals and short-to-medium mobility. They can command a higher rent and, in a university city, a steady tenant pipeline, but they also carry more wear on the landlord’s own goods and more turnover. A genuine main-residence furnished lease stays within the decree; purely touristic or very short holiday lets are a different, non-residential activity with their own rules and are not the same thing.
The counter-intuitive point is that “furnished” does not mean “lighter obligations.” The deposit cap, the notice periods, the indexation conditions and the mandatory inventory all still apply. If anything, a furnished let demands more documentation, not less. As always, Brussels and Flanders regulate their own leases, so a furnished formula used in Namur is not automatically transposable across a regional border.
At a glance
| Aspect | Furnished | Unfurnished |
|---|---|---|
| Allowed in Wallonia | Yes | Yes |
| Governing law | 2018 decree | 2018 decree |
| Fixtures inventory | Mandatory | Mandatory |
| Furniture inventory | Strongly advised, item by item | Not applicable |
| Typical rent | Often higher | Standard |
| Typical tenants | Students, mobile professionals | Long-term households |
| Turnover and wear | Usually higher | Usually lower |