Notice periods in Wallonia depend on the lease type. On a nine-year lease the tenant gives three months and the landlord six months. Short-term leases end with three months notice, student leases with two months, and each type sets its own indemnities under the decree of 15 March 2018.
Notice (le conge) is the formal warning that a party wants to end the lease, and the required length is set by the decree of 15 March 2018 rather than by free negotiation (logement.wallonie.be, 2018). Getting the period and the timing right is what makes a termination valid.
On the standard nine-year lease, the tenant can leave at any time with three months notice, paying a decreasing indemnity of three, two or one month’s rent if they leave during the first, second or third year (Article 55, decree of 15 March 2018). The landlord gives six months notice and, outside the permitted grounds of personal occupation or major works, can only terminate without motive at the end of the first or second triennium against compensation of nine or six months rent.
Shorter formats have their own clocks. A short-term lease of three years or less ends on its fixed date only if notice of at least three months is given; a tenant leaving early owes one month’s rent (logement.wallonie.be, 2018). A student lease requires two months notice from a student leaving early, with an indemnity of three months rent that is waived on documented grounds such as a refused enrolment or abandoning studies (uvcw.be, 2018).
The detail that trips people up is that notice runs to a date, not from a whim. A day late on a three-month window can push the earliest lawful end date months forward, and on a short-term lease it can convert the whole thing into a nine-year commitment. These are Walloon rules; Brussels and Flanders set different periods and indemnities in their own codes, so a landlord with property in several regions cannot rely on one calendar.
At a glance
| Lease type | Tenant notice | Landlord notice | Tenant indemnity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9-year | 3 months, any time | 6 months, defined grounds | 3/2/1 months rent in years 1/2/3 |
| Short-term (3 yrs or less) | 3 months | 3 months before fixed date | 1 month rent if early |
| Student | 2 months | End of term | 3 months rent, waived on grounds |
| Co-living (per co-tenant) | 3 months | 6 months (whole lease) | Compensation if no replacement |