If you renew your lease on the 1st July and your landlord has not yet sent in their rent increase notice as of today, 1er April, he will have to wait until next year.
• Read also: Rent increases: these tenants won their case before the TAL
Although the information is little known to the general public, the regulations are nevertheless very clear on the site of the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL): in the event of a rent increase, a written notice must be sent to the tenant “3 to 6 months before the end of the lease”, we read.
If your lease ends on June 30, this means that your written notice must be sent no later than March 31.
Again according to the TAL, the important thing here is the date on which the notice was transmitted. For example, your landlord is in compliance with the law if they can prove that the document was indeed sent on March 31. However, a notice sent after this date is no longer possible. A letter received by hand would therefore no longer be accepted, for example.
The TAL suggests that the landlord send the notice by registered mail, by hand with an acknowledgment of receipt or any other means allowing valid proof of receipt from the tenant to have proof of the date of sending.
To be compliant, the notice must contain this essential information:
- The amount of the proposed new rent or the increase in dollars or in percentage compared to the amount of the current rent;
- Three possible answer choices:
- I accept the renewal with its modifications (the increase)
- I am not renewing my lease and I will leave the accommodation at the end of the lease
- I refuse the proposed modifications and I renew my lease.
- The proposed term of the lease;
- The time allowed to the tenant to refuse the proposed rent increase;
- Any other modification requested to the lease.
• Read also: Here’s how many hours you have to work per week at minimum wage to pay your rent
Justified rent increase?
Upon receipt of the notice, the tenant has one month to signify that he refuses the rent increase via a letter.
Upon receipt of the letter of refusal, the landlord in turn has one month to come to an agreement with the tenant or to open a case for setting the rent at the TAL and let the judge rule on the matter. The owner will have to prove that the increase is justified.
Here are the average base increase estimates released by the TAL in January 2022:
Unheated accommodation: 1.28%
Housing heated with electricity: 1.34%*
*This increase may exceed 2.8% if we take into account the increase in municipal taxes and major works.