Letter of rent indexation: example, required information and alternative

The word indexation evokes mixed feelings for many people. On the one hand, your salary increases, but on the other, the cost of living rises. As a landlord, it is therefore smart to index the rent so your property continues to generate a return. Communicating rent indexation is at least as important as the calculation.

Letter of rent indexation: what must it include?

When drafting the letter of rent indexation, there are several mandatory elements:

• Date
• Name of the tenant(s)
• Name of the landlord(s)
• Address of the rented property
• Rent indexation calculation formula: Base rent x new index (= health index) / base index of lease contract
• Concrete calculation for the property concerned
• Date from which the new rent must be paid
• Bank account number and account holder for payment
• (Amount of arrears on indexation)

You do not always need to mention the last element in the communication. It only applies when you did not communicate the indexation in time. Rent indexation has retroactive effect and can go back up to three months. If the rent could have been indexed on 1 May and you only notify the tenant on 15 June, you can therefore recover the increased amount for the past two months.

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Example letter of rent indexation

We have set out an example letter of rent indexation below. The text in italics still needs to be adapted to the lease contract concerned.

Date: 22/05/2022

Subject: "Rent indexation Hoogstraat apartment"

Dear,

With this letter, I inform you that the rent for the apartment in Hoogstraat at Hoogstraat 1, 2000 Antwerp will be indexed in accordance with the terms of our lease agreement. This is done on the basis of the current health index and the following formula:

Base rent x new index (= health index) / base index of lease contract

For your lease contract, this gives the following calculation:

€750 x 120.25 / 110.99 = €812.57

From 01/06/2022 the rent will therefore be €812.57. Please transfer this to account number BE00 1234 5678 9012 in the name of Immo Immo.

[if writing late about the indexation, add the paragraph below]

I also ask you to regularise the increased rent for the past month due to my late communication. This amounts to €62.57. You may transfer this separately or together with the next rent payment.

Kind regards,
Peter Peeters

Rent indexation by email: a valid alternative?

It is also possible to inform the tenant(s) about the indexation by email. Belgian law states that communication about rent indexation must be in writing. You are therefore not required to send a letter by post. The example above can therefore perfectly be used as a sample email for rent indexation. In that case, you are also not required to state the date, since every email automatically receives a date.

We do recommend keeping the sent email carefully. If tenants were to claim that the email never arrived because they do not want to pay the increased rent, you can prove that the email was sent to the email addresses they listed in the lease contract.

Calculate and communicate rent indexation automatically

Would you like to calculate rent indexation automatically so you don't waste time on it? SNDQ can help you with that. By entering all the lease contract information once, our software can calculate the indexation for you. You can also set the rent to be indexed automatically every year. Communication to the tenant is also fully automated, so you never miss out on income through forgetfulness.

Does that sound interesting? Be sure to explore the other features of SNDQ and [@portabletext/react] Unknown block type "span", specify a component for it in the `components.types` prop.