BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Pieter Puelinckx, Yves Moreau, Donald Krols and Astrid Laga, Linklaters
• Guarantee – see 6.4 Typical Terms of a Lease . 6.9 Payment of Maintenance and Repair Retail and common law leases usually assign maintenance and repair costs to the tenant, except for major repairs. In multi-tenants proper - ties, the landlord usually enters into maintenance and repair agreements for the common areas, which are re-invoiced to the tenants in propor - tion to their occupied space. 6.10 Payment of Utilities and Telecommunications Tenants are usually responsible for arranging their own connections to utilities and commu - nication services. 6.11 Payment of Property Taxes In both retail and common law leases, tenants are typically responsible for a wide range of real estate taxes. It is common for the parties to agree that the tenant bears all taxes, levies, and contributions related to the leased prem - ises, including the withholding tax, VAT, and any other taxes affecting their activity or occupation of the property, but excluding tax on actual or presumed income generated as a result of the lease for the landlord. Parties must also decide which party, either the landlord or the tenant, will bear the poten - tial environmental charges arising from parking spaces exceeding governmental standards. 6.12 Insurance Issues Even if there is, in general, no statutory obliga - tion to take out insurance, two types of insur - ance are usually required in lease agreements. • Building insurance – landlord insurance typi - cally covers property damage from events
ment cost became due for the first time on 1 October 2018 at the earliest); and • the option will apply for the entire duration of the lease. However, leases for specific properties such as parking spaces and storage units generally incur VAT, but exemptions may apply. Additionally, VAT also applies to short-term leases under six months (with exceptions, eg, residential leases) and to other arrangements such as hotel accom - modation or “service/business centre” which include services (cleaning, maintenance, furni - ture, printers, meeting rooms, etc) in addition to premises made available (such as offices). 6.8 Costs Payable by a Tenant at the Start of a Lease Costs that a tenant pays at the start of a lease include the following. • Inventory of fixture – if both parties decide to appoint a professional, such as a land survey - or, to draft an inventory of fixtures, the costs thereof are usually split equally. Alternatively, each party may hire their own expert to col - laborate on the inventory of fixture. • Insurance – tenants are usually required to have insurance to cover risks such as fire and water damage as well as their fit-out works. Landlords sometimes also require additional risk coverage from the tenant (such as opera - tional losses). • Registration duties – at the start of the lease, the tenant is usually required to pay or be liable for the registration duties of the lease. • Entry fee – in the context of retail leases, an entry fee is sometimes contractually agreed between the tenant and the landlord (or between the transferee and transferor of a lease).
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