My student room has no lease: is this serious?

September 2024 — moving in

My name is Lucas, I am 21 and I am a 3rd-year law student at the University of Liege. In August 2024, I was looking for a student room for the start of term. The market was tight: affordable rooms were going within hours.

At the end of August, a friend put me in touch with Mr Pirard, owner of a house divided into 4 student rooms in the Outremeuse neighbourhood. A 14 m2 room, shared bathroom and kitchen, 380 EUR including charges. Viewing on Tuesday, moving in on Saturday.

Mr Pirard told me: “We do it the old-fashioned way, no need for paperwork. You pay me by bank transfer every month, that’s it.” At 20, pressed by the start of term, I accepted. No written lease. No inventory of fixtures. No rental guarantee on a blocked account. Just a monthly transfer with the note “room rent Sept” and a handshake.

May 2025 — the problem

For 10 months, everything went smoothly. Rent paid on the 1st of each month by bank transfer. No incidents.

On 8 May 2025, in the middle of revision period, Mr Pirard sent me a text: “Lucas, I need the room back for my nephew. You have until 25 May to leave.”

Fifteen days to vacate my room. Three weeks before my end-of-year exams. Without a written lease, I assumed I had no rights. I started frantically looking for other accommodation, between civil law revision sessions.

Ironically, it was my obligations law course that made it click: a contract does not need to be written to exist. A verbal lease is a lease.

My rights — what I discovered

The next day, I went to the legal aid service of the University of Liege. A free 30-minute consultation with a lawyer specialising in housing law. Here is what she explained:

1. The verbal lease exists legally. My monthly bank transfers with the note “room rent” prove a rental relationship. No signed document needed.

2. Without a written lease, the most protective regime applies. In the absence of a written student lease, a 9-year primary residence lease applies by default. With its 3- to 6-month notice periods.

3. Mr Pirard cannot evict me in 15 days. Even with a verbal lease, he must follow the legal procedure: notice by registered letter, 6 months’ notice for occupation by a family member, and a valid reason.

4. It is the landlord who is at fault, not me. The absence of a written lease is a breach on the landlord’s part. The lease is not registered, there was no inventory of fixtures, and the rental guarantee is not in a blocked account.

June 2025 — the negotiation

On 12 May, I sent a registered letter to Mr Pirard, drafted with the lawyer’s help. The letter set out:

• The existence of a verbal lease proven by 10 bank transfers
• The application of the 9-year primary residence lease regime
• The impossibility of an eviction in 15 days without court proceedings
• A proposal to regularise the situation through a written lease

Mr Pirard called me the day after, furious. “You don’t even have a lease!” I calmly repeated what the lawyer had explained. His tone changed when he understood that without a written lease, he was exposed to a 9-year lease and penalties for non-registration.

We agreed on a meeting in June, after my exams. I finished my revision without additional stress. To fully understand the procedure before the justice of the peace, I had read everything between revision sessions.

July 2025 — the regularisation

On 3 July, we signed a student lease in due form at Mr Pirard’s. The document, based on a lease template compliant with Walloon legislation, provided for:

• Duration: 12 months (1 September 2025 to 30 August 2026)
• Rent: 380 EUR including charges (unchanged)
• Rental guarantee: 760 EUR (2 months) deposited on a blocked bank account
• Contradictory inventory of fixtures carried out the same day
• Lease registration with the FPS Finance (free for residential leases)

Mr Pirard did the same with the 3 other tenants of the house, who were all in the same situation. In the end, this crisis regularised 4 informal rentals.

I also checked the habitability standards of the room using the landlord guide — everything was in order on that front.

What I learned

Ten months without a written lease, and it was the landlord who nearly got himself into an inextricable situation. Here are the lessons:

1. A written lease protects both parties. The tenant without a lease is in psychological precarity (“I have no rights”), even though legally they are better protected. The landlord without a lease faces a 9-year default lease, the inability to recover the property quickly, and administrative penalties.

2. Proof of payment is your safety net. My 10 bank transfers with the note “room rent” proved the existence of the verbal lease beyond dispute. If you pay in cash without receipts, you have nothing. Always pay by bank transfer.

3. University legal services are underused. Free consultations, lawyers specialising in housing law, knowledge of the local student room market. This is the first place to go. In Liege, Louvain-la-Neuve, Brussels (ULB, VUB), Ghent, Namur — all universities offer this service.

4. Regularisation is always possible. Even after 10 months without a lease, signing a proper contract remains the best solution for both parties. A well-drafted student lease secures the landlord (limited duration, short notice) and the tenant (clear rights, protected guarantee).

If you are in a student room without a lease, do not panic but do act. Request an appointment with your university’s legal service and see our guide on rental management to understand your rights. More real-life situations are available in our tenant testimonies.