From 1 January 2026, the city of Ghent will introduce targeted checks on students who are suspected of illegally sharing accommodation. Students are only allowed to rent an apartment or family home if they are also registered as living there, which is often not the case. In concrete terms, the city will write to owners of properties where no domicile has been registered. If it turns out that students are living there, they will have to leave, and the city will urge the owner to let the property to a family.
The fact that Ghent is in need of extra housing for families is not new. A study from 2023 showed that by 2040, the city could count 20,000 additional households. New housing will have to be built, but the city council is also considering other options.
For example, there are many family homes where large numbers of students are currently cohabiting without being registered as residents. Registration is mandatory in flats or houses, but not in student accommodation. That is why Ghent will be carrying out targeted checks from 1 January next year.
More student accommodation a priority
‘First and foremost, it was important to provide more student accommodation,’ says Alderman for Urban Development Christophe Peeters. ‘This is currently happening with the construction of many new student blocks. That is why we can now start with so-called “de-accommodation”.’
‘We want to return the flats and townhouses that have been divided up, whether legally or not, to families in order to ease the pressure on the housing market.’
Vacant or occupied by students?
To this end, the city council wants to carry out targeted checks. ‘We don't have the manpower to go out on the streets and count ourselves. That's why we're going to write to every owner who has a property where no one is registered as living. This may be because the property is actually vacant, but it may also be that students are living there.’
‘We want to encourage these owners to let the property to the people for whom it is intended: people who are registered as residents in Ghent and participate in Ghent society.’
Inspections announced in 2022 too
It is unclear how many houses will be affected. Ghent also announced inspections in 2022. At that time, the intention was to go door to door to check whether there were any students living there who were not registered as residents. It is unclear how many inspections were carried out at that time.