Student housing in Leuven
KU Leuven Housing Service is ready to welcome you to Leuven! They will be able to provide all international UCLL students with information on how to find a suitable accommodation.
Live chat Housing Service
We want to support you in the best possible way to find student accomodation in Leuven that suits your needs and your wallet.
On 16 November 2021 we organised a live info chat with Housing Service. Missed it?
Click here to find the presentation
WE’VE GOT AN APP FOR THAT!
Kotwijs is a university-powered database of available student accommodation in Leuven. It will allow you to specify your:
- Price limit
- Location
- Rental period
- Comfort level (example: a separate bathroom)
Leuven Kotlabel
Rooms with a ‘Kotlabel’ quality label are approved by the City of Leuven as suitable student residences. In Spring 2018, the Leuven “Kotlabel” was introduced to identify student rooms that comply with required standards of fire safety, contract, quality of living and student friendliness . There are two types of labels.
Blue label
Rooms with the blue label (all rooms in ‘Kotwijs’ have it):
- meet required standards of fire safety
- use a fair contract
- guarantee a good quality of living
- are student-friendly
Green label
Rooms with the green label have been approved by the university housing service AND the City of Leuven. Only a handful of rooms have been awarded this green label as most rooms have not been inspected by both yet.
The majority of student accommodation is privately owned. Only 20% of the total housing offer is available in university residence halls.
Privately owned vs residence halls
Accomodation on the private market
The majority of student rooms in Leuven are privately owned. (= 80% of the housing market)
Good to know: in Leuven, students usually reside in a room located in a privately owned student house, as there are few residences. Unlike in other countries, we have no on-campus accomodation and rooms are spread throughout the city. Luckily, Leuven is a very small city!
We highly recommend looking for housing via www.kotwijs.be, the online housing database.
Why look for housing through Kotwijs?
- We have a cooperation with the landlords in this database, so there is no risk of fraud.
- All accommodation in this database meets our minimum requirements regarding to housing quality, fire safety, student friendliness and housing contract.
- Kotwijs allows you to set criteria according to your personal preferences (comfort, rental price, rental period, etc).
At the moment it’s not easy to find student housing in Leuven, unfortunately it may be challenging to look for suitable accommodation. We strongly recommend to secure housing before you arrive in Leuven.
Accomodation in a residence hall
A minority of the total housing offer in Leuven is available in residence halls. (=20% of the housing market)
There are 4 types of residence halls:
1. KU Leuven Central Services residence halls
You can apply until 4th of May 2022.
Rooms will be allocated starting from 28 April. You can apply for a room after you are admitted to UCLL. Even if you are still waiting for your admisison letter to be issued, it is wise to already apply for a room. It is possible to cancel the room without costs before 15th of June.
2. Private residences in cooperation with KU Leuven
We advise you to contact the residence managers directly.
3. Privately managed residence halls
The available offer is published on the Kotwijs database . Use the filter to find the residences easily. Type = (KU Leuven) residences.
We advise you to contact the landlords directly by phone.
4. KU Leuven Stuvo residence halls
More information regarding the application procedure.
Heads-up: the residence offer is very limited, so we advise you to look for a room on the private market.
Rental agreement
Legally, every rental agreement:
- has to be written
- is only valid if both tenant and landlord sign it
- cannot be terminated before it expires when signed, except in three cases (prior to the entry into force, upon study deregistration, upon the death of the student's parents/guardian).
You can find more detailed legal information in the Flemish housing rental decree.
Beware of fraudulent advertisements if you search for housing via other websites or Facebook.
Have you got questions? Visit the FAQ-page of the Housing database or send an email to huisvesting.limburg [at] ucll.be.
Useful rental tips
Last but not least, we advise you to keep the following things in mind:
- The contract that you will sign will most likely be in Dutch. As it is very important to understand it before you sign it, you can contact the KU Leuven Housing service for a translation or more information about your rental contract.
- Remember that Leuven is a very small city (2 km across) with easy access to public transport and the possibility of renting a bike or buying a cheap student bus pass. Therefore, do not dwell too much on finding a student room closest to your campus.
- The average rent for a single room is approximately € 390 per month, including utilities. The rent for a room with private facilities (a private bathroom OR private shower) is approximately € 550 per month. The average rent for a studio for one person is approximately € 590. More info on living cost in Belgium.
- If no student housing has been arranged before arrival in Leuven you are strongly advised to book temporary accommocation (youth hostel, guest housing, airbnb, ...) yourself well in advance! You can find more information on this webpage.
At the moment it’s not easy to find student housing in Leuven, unfortunately it may be challenging to look for suitable accommodation. We strongly recommend to secure housing before you arrive in Leuven.