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Housing

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.

 

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)

Kotwijs database

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)

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).

Accomodation in a residence hall

A minority of the total housing offer in Leuven is available in residence halls. (=20% of the housing market)
These residence halls are either:

For all of them, there is a limited number of  rooms!

1. Central Services  Residence Halls

You can apply online until November 21th 2021. More information about the application procedure can be found here.​​​

2. Student Services Residence  Halls

These rooms are reserved for international students with a very limited budget. You can find more information on the application procedure here.

3. Cooperated Residence halls

You can apply online until November 21th 2021 through this webpage. It is also advised to contact the residence hall you want to apply for directly. Contact details of the residence managers can be found on their webpages (you need to scroll down a bit). 

4. Privately managed Residence halls

You can see the available offer within privately managed residence halls on the KU Leuven database Kotwijs. Don’t forget to select the type of accommodation (Residence) and the preferred rental term.

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 € 360 per month, including utilities. The rent for a room with private facilities (a private bathroom OR private shower) is approximately € 500 per month. The average rent for a studio for one person is approximately € 540. 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.
Housing

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Housing