r/brussels

Good evening guys,

Brace yourself, this is going to be a long one. I moved to Brussels about a year ago for a new job and found a decent flat in Ixelles, fairly new building and for a "normal" price (not cheap!). When I first walked in, last August, it was incredibly hot inside, like 34 degrees. The building manager (yes, it is one of those buildings owned by a company that rents out the whole thing) just shrugged: "It's been closed up for almost two months, that's normal."

LITTLE DID I KNOW

It was not, in fact, normal. It has now been a full year and my apartment has not once dipped below 20-22 degrees. Not in autumn, not in the deadly Belgian winter, not ever. I've tried to force it last december keeping the windows open and it got to 18 degrees just to see if the thermostat was working correctly. At the beginning I thought it was due to the insulation being incredibly good, at the end of the day the building was completed 6-7 years ago. My radiators have never turned on since I moved. Meanwhile, some of my upstairs neighbors apparently spend January with windows open, because it's always hot. So I began my slow descent into detective work.

After way too much time spent on this for a rental, I discovered the truth: the pipes that carry hot water from the building's (insulated) central collectors to each individual apartment are completely bare. The landings are always crazy hot and without any ventilation. And by law, to prevent legionella, that water has to circulate at 60 degrees , 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, whether or not anyone showers. This heat concentrates in the middle floors (2-3-4-5) while it's better at the lower floors and at the very top one. Guess where I live? Correct, right in the fucking middle.

Those pipes run directly under every floor and every apartment. Which means I have been living with fully functional, always-on, underfloor heating going at 60 degrees that I never asked for, can't turn off, and apparently signed a lease for without anyone mentioning it. I also met the building manager again some months ago in the parking downstairs and he himself admitted the problem, very casually, like "lol man, what can we do?". I mean, poor guy, he needs to run the circus, he didn't build the place.

Funniest thing of all? Until a few years ago there was NO REGULATION in Belgium about insulating those pipes and apparently the project of this building was registered right before it. I digged more and discovered that currently there's a new regulation that became effective in early 2026 OBLIGING to fix this but only if the pipes are accessible. Of course these pipes are partially accessible, partially under the floor and partially drowned in cement. Thank you Belgium for creating a smart law decades in delay, planting into it an escape clause. At the same time I can understand that fixing this issue would require the entire building to be emptied for months.

Since I'm a tenant and can't exactly rip open my floor, I have hand-wrapped the visibile pipes myself with reversible very expensive professional foam pipe insulation (snap-on, no glue, no drilling, very "please don't take my deposit") after measuring every last elbow and joint like a man defusing a bomb. This helped me lowering the temperature of this place of 2-3 degrees. I have bought a portable AC unit, but that basically allows to keep the temperature from not raising.

Do you want an idea of how bad it is? I've been away for 2 days for work leaving the windows open, they are open right now, outside is 16 and here is almost 24 degrees. When it's actually hot outside the temperature inside can easily be +6-7 degrees. Last weekend I had a friend visiting, that is incidentally an architect, and he told me "man, you are so fucked".

To be transparent, people living here all have nice jobs and cars, they shouldn't be stupid. I am shocked that no one did anything in the last 5-6 years and just lived with this.

Next stop: wrote an email to Homegrade, hopefully they can help (?) and getting the building's management to actually acknowledge this isn't normal, that we are talking about a design flaw and that we should be compensated. This is not about regulations, this is about quality of living. Will update if I win. Will also update if I simply melt (way more probable).

Hey guys im non eea goin to brussels this september. Few days ago i contacted this guy abt his property n he replied and we did a virtual tour.

To book the property he wants me to pay 2 months of rent as deposit directly to his bank account. When i asked him if he could use a blocked account/e-depo he said that it is too complicated/too much of a hassle as he manages 20 student rentals.

That being said, he provided proof of past deposit refunds to former tenants and a copy of his ID card as reassurance. Is it normal for landlords to ask for direct deposit? Do u guys think i should i go thru with the deposit (i kinda have limited options rn)?

Hi everyone,

I was diagnosed with ADHD abroad and have recently moved/lived in Belgium. I have the full ADHD diagnostic report in French, as well as an ECG confirming that everything is okay.

I’m trying to figure out how prescription renewals work here. Do I need to see a psychiatrist in Belgium before a doctor can prescribe/renew ADHD medication, or can my GP potentially renew the prescription based on my existing diagnosis and medical documents?

I’m a bit stressed because I’ve been looking for a psychiatrist, but most of the ones I’ve contacted don’t have appointments available anytime soon, or their follow-up prices are crazy expensive. I’m worried about running out of medication in the meantime.

If anyone in Belgium has been in a similar situation, I’d really appreciate hearing how it worked for you — especially whether your GP was able to prescribe based on a diagnosis made abroad, or whether you had to see a Belgian psychiatrist first.

Thanks!

Hi everyone!
Moved to Brussels a week ago and I have a lot of boxes from the moving in and stuff we had to buy; I putted a big part of it in yellow bags BUT I have a big box filled with a lot of other boxes all folded inside (bellow the 15kg limit) but it's raining quite a bit. How can I dispose of this without getting fined?

thanks in advance, have a nice day <3

I noticed the same fixed stains in the centre of the image yesterday afternoon, and I’ve seen them mentioned elsewhere on Reddit too. Has anyone contacted Kinepolis, and did you receive a response or refund? Are these normal artefacts of 70mm film, or a projection/maintenance issue? At €34.90 a ticket, it was disappointing. The men’s toilets also seem to have been out of order for more than two weeks now, which doesn’t help!

Hello! This might be a long shot, but I am looking for a doctor (gynecologist or psychiatrist) who is competent, caring and knowledgeable about premenstrual syndrome / premenstrual exacerbation.

I don't care if it's a woman or a man, if they have conventionné status or not or the languages they speak. Both Brussels and surroundings are fine.

(I am not looking into naturopaths or similar practitioners.)

Thanks a lot in advance!

I’ll be in Brussels soon and need to take the Flibco bus from Gare du Midi to Charleroi very early in the morning, around 4–5 AM.
I’m considering booking a hotel near Gare du Midi. Would you consider it safe for a woman travelling alone to walk to the Flibco stop at that time?
Would you stay near Gare du Midi or choose accommodation closer to Charleroi Airport instead?

New in town. I was getting on a metro around 7, the Elizabeth line, when everyone was ordered off and there were now soldiers and police on the platform. The train went back the way it came and after a while another appeared which everyone was allowed onto with the soldiers too.

Is this something routine or did something happen recently?

I had the privilege to be in Brussels this past weekend and it was the best weekend of my summer this year. What I loved the most about the city was the warmth of it's people, unlike some other European cities nobody seemed inconvenienced by the presence of foreign national people. Whenever I asked question in English either they happily responded or if they didn't know English they would low-key feel sad for not being able to help me. I got to attend a music festival with one of my all-time favorite artist headlining the event (a big thank you to all the people who came and made it even better). I loved the food and the hidden cozy cafes. I was also in luck to witness the Flower Carpet which wasn't in the itinerary at all and is displayed only once every two years. I loved the Museums and the architecture, everything was just on point. I really wish I could spend more time there. I am very well aware that just a few days isn't enough to have an opinion on a city and of course this was just my experience and not something factual but I wanted to share it nonetheless. Thank you Brussels for everything and I will always remember you with nothing but love.
p.s. if on the one-in-a-million chance the woman from Chile who lives in Antwerp and wanted to come see me in Cologne is reading this, hit me up

Hi everyone! We're renovating a small studio (~19m²) in Uccle, Belgium to rent short-term to students/Erasmus, and we'd love some input from people who've actually lived in or rented these apartments.

Which setup do you think works better for a space this size?

1. Sofa bed + wardrobe + study desk (+ washing machine?)
2. Bunk bed + wardrobe + study desk (+ washing machine?)

Would a washing machine be a big plus, or is it not worth the space in such a small studio? Any other must-haves we're missing? Thanks so much for any tips!

I need to have some tailoring work done. Do you have a tailor you can recommend for some alterations on men’s suits? Ideally not too far from a metro stop?

I'm in the process of finding a new flat, and when did Brussels became so expensive? Anything under 800e is a fucking room in a "co-living" house, when did it became the norm? And how people are finding anything remotely affordable?

I don't understand, we are supposed to have a law that garanties normal pricing. How tf did it became like this?

Question! How does one find a dermatologist that is conventioned (contracted?)? Do they exist and how do I find them? It is hard to be able to find this information + if they speak english + if they are specialised in what I need. It seems that the system is very complicated, is it only my impression?

to buy! i’m interested in osteology and naturalia.

do you see this kind of thing at flea markets?

i’m thinking about asking butchers. i know it’s a long shot but has anybody tried?

as an aside, i’ve considered picking up roadkill, mostly pigeons and rats, and processing them safely, but i don’t have access to an outdoor space to do it, so it’s out of the question.

i’m also interested in human osteology but i’m sure that’s considerably more complicated. i figured i’d mention it just in case anyone happens to know of anything.

I'm moving out of a flat and need to do a few touch-ups on some small holes I've already repaired. I've been searching for a paint-matching service, something where I can take a sample of something with the correct paint color and a spectrophotometer or similar machine can precisely match the color and mix the same color paint. It's been surprisingly difficult to find a clear answer about whether a particular shop offers this service or not. Has anyone used this kind of service in Brussels before? Where did you find it?

Hi everyone! I am searching to eat the specific Trinidadian / Caribbean dish called ‘doubles’ in Brussels. I haven’t had it in years and would love to find it somewhere here. Anyone knows if there are restaurants or snack bars that have this dish? Thanks!