Quality Label

Kotweb assigns a label to student accommodation that meets the quality requirements imposed by the city of Antwerp.

Who is it for? Properties in greater Antwerp.

As a student, you cannot just rent any flat, studio, room or house. Accommodation for students must comply with certain statutory regulations in terms of quality, fire protection and urban development.

The city of Antwerp inspects all student accommodations in City Antwerp and his districts (even those not included in Kotweb).

Based on this inspection, the city services assign a quality label to each student property. To be clear: this quality label is awarded for the entire student property. This means that all the rooms in the property must be in proper order to receive a positive label, but it also means that if a single room in a property receives a negative score, this could also lead to a negative evaluation. In addition to Antwerp, you can also find a limited number of student properties on Kotweb in Aartselaar, Mortsel and Edegem, near Antwerp's campuses. These properties are outside of the jurisdiction of the city of Antwerp and therefore cannot be assigned a quality label.

Property owners who advertise rooms on Kotweb are committed to providing high-quality and safe student accommodation.

What is it? The label explained.

• A green label means that the property has been inspected and is fully in order in terms of accommodation quality and fire safety. Therefore perfect to rent!
• A blue label means that the owner is waiting for the first inspection or that the first inspection already took place and the owner still needs to make some adjustments or renovations. These are not immediate problems that must be addressed. The owner is given a maximum of 6 months before an automatic re-inspection is conducted by the city of Antwerp.
• A red label indicates that the building does not meet quality or safety standards. The owner is given this label after a second negative inspection. The red label means that a rigorous follow-up procedure has been initiated/is ongoing. If the owner does not bring the property up to the required standards during the follow-up period, this procedure could eventually lead to the accommodation being closed. A property can be closed within a year to eighteen months after receiving the red label. After the follow-up procedure has finished, and if the owner has not resolved the defects, the city of Antwerp will close the property. The property is then removed from Kotweb and appears on a list of all closed student properties provided by the city of Antwerp. For immediate, life-threatening problems such as a risk of collapse, fire, or CO poisoning, an accelerated temporary closure is enforced by mayoral order.

Kotweb recommends renting student accommodation that has a green label! So be sure to check the quality label before signing a contract. Is your student room not shown on Kotweb?  You can always check the list of housing with a red label (the most recent list is at the bottom of the page) or contact the city of Antwerp to inquire about the accommodation.                               

Help is on the way!

If the student accommodation where you are staying is closed temporarily or permanently because the landlord fails to fix the problems that caused it to be given a red label, you can count on the Kotweb team. The crisis team at Kotweb is there to help and support you with both information and action, search for a new or temporary residence with you and you can even count on a Kotweb assistance team after you have found a new accommodation.