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Dear all,

I am from Denmark but have lived and worked in Brussels for 4 years. I rented a furnished apartment in Etterbeek and never had any problems - until now.

I left the apartment last week and handed over the keys to an assistant who works for my landlord. The apartment was super clean and the assistant did not have any comments or complaints at all.

However, the landlord is now back from his vacation and has sent me an email saying he will not sign the bank form to release my security deposit - unless I agree to pay 450 euro in extra charges (for water, heating, electricity etc.)

He has not documented these extra costs in any way, shape or form. On the contrary, I have hardly used my apartment for the last 6 months so my expection is that my consumption and bills must have gone down this year.

I have taken a closer look at the rental contract that I signed with the landlord in 2019, and I have found a section which clearly states that he should send me an overview of the bills and calculations for monthly charges once a year. But this has never happened - not this year and not in previous years.

Any tips on how I can proceed? Does anyone know a good attorney for landlord/rental contract issues? Is there a public authority, a board for rental contract violations or similar that I could contact?

Thanks!