Letting your flat yourself in Luxembourg: the legal checklist

Letting your flat without an agency is legal and ordinary in Luxembourg. The reason most private landlords do not do it is not the work — it is the fear of getting a detail wrong and finding out two years later that the lease does not hold.

This is the checklist. Nine points, each one a rule that is written down somewhere you can check, with the source at the foot of the page. Where a rule changed on 1 August 2024, the date is stated, because a lease signed before then is governed by the older wording.

One thing this article does not cover: screening the tenant. Asking for income documents, employer letters or references puts you on the wrong side of data-protection law very quickly if you do it carelessly. It deserves its own article with its own legal review, and it is not a bullet in a checklist.

1. The lease must be in writing — and must contain eight things

Since 1 August 2024, Article 1714 of the Civil Code has read that a residential lease "ne peut être conclu que sous une forme écrite" — it may only be concluded in writing. Article 5 §1 of the 2006 law adds the penalty and the contents: "Sous peine de nullité, tout bail est établi par écrit" — on pain of nullity, every lease is established in writing — and it must state at least:

1. the full identity of every contracting party;
2. the date the lease takes effect;
3. every room and part of the building covered, plus the address and cadastral reference;
4. the rent, excluding charges;
5. the amount of the advance payments or flat fee for charges;
6. any furniture supplement, for a furnished letting;
7. the amount of the rental guarantee, if one is stipulated;
8. a statement that the parties may bring the matter before the rent commission under Article 8 in a dispute over setting the rent.

That eighth item is the one private landlords miss. It is not optional.

Applies to leases concluded on or after 1 August 2024. The Ministry is explicit that contracts concluded before that date "restent valides sans modification" — they remain valid without alteration.

2. The entry inventory — mandatory when there is a deposit

Article 5 §2: "En cas de stipulation d'une garantie locative, un constat écrit et contradictoire des lieux doit être signé au plus tard le jour de l'entrée en jouissance des lieux par le locataire."

Where a rental guarantee is stipulated, a written, jointly-made inventory of the premises must be signed no later than the day the tenant takes possession. Guichet.lu puts the practical weight on it: the inventory is compulsory whenever the tenant has to provide a guarantee — "ce qui est quasiment toujours le cas", which is almost always.

It must be written, as precise as possible, made jointly by both parties or their representatives, and dated and signed by both.

3. The exit inventory — not compulsory, but you want one

Guichet.lu is unambiguous: "Il n'existe pas d'obligation légale de dresser un état des lieux de sortie." There is no legal obligation to draw up an exit inventory.

Do one anyway, and here is the self-interested reason: under point 6 below, the first half of the deposit falls due when the exit inventory matches the entry inventory. No exit inventory, no comparison, and the trigger for the staged release never cleanly occurs.

4. The deposit is capped at two months' rent

Article 5 §2: the parties may agree a rental guarantee "qui ne pourra dépasser deux mois de loyer" — which may not exceed two months' rent. The 2024 reform did this by replacing one word: "le mot « trois » est remplacé par celui de « deux »".

Applies to leases concluded on or after 1 August 2024. Article 33 bis (2) keeps the pre-2024 wording for verbal leases and for contracts concluded before entry into force. If you are holding an older lease with a three-month deposit, that is the older rule, not an error.

5. Five permitted forms of deposit — and one you cannot refuse

Guichet.lu lists five: a bank guarantee (either "on first demand" or a simple bank surety), a plain bank transfer to the landlord's account, cash, a State-provided rental guarantee, and rental-guarantee insurance subject to the landlord's agreement.

One of those is not a matter of agreement. Article 5 §2 closes with: "Le bailleur ne peut refuser, même après la conclusion du bail, une garantie locative sous forme d'une garantie bancaire." The landlord may not refuse a bank guarantee — not even after the lease has been concluded.

Cash runs the other way: guichet.lu notes it can only come from the tenant's side and cannot be imposed by the landlord.

6. The deposit comes back in two stages — and late costs you 10% a month

This is the rule most likely to cause a dispute, and it is written out in Article 5 §2 bis.

Stage one — half, within one month. Where the exit inventory matches the entry inventory, normal wear and tear excepted, and the landlord has no claim for rent arrears or tenant damage, half the guarantee must be returned within one month of the keys being handed over in person or by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.

Stage two — the balance. Final settlement and return of the remainder, less any sums still properly due and duly justified, happens at the latest within the month following either receipt of the charges statements — which the landlord is required to request from the relevant services and administrations no later than one month after the lease ends — or final approval of the building's annual accounts at the next general meeting of co-owners.

Being late has a price. The portion still owed is increased by "une somme égale à 10 pour cent du loyer mensuel en principal, pour chaque période mensuelle commencée en retard" — 10% of the monthly rent for each started month of delay. The Ministry describes it as an indemnity payable for unjustified late return.

Two conditions on that surcharge, which summaries routinely drop. It does not begin to run by itself. The law attaches it to a formal demand from the tenant — "à partir d'une mise en demeure par lettre recommandée avec avis de réception adressée par le locataire au bailleur" — a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt. And it is not due where the failure to return on time results from a cause attributable to the tenant.

7. A fixed-term lease does not simply end

Article 12 §2: a lease that comes to an end for any cause is extended for an indefinite period, unless one of three things is true:

• the landlord declares they need the premises to occupy themselves, or for effective occupation by a relative or relation up to the third degree inclusive;
• the tenant is not meeting their obligations;
• there are other serious and legitimate grounds, which the landlord must establish — and the text adds that transfer of ownership of the dwelling is not a serious and legitimate ground.

The Ministry states the consequence plainly: fixed-term leases not terminated before expiry are automatically converted into indefinite-term contracts.

If you expected your two-year lease to end by itself at month 24, it does not.

8. Automatic indexation of the rent is banned — with a catch

The word "indexation" does not appear in the law. The statutory hook is Article 5 §5 on "clauses de valeur conventionnelles" — index-linking clauses — which "perdront leur effet à partir du premier terme suivant la date d'une réclamation adressée par lettre recommandée au bailleur": they lose effect from the first term following a claim sent to the landlord by registered letter.

The Ministry's FAQ states the plain-words version and the catch together: "La loi interdit les clauses d'indexation automatique du loyer. Cependant ces clauses restent valables tant que le locataire ne s'y oppose pas." The law prohibits automatic indexation clauses — but they remain valid for as long as the tenant does not object. The objection must be a registered letter, and the clause stops applying from the month after it.

Two related limits, from the same FAQ:

• A general wage-indexation round does not by itself permit a rent increase where the lease has no clause: "en principe, une telle augmentation n'est pas permise par la loi, sauf si les deux parties en décident autrement."
• Where the rent has not been adapted for at least two years, an increase must respect two statutory limits: the annual rent may not exceed 5% of the invested capital, and no single adaptation may raise the rent by more than 10%.

9. Notice: three months from the tenant, three or six from you

Article 1736 of the Civil Code, as modified: "Le délai de résiliation d'un contrat de bail d'habitation est de trois mois, sauf clause contraire dans le contrat de bail écrit prévoyant un délai supérieur à trois mois."

Three months — and note the direction of travel in that exception. A written lease may provide a longer period. It cannot provide a shorter one.

For the landlord, the Ministry summarises it as three or six months depending on the ground relied on. The six-month case is personal occupation, and Article 12 §3 attaches formalities to it that are easy to fail:

the termination letter must be written, reasoned, accompanied where applicable by supporting documents, sent by registered post with acknowledgement of receipt, and it must quote the text of Article 12 §3 itself — on pain of nullity.

A notice that gets the six months right and omits the quoted text is void.

---

That is the checklist. None of it requires an agency. All of it requires reading the lease you are about to sign, which is the part an agency was never doing for you anyway.

Lurent is being built to carry this kind of letting end to end — direct between landlord and tenant, with identity and document checks done properly. It is not live yet.

---

Sources

1. Loi modifiée du 21 septembre 2006 sur le bail à usage d'habitation, consolidated textLegilux
2. Loi du 23 juillet 2024 (Mémorial A n° 311)Legilux
3. Conclure un contrat de bail à usage d'habitationGuichet.lu
4. L'état des lieuxGuichet.lu
5. FAQ — Bail à loyerMinistère du Logement et de l'Aménagement du territoire
6. Révision du bail à loyer (campaign page, 01.08.2024)Ministère du Logement et de l'Aménagement du territoire

All sources accessed on 13 October 2026.

This article describes the law as published. It is not legal advice, and it does not cover every case.

Last reviewed: 13 October 2026. Articles citing a legal rule or a price are re-examined every six months and on any legislative change.