What counts as a flatshare in Luxembourg
This guide is general information about how flatsharing works under Luxembourg law, not legal advice; for your own situation, consult a qualified professional or the relevant public service.
A flatshare in the legal sense means colocation: the rental of a single dwelling by several tenants who choose, with the landlord's express agreement, to be governed by the specific colocation rules. The regime was created by the Loi du 23 juillet 2024, which modified the earlier law of 21 September 2006 on residential leases. It came into force on 1 August 2024 and applies to every lease signed from that date. Contrary to a common belief, these rules come from the 2024 reform, not from the 2021 Pacte Logement law.
The defining feature is that colocation runs on one single written lease between the landlord and all the flatmates together, signed jointly. That is legally distinct from subletting and from a set of separate room leases. Since the same reform amended Article 1714 of the Civil Code to remove verbal leases, every residential lease, colocation included, must now be in writing.
The pacte de colocation between flatmates
Alongside the lease, flatmates in a colocation must draw up a written pacte de colocation, signed by everyone at the latest on the day the lease is signed. This is a legal requirement of the regime, separate from the lease itself, and it governs the relationship between the flatmates rather than with the landlord.
At a minimum, the pacte must set out how the rent is divided where the lease does not fix it, how common charges are split, an inventory of the furniture and movables with a note of who owns what, how utility and insurance contracts are arranged, the procedures for a flatmate arriving, leaving and being replaced, including how the others are told of a departure, how the deposit is put up and recovered, and a mechanism for resolving conflicts between flatmates.
Joint and several liability, and its limits
Flatmates in a colocation are jointly and severally liable towards the landlord for the obligations of the lease. In practice this means the landlord can demand the full rent from any single flatmate, not only that person's share. If the pacte does not divide the obligations, they are split equally between flatmates by default, but the joint liability towards the landlord still applies on top of that split.
The main limit on this exposure is the exit procedure. A flatmate who gives proper notice and searches for a replacement is released from their obligations on the earlier of two dates: when a replacement signs the amendment to the lease, or when the three-month notice period expires, provided they proved an active search. One structural risk remains: if more than half the flatmates leave within a period of under three months, the landlord may terminate the whole lease with three months' notice.
Deposits and the two-month cap
The rental deposit, the garantie locative, is capped at a maximum of two months' rent, reduced from three months by the 23 July 2024 reform. The cap is calculated on the base rent only, so charges, utilities and co-ownership contributions are excluded. On a rent of 2,000 euros base plus 200 euros of charges, the legal maximum deposit is 4,000 euros.
The deposit can take several accepted forms: a cash transfer to a blocked or conditioned bank account, a bank guarantee letter, the State rental guarantee, or a private rental-guarantee insurance. Tenants who lack the funds can apply for the State rental guarantee, where the State stands surety for up to two months' rent, capped at 573 euros per month of rent. Eligibility requires that base rent, excluding charges, not exceed 50 percent of household income, and that household income not exceed 2.5 times the guaranteed minimum income, after which the tenant has three years to save the guaranteed amount into a conditioned account.
- Return of the deposit runs in two stages: 50 percent within one month of the move-out inventory, if there is no damage beyond normal wear and all rent is paid.
- The remaining 50 percent within one month after the final charges statement, or the co-owners' annual general meeting approving the accounts.
- If the landlord returns the deposit late without justification, an automatic penalty of 10 percent of the monthly base rent applies per month of delay, with no grace period.
Rent limits, notice periods and charges
Rent is capped by the loyer annuel maximal rule: the annual rent may not exceed 5 percent of the capital invested in the dwelling, meaning land price plus construction or improvement costs. In a colocation, the flatmates' rents added together may not exceed this same ceiling, so a landlord cannot charge more overall simply because the property is shared. At each permitted adjustment, rent cannot rise by more than 10 percent every two years, a rule that replaced the older annual-thirds method. For furnished lettings, any furniture supplement is capped at 1.5 percent per month of the invoiced value of the furniture, counting only invoices dated less than ten years before the lease start.
For notice, the tenant ending an indefinite-term lease gives three months, unless the contract sets a longer period. Once the initial fixed term has passed the lease becomes indefinite and the tenant can then leave at any time on three months' notice, no longer waiting for a contract anniversary. The landlord cannot end an indefinite lease at will and needs specific legal grounds; termination for the landlord's own personal need generally requires six months' notice. Since 1 August 2024, any real-estate agency commission on a rental is split 50/50 between landlord and tenant.
Registering your address and the inventory
Every flatmate has both the right and the obligation to register their residence at the commune. Anyone occupying a new dwelling must declare it to the municipal population office within eight days, with arrivals from abroad also within eight days and third-country nationals within three working days. Some communes may ask the tenant for written authorisation from the property owner in order to register at that address, so this is a point to check with the commune before moving in.
An entry inventory, the état des lieux d'entrée, is legally required whenever the lease obliges the tenant to provide a deposit. An exit inventory is strongly recommended but not legally mandatory. Because the deposit return depends on comparing the exit condition against the entry inventory, having both, detailed and dated, protects the tenant. Where a room is let individually within a colocation, it must meet a minimum habitable surface of 9 square metres per occupant.
What flatshares cost in 2026
The Luxembourg rental market in 2026 is very tight, with national vacancy around 2 percent and an average rent of about 30.72 euros per square metre per month as of February 2026. Rents rose roughly 4.31 percent year-on-year in Luxembourg City and 7.23 percent nationally.
A private room in a colocation typically costs in the range of about 600 to 900 euros per month for a room in a house or large flat, with roughly 800 euros a common average for a room in Luxembourg City. Higher-end or fully serviced flatshares can reach 1,000 to 1,200 euros. Prices vary with location, room size and amenities.
How to tell a real colocation from an informal sublet
A genuine colocation has one single lease and a pacte de colocation; an informal arrangement has neither, and sits outside the regime. The protections described above apply only to a genuine colocation, so the distinction decides whether they apply to you at all. The points below summarise what the colocation regime provides, as general information rather than a personal checklist.
- A genuine colocation has one single written lease plus a pacte de colocation; an informal sublet has neither.
- Each flatmate is jointly and severally liable for the full rent, whatever the internal rent split says.
- The deposit is capped at two months, calculated on base rent only.
- An entry inventory, the état des lieux, is what the deposit return is later measured against, so a detailed one matters.
- Under a joint lease, giving three months' notice and finding a replacement is the route the regime sets out for leaving cleanly, so the replacement and exit procedure in the pacte is worth understanding.