Rental law
Agency fees when renting in Luxembourg: who pays?
Since the 2024 reform, estate agency commission on a residential letting is split equally between landlord and tenant. What that means for what you are asked to pay.
By D2Casa Administrator · Published September 28, 2026 · 7 min read
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Who pays the agency commission in Luxembourg?
The landlord and the tenant, half each. Where an estate agent or another third party is involved in letting a home, the law requires their fees to be shared equally between the two parties. This came in with the revision of the rental law that took effect on 1 August 2024.
Before that, it was common for a tenant to carry the entire commission — often around one month's rent plus VAT. Plenty of listings, contract templates and well-meaning advice still describe the old arrangement. If you are being asked for the full commission on a residential letting, the request does not match the current law.
What the commission actually buys
It helps to know what you are paying half of. A letting agency's fee typically covers photographing and listing the property, fielding enquiries, running viewings, checking applicants' documents and references, drawing up the lease, and handling the paperwork at handover.
That is real work, and the reform did not say otherwise. What it changed is who carries the cost — recognising that the agency is engaged by the landlord to fill their property, even though both sides benefit from the match.
What the rule does and does not cover
The 50/50 split applies to the commission for arranging a residential letting. It is not a cap on what an agency may charge in total, and it does not turn every service an agency offers into a shared cost.
Things worth separating in your head:
- Letting commission — shared equally between landlord and tenant.
- The deposit — not a fee at all. It is a guarantee, capped at two months' rent, and it comes back to you.
- *Charges (charges locatives)* — your running costs for heating, water, communal areas and so on. Nothing to do with the agency.
- Optional services — inventory drafting by a third party, insurance products, moving help. If something is genuinely optional and you chose it, treat it separately and ask exactly what it is.
A worked example
Take a flat at €1,800 a month, with an agency commission of one month's rent plus 17% VAT.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Commission, excluding VAT | €1,800 |
| VAT at 17% | €306 |
| Total commission | €2,106 |
| Landlord's half | €1,053 |
| Your half | €1,053 |
Under the old arrangement the tenant could have been asked for the whole €2,106. The saving is real, and on a family-sized flat it is more than a month's groceries.
Note that the split applies to the total including VAT — you are paying half of the bill, not half plus your own tax on top.
How to check what you are being asked to pay
Ask for the commission to be shown as its own line, with the total and your half both stated. A reputable agency will do this without hesitation, because it is now simply how the arrangement works.
Three questions settle most confusion:
- What is the total commission, before it is split?
- Which half am I paying, and is VAT included in the figure quoted?
- Is anything else on this invoice not part of the commission?
If the answer to the first question is "one month's rent" and you are being asked for one month's rent, the split has not been applied.
Watch for the cost arriving by another route
A minority of landlords have tried to recover their half indirectly. Three patterns worth recognising:
- An "administration fee" or "file fee" that happens to equal half the commission. Ask what service it buys that the commission does not.
- A rent set slightly above the market to absorb the difference. Rent in Luxembourg is capped at 5% of the landlord's invested capital, and can only be reviewed once every two years and by no more than 10%, so there are limits to how far this can go.
- A charge for the inventory that is really the agency's own work. An inventory drawn up by an independent third party is a legitimate separate cost; one drawn up by the letting agency as part of the letting is not obviously so.
None of these is automatically improper — an administration fee for a genuinely separate service can be legitimate. The question to ask is what you receive for it that the commission does not already cover.
When no agency is involved
If you rent directly from a landlord with no intermediary, there is no commission at all, and nobody should be charging you one. This is more common in Luxembourg than newcomers expect, particularly for rooms and for smaller landlords letting a single flat.
Renting directly saves the commission, but the tenant checks, the lease drafting and the inventory still need doing properly. The lease must be in writing and contain certain mandatory provisions, whether or not an agency was involved.
Budgeting for a move
For a rental at monthly rent R, the realistic upfront picture is:
| Item | Roughly |
|---|---|
| First month's rent | R |
| Deposit | up to 2 × R |
| Your half of the commission | around half of one month, VAT included |
That is still a substantial sum to assemble, and it is worth knowing that a public scheme exists to finance the deposit portion for people who qualify. It is applied for through the housing authorities, not through the agency.
If an agency insists you pay it all
Say plainly that residential letting commission is shared equally under the rules in force since August 2024, and ask for the invoice to be reissued. Keep the exchange in writing — email is ideal, because it dates itself.
Most of the time this is not bad faith. It is an old template nobody has updated, and a polite correction resolves it. If it does not, the justice de paix for your canton handles disputes of this kind and the procedure is designed to be used without a lawyer.
Do not let it pass simply because you want the flat. An agency that is comfortable invoicing against the current law is telling you something about how the rest of the tenancy will be administered.
Frequently asked questions
Is the 50/50 split negotiable? The sharing is a legal requirement, not a default that the parties can contract around. What the total commission is, on the other hand, is a matter between the landlord and their agency.
Does this apply to commercial leases? No. The rule sits in the law on residential leases. A commercial letting is a different regime.
Does it apply to a room in a shared flat? Where the letting is residential and an agency is involved, the sharing rule applies. What varies more is whether an agency is involved at all, since rooms are often let directly.
I paid the full commission before August 2024. Can I claim half back? The reform applies from its entry into force; it is not a refund scheme for earlier lettings. If you paid recently and are unsure which side of the date you fall on, that is worth advice on your specific facts.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and circumstances differ; check the official sources below or seek advice for your own situation.
Sources
- Residential lease agreements between tenants and landlords — Guichet.lu
- Revision of the rental lease legislation — Government of Luxembourg, 10 July 2024
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