Terms of use

1. Personal data

The City of Ghent treats your personal data with respect for your privacy. For this purpose, we follow the General Data Protection Regulation.

For what, with whom and for how long?

By creating an account on Kotatgent, you agree that the City of Ghent will process your personal data in order to do so:

• Send general mailings from Kotatgent.
• Contact you by mail or phone to inform, advise and raise awareness about student housing and initiatives of the City within the framework of housing policy.
• The City of Ghent Supervisory Department will contact you for an on-site check on basic housing quality, fire safety or urban planning regulations. 
• Get in touch with the City of Ghent Supervisory Department if you want to rent housing that is unsuitable or uninhabitable.
• Check whether a certificate of conformity has been delivered to this address and on which date it was delivered (concretely, the advertisement will mention: 'Conformity certificate date 01/01/2015' or 'No certificate of conformity' or 'Unknown' (= the status when the Kotatgent employee has not yet been able to check this). 
• Supervision Service of the City of Ghent and the fire brigade to have a check carried out at this address with regard to basic housing quality (Flemish Housing Code) and fire safety (Ghent police regulations on room residences).
• Check whether this address has the correct planning permission to let to students.
• To have the City of Ghent Supervisory Department check whether an urban planning violation has occurred. 
• Check whether there is an unsuitable or uninhabitable address at this address (if so, the advertisement will be removed and this will be passed on to Dienst Toezicht, which will possibly pass it on to the Flemish Housing Inspectorate). 
• Pass this address on to Dienst Belastingen in the context of the tax on dwellings without registration in the population register.
• To link this address to the Ghent Housing Register. 
• Use this address to complete the overall overview of the building patrimony on Ghent's territory (for this purpose, the address data may be linked to other databases).

The data are shared with the Emergency Zone Centre in the context of fire safety monitoring.  We delete your data after deleting your profile.

Your rights

You always have the right to view your personal data and to modify incorrect data. 

In some cases you can also have your data deleted.

Would you like to invoke these rights? You can do so via the contact form on this page.

Do you suspect that someone is using your personal data unlawfully? Report it to us via privacy@stad.gent. You also have the right to complain to the Flemish Supervisory Commission for the processing of personal data. 

More information about your rights and privacy can be found here.

2. Contents and liability

The City of Ghent makes the best efforts to ensure that the information displayed is as complete, correct, precise and up to date as possible. Nevertheless, the accuracy cannot always be 100% guaranteed. No rights can therefore be derived from the information on the website.

Consequently, the City of Ghent and all parties who provide this system with information are not liable for the accuracy or completeness of the information found or exchanged via the website.

Nor are they liable for possible viruses and the damage caused by these viruses.

The content of the website may be adapted, changed or supplemented at any time without notice or notification. The City of Ghent gives no guarantees for the proper functioning of the website and cannot be held liable in any way whatsoever for the poor functioning or temporary (un)availability of the website or for any form of damage, direct or indirect, which would result from (problems with) access to or use of the website.

3. Use

This website is owned by the City of Ghent, Botermarkt 1, 9000 Ghent.

By using this website, you commit yourself to the following:

• not to engage in any form of discrimination based on gender, nationality, so-called race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, age, sexual orientation, marital status, birth, wealth, religious or philosophical belief, political opinion, language, current or future health condition, disability, physical or genetic characteristic or social origin.
• comply with the laws and regulations promoting and defending the application of non-discrimination and equal opportunities.
• accept and comply with the stated terms of use.

If we receive reports of possible discrimination in the rental of a property, we can, if desired, inform Unia (the Interfederal Equal Opportunities Centre).

However, the conditions of use can be changed at any time by the City of Ghent.  If you do not agree with these changes, you can decide to terminate your account.

You use the website at your own risk.

The City of Ghent cannot be held liable for any direct or indirect damage incurred due to access, incorrect or inappropriate use of the software system or of the information on the website or the use of this website.     

Kotatgent stands for a policy in which student friendliness, fire safety and housing quality are paramount. When you advertise on the website, you endorse these values.

Kotatgent counts on your sense of responsibility to correctly and professionally rent to students. This means: making your student housing conform to the compulsory housing quality and fire safety requirements according to the Flemish Housing Code and the police regulations of Ghent on the living quarters, complying with the rental legislation, maintaining and managing your student housing properly, pointing out their rights and obligations to the students, drawing up a balanced set of internal regulations. 

The following properties may be advertised on Kotatgent: rooms from licensed flats, studios and large-scale collective accommodation for students. 

If you do not know exactly which building permit your accommodation has, do not hesitate to contact Kotatgent in advance without obligation via kot@gent.be or 09 266 76 40.

Kotatgent will check whether your accommodation has the correct planning permission to rent out to students after you have placed your ad online. If the permit is not correct, your advertisement will be taken offline. 

Student housing that has been declared unfit or uninhabitable may not be advertised on Kotatgent. Kotatgent will check whether your accommodation has been declared unfit or uninhabitable after your advertisement has been placed online. If this is the case, Kotatgent will remove your publication. 

Kotatgent may decide to no longer advertise your accommodation if it receives complaints about inadequate management or discrimination. For your information: https://www.unia.be/nl/discriminatiegronden/discriminatie-enkele-verdui….
 

4. Links

This website also contains links.

The City of Ghent cannot guarantee the content and quality of or access to these sites. The inclusion of links does not automatically imply any association, partnership or approval.  

Under no circumstances can the City of Ghent be held liable for direct or indirect damage resulting from the use of these links, software or information.

5. Intellectual property

All intellectual property rights relating to this website (including texts, images, logos, ...) belong to the City of Ghent.

The information on this website may only be used for personal use and non-commercial purposes provided the source is acknowledged.

If you wish to reproduce information (texts, images, ...) or make it available in any other way, permission must first be requested from the City of Ghent.

6. Disputes

All disputes arising from the use of the website are subject to the application of Belgian law. Only the courts and tribunals of the judicial district of East Flanders, Ghent section, have jurisdiction.

7. Questions and complaints

For any comments, questions or complaints regarding the use of this website, please contact kot@gent.be or 09 266 76 40.