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Common space may count as two rooms in housing calculation

ATA/713/1998Court of Justice / Administrative ChamberNov 10, 1998

Open source

Extracted by Omnilex

Omnilex summary

The case concerned room-counting for a social housing surcharge. The court held that a communal space is not defined by the absence of internal walls but by its use by all residents, whether or not the areas are architecturally connected. Under RLGL.1 para. 6, a communal space exceeding 25 m² may count as two rooms. As the apartment also contained a bedroom under 9 m², it was classified as a 2.5-room unit.

Omnilex headnote

RLGL.1 al. 6; room count in social housing calculations; communal space and 25 m² threshold. A communal space is defined by its shared use by all occupants, not by the presence of wall separations or the architectural separation of kitchen, living room, and dining area. Where such a shared area exceeds 25 m², the housing authority may count it as two rooms. The existence of an additional bedroom under 9 m² supports classification of the dwelling as a 2.5-room apartment.

Full text

Descripteurs

LOGEMENT; ALLOCATION DE LOGEMENT; LOGEMENT SOCIAL; SURTAXE; CALCUL; CHAMBRE; NOMBRE; BIEN COMMUN; TPE

Normes

RLGL.1 al.6

Résumé

"... un espace communautaire ne signifie pas qu'il s'agit d'une cuisine, d'un séjour et/ou d'un coin manger réunis dans une seule pièce sans séparation murale, mais bien qu'il s'agit d'une cuisine, d'un séjour ou d'un coin manger en tant que pièce utilisée par tous les habitants du logement, que ces espaces soient architecturalement réunis entre eux ou non". L'OLS peut considérer que tout espace communautaire tel que défini supra et qui excède les 25m² compte pour 2 pièces (art.1 al.5 let.e et 6 RLGL). L'appartement d'espèce comprenant encore une chambre à coucher de moins de 9m², il doit être considéré comme un 2,5 pièces.

Keywords

housingroom countsocial housingsurchargecommon spacedwelling size

Extracted by Omnilex

Key legal questions extracted by Omnilex

Key legal question

How a common space must be counted when determining the number of rooms in a dwelling under RLGL.1 para. 6

Extracted holding

A communal space does not mean a kitchen, living room, and/or dining area merged into one room without wall separation; it means a kitchen, living room, or dining area used by all residents, whether architecturally connected or not. Such a communal space exceeding 25 m² may be counted as two rooms.

Extracted reasoning

The court interpreted the room-counting rule functionally: the decisive element is shared use by all occupants, not whether the areas are physically separated. The size threshold permits counting an oversized common area as two rooms.

Key legal question

Whether the apartment at issue must be classified as a 2.5-room unit

Extracted holding

Because the apartment still contained a bedroom smaller than 9 m², it had to be classified as a 2.5-room apartment.

Extracted reasoning

After applying the room-count rule to the communal area, the remaining bedroom justified an additional half-room classification.

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