Homeowners consider legal action over scrapped renovation grants

A group of Brussels homeowners affected by the cancellation of Renolution grants for home renovations is preparing to take legal action against the government.

The homeowners have started a petition and hope to collect at least 1,000 signatures in order to submit a citizens’ proposal to the Brussels Parliament, Bruzz reports.

The petition asks that parliament pay out all approved Renolution premiums immediately and has warned that it is prepared to take legal action if necessary.

There are almost 4,000 pending applications for the cancelled grants.

Only 316 will be paid out before the end of March, according to Urban.brussels, which administers the scheme, amounting to about €5 million.

The approvals only concern renovations with invoices from 2024, and the budget is far from sufficient to pay out the remaining files.

The citizens collective, called "Renillusion", is asking all fellow victims to send a notice of default to Urban.brussels.

The group created a template for this, in collaboration with the law firm Ethikos Lawyers, which the collective has shared on its website.

“If we do not receive a response from parliament or Urban.brussels within six months, we plan to file a class action lawsuit,” said Renillusion initiator Ronald Crouzé.

Crouzé himself is still waiting for the payment of €45,000 in renovation grants for work he had carried out in 2024 on his home in Molenbeek. He said his neighbours were waiting for €90,000 for roof insulation in their shared apartment block.

Urban.brussels acknowledged that the number of subsidy applications has continued to rise despite the depleted budget.

"On 31 December 2025, 2,764 files were calculated for Renolution subsidy applications (with invoices from 2024), awaiting a budget of €42,249,647,” said Margaux Rouben, communications director at urban.brussels.

“Since 1 January 2026, a further 908 files (invoices from 2024) are still being processed, to which a few reopened files will be added due to complaints that have been declared admissible.”

This corresponds to about 3,700 subsidy applications, even more than the estimate made last autumn.

The grants were intended to incentivise homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.

Individuals were able to apply for renovation subsidies to finance their renovation work, but applications for such subsidies could only be made after the work had been completed, on the basis of submitted invoices.

By mid-2024, the entire Renolution budget for the year had already been used up and applications were temporarily suspended.

The Brussels parliament finally decided to reopen all applications until 31 December 2025, but only for those who could still submit an invoice from 2024.

“The estimate of €55 to €56 million needed to pay out all premium applications (2024 invoices) remains valid,” said Rouben.

“We have now received a provisional credit line of €5,030,000 for the first quarter of 2026, which will enable us to proceed with the payment of 316 files. This represents one eleventh of the estimated actual requirement needed to pay the files with invoices from 2024.”

These 316 cases, which are the oldest of the bunch, can expect payment before the end of March this year.

“Unfortunately, we have no information about the release of the funds needed to pay the other applicants,” Rouben said.