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Good faith does not bar retroactive housing surcharge increase

ATA/691/1996Court of Justice / Administrative ChamberNov 26, 1996Dismissed

Open source

Extracted by Omnilex

Omnilex summary

The tenant contested a retroactive increase in a social housing surcharge, arguing that the office's earlier information created a protected expectation. The court held that, under Arts. 9 and 11 RLGL, the tenant could not reasonably believe that current income would never be relevant for surcharge calculation. The good-faith argument therefore failed, and the challenge was dismissed.

Omnilex headnote

Arts. 9 and 11 RLGL; principle of good faith in the context of social-housing surcharge calculations: a tenant who is informed by the social housing office that the determinative income is that of the year preceding the lease conclusion cannot, solely on that basis, derive a legitimate expectation that current income will never be taken into account for a surcharge assessment. The protection of good faith does not preclude a retroactive surcharge increase where the administrative information given did not amount to a clear and specific assurance excluding such a calculation method (consid. 1).

Full text

Descripteurs

LOGEMENT; SURTAXE; LOGEMENT SOCIAL; SURVEILLANCE ETATIQUE; LOYER; MODIFICATION(EN GENERAL); PRINCIPE DE LA BONNE FOI; IEA

Normes

LGL.30; LGL.31

Résumé

Au regard des articles 9 et 11 RLGL (teneur du 1er octobre 1992), le locataire, informé par l'office du logement social (OLS) que le revenu déterminant pour une éventuelle surtaxe est celui de l'année précédent celle de la conclusion du bail, ne peut légitimement penser que le revenu en cours ne peut jamais servir de base de calcul à ladite surtaxe. Il ne peut, de ce fait, invoquer la protection de la bonne foi pour contester une augmentation rétroactive de la surtaxe. Au regard des articles 9 et 11 RLGL (teneur du 1er octobre 1992), le locataire, informé par l'office du logement social (OLS) que le revenu déterminant pour une éventuelle surtaxe est celui de l'année précédent celle de la conclusion du bail, ne peut légitimement penser que le revenu en cours ne peut jamais servir de base de calcul à ladite surtaxe. Il ne peut, de ce fait, invoquer la protection de la bonne foi pour contester une augmentation rétroactive de la surtaxe.

Keywords

housing surchargesocial housinggood faithretroactivityincome calculationtenancy

Extracted by Omnilex

Key legal questions extracted by Omnilex

Key legal question

Whether the tenant could rely on good faith to oppose a retroactive increase of the housing surcharge based on current income.

Extracted holding

No. Having been informed that the relevant income was that of the year preceding the lease conclusion, the tenant could not legitimately assume that current income would never be used to calculate a surcharge.

Extracted reasoning

Under Arts. 9 and 11 RLGL, the office's prior information did not create a protected expectation excluding the use of current income. The tenant therefore could not invoke the principle of good faith against the surcharge adjustment.

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