Bright 1-bedroom flat in a modern apartment complex near Brussels-North train station, brussels

While not perfect nor luxurious. Van Orley is a great place to live, and even greater if you’re a social individual who’s in for meeting diverse people from all over the world. Not having a private kitchen makes it ideal so you’re forced into interacting with people, same people who after a few times cooking and eating together later become your favorite people in the country! I’ll be honest now, room was small and didn’t have natural light whatsoever given I was in the ground floor, kitchens worked fine but they were usually not super clean (decent enough, though) and the oven wouldn’t heat the food evenly which commonly resulted in a weirdly cooked frozen pizza. Washing machines and dryers work… lets say decent but it’s quite expensive for the service given. At least while I was in the house, lifts worked fine except for the last few days when it had some technical issues which were solved quickly. On the deposit note, i haven’t received the money yet but so far is looking good as they sent an email where they said no money was deducted from it, so as long as you clean decently enough you should be fine. Summarizing, the place is good enough if you can lower your standards for a while. Sure I live way better in my home country, but it’s not nearly as bad as the google reviews says it is. People and the community makes this an amazing place to stay during an exchange semester! Ignacio 33101

When i applied, i got lucky and one of the rooms. Signing the contract, communication, picking up the keys, everything was well managed. Van Orley itself was really close to my university and in the center of brussels and even next to several bus and metro stations. For the room: it was in a quite good condition and decently cleaned. During the semester twice there was a problem, but after informing the Brik team, next day someone solved it. Thank you! Yes, it is a student dorm and sometimes people party and it is loud, but overall it was in an acceptable range. Sometimes the kitchen was not clean either, but they get deep cleaned at least once a week, and somehow it always worked out. Props to the cleaning staff btw, they definitely know how to clean the kitchen properly! Some people complained and i get it, there were difficult situations … some are still complaining that the administration doesn’t do anything but i think sometimes it’s also difficult for them … as for me my former landlords were not nearly as cooperative, so I highly appreciated the administration as it solved all the problems i had. Thank you! Former tenant room 33328

My stay at Van Orley Residence during October 2025, as an international student, was an experience that deserves reflection—particularly because it offered an unexpected, real-life lesson on how the absence of effective management can shape daily life in shared housing. What follows is my personal perspective, based solely on my individual experience. One of the most striking aspects was the apparent lack of technical preparedness to manage conflicts. Situations involving repeated breaches of contractual clauses—such as excessive noise during designated quiet hours and the daily accumulation of dirt in common areas—were recurrent. While these issues are clearly regulated by contract, there was no consistent, direct, or effective intervention from Brik, despite being the entity formally responsible for managing the residence. The silence from management, in this case, spoke louder than the noise itself. Closely related to this was what felt like a systematic outsourcing of management responsibilities to the residents themselves. While cleaning shared spaces is contractually expected from residents, the responsibility for maintaining social order and resolving conflicts also appeared to be informally transferred to them. This dynamic curiously mirrors Michel Foucault’s reflections in “Discipline and Punish”: the absence of control does not eliminate power—it transforms it. In this case, the lack of proactive and effective governance by Brik led residents to assume informal hierarchical roles among themselves, effectively running an institution that should, in theory, be managed by a dedicated professional team. Another relevant point is the complete absence of ergonomics and accessibility, both in internal and external areas of the residence. Simply put, if you are someone who cannot walk using both legs, this is not a place designed for you. This reality raises broader questions about exclusion and social segregation, particularly in housing intended for students from diverse backgrounds. Additionally, there were indications of a theft occurring inside one of the occupied rooms. From my perspective, what stood out was not only the incident itself, but the lack of proactive conflict management afterward. The affected resident was expected to continue sharing the space with a roommate perceived as a violator of basic rights, without being offered an effective solution to minimize discomfort or ensure personal safety. Again, this is an individual observation based on what I personally witnessed. It is, at the very least, interesting to observe so many elements associated with restricted rights and institutional inertia within a residence designed exclusively for people from outside Belgium—foreigners. Experiencing this as an international student adds a particular layer of reflection about vulnerability, belonging, and whose discomfort is deemed manageable. In conclusion, while Van Orley Residence may function adequately for some, my personal experience revealed structural and managerial shortcomings that significantly affected my stay. This review reflects my individual journey, shared in the hope that it may contribute to broader conversations about student housing, responsibility, and the lived realities of international residents.

The only good thing about VO is the location, especially if you're studying at KU Leuven Brussels campus. Nothing else. The Brik administration takes a long time to respond to emails, delays returning deposits. They demand a lot from us, students, yet fail to hold themselves to the same standards. The building is very old on the inside, the floors creak and cause a big noise, the window was broken in my room, the equipment is outdated and needs replacing, and the bathroom drawer doesn’t open. Upon moving out, they deduct from the deposit wherever they can. They take pictures of even the smallest details, yet when I moved in, the room was full of dust and trash - so, leave it as you found it, right? Security in the building is not ensured at all - random people walk not only into the building but also into students' rooms. Major inconveniences were caused by renovation work, which lasted significantly longer than Brik had stated. The construction, along with the noise, continued even during students' exam period, despite the rental agreement explicitly stating otherwise. And God forbid you have to hear the (false) fire alarm go off for the fifth time on a Saturday morning... The common areas were very dirty, and there were ongoing issues with Wi-Fi and kitchen equipment. Issues with broken vacuum cleaners - check! Well, maybe now that they deducted money from our deposit, they can finally buy one that works. We had no light in the bathroom for 3 months because technical team staff failed to fix it. Also, the dryers don’t work - you pay €3 for cold air. Not exactly a great deal. Not only did we not receive any compensation for the inconveniences throughout the semester, but they are also deducting from the deposit. And finally, an observation - when Brik urgently needs something from us, students, they are very quick to respond. However, when I have questions, such as about my deposit, I have to wait a week for a reply. And when they do respond, they don’t even bother to provide full photo evidence of the supposedly "unclean" room - which, by the way, was messy due to my roommate’s trash. I think it’s worth reconsidering why I should be held responsible for cleaning up after someone else.

My Erasmus experience wouldn’t have been the same if i didn’t live in Van orley but this is only because of the other students also living there that i was privileged to have met , however the house was filthy, and the lift never worked during my stay. The washing and drying machines never worked either making things even harder. While the Brik team did offer some “assistance” they were very cold and always responded (if they responded) with angry emails, which made the whole experience worse. To top it off, the contract was breached when they carried out maintenance during the study season, causing significant disruption . The only good thing about the house is the people .