Cancel a contract in Belgium: phone, energy and gym

Quick answer

In Belgium, you can cancel a phone, internet or TV contract by any written means, without giving reasons, and you owe no termination fee from the end of the 6th month (art. 111/3 de la loi du 13 juin 2005 relative aux communications électroniques). When you switch operator or energy supplier, the new provider usually ends the old contract for you. Electricity and gas contracts can be ended at any time, without an indemnity. A gym or other subscription binds you until its term, but after a tacit renewal you can leave at any time with at most two months’ notice (art. VI.91 CDE). A contract concluded online, by phone or at your door can usually be withdrawn within 14 days. Ask for written confirmation of the end date.

This guide covers consumer subscriptions in Belgium: mobile, fixed line, internet and TV, electricity and gas, gyms and similar services. It is general information, not legal advice. For insurance and tenancies, see our guides to cancelling insurance in Belgium and tenant letters in Belgium. Belgian law imposes no language on a private letter (art. 30 of the Constitution), so the French examples below are valid in Flanders too, although a Flemish company may answer in Dutch. Belgian law applies, not French law: rules such as the French Code de la consommation do not.

Check the contract and its renewal clause

A résiliation (cancellation) ends a contract for the future. Find the start date, the minimum term, the renewal date and the cancellation address. In a fixed-term consumer contract for services, a tacit-renewal clause must appear in bold, in a separate frame, on the front of the first page, and state the consequences of renewal, the last date to object and how to object (art. VI.91, § 1er CDE, the Code de droit économique). SPF Économie, the federal economy ministry, reads a clause without this form as unable to renew the contract tacitly; the law itself states no sanction. Clauses that bind you indefinitely without reasonable notice, that set the opt-out deadline excessively early or that limit your means of proof are unfair and void (art. VI.83 CDE). From 1 May 2027, traders will also have to remind you of a coming renewal at least 15 days before the opt-out deadline (art. VI.91, § 1er/1 CDE).

Phone, internet and TV

You can cancel by any written means, without giving reasons: a letter, an email or the customer area (art. 111/3, § 1er de la loi du 13 juin 2005). If the contract has been automatically extended after its initial term, or you are leaving to switch operator, it ends when you choose, even immediately; this applies to consumers and to subscribers with up to 9 workers. The operator may charge only for the service during the notice period and must send you a written confirmation of the disconnection. No indemnity is due from the end of the 6th month after the contract took effect; before that, it cannot exceed the subscription charges still due up to the end of the 6th month (§ 3). For a device you received free or at a reduced price, the operator can still claim the amount in the contract’s amortisation table; IBPT, the telecom regulator, says it can never charge for the device after 24 months. During the initial term of a contract that has not been extended, the law sets no notice period for consumers: check the contract.

If the operator changes the contract, it must tell you at least one month ahead, and you can then cancel without penalty within three months of the notification, except for an increase in line with the consumer price index that the contract provides for (art. 108, § 4 de la loi du 13 juin 2005).

When you switch fixed internet or TV with Easy Switch, the new operator ends the old contract on your behalf: give it your customer number and the Easy Switch ID shown on your invoice or in your customer area. The old contracts end automatically once the switch is complete (art. 111/2). Cancel yourself only services the switch does not cover, such as a mobile line with another operator, and do it after the new line works. You can still port your number for at least one month after cancelling. Return the modem or decoder as the operator asks.

Electricity and gas

As a residential customer or SME, you can end an electricity contract at any time with at most three weeks’ notice from the switching request (art. 18, § 2/3 de la loi du 29 avril 1999 relative à l’organisation du marché de l’électricité), and a gas contract with one month’s notice (art. 15/5bis, § 11/3 de la loi du 12 avril 1965). No indemnity may be charged, and the new supplier is presumed to have your mandate to end the old contract, so you usually need no letter. Energy regulators’ pages give other notice figures, such as one month (CWaPE, the Walloon regulator) or four weeks (CREG, the federal regulator); the statutory figures above apply. If you end a variable-price contract with a fixed fee less than six months after supply started, the fixed fee can be charged for up to six months. Moving house without a new supplier follows regional procedures: ask CWaPE, Brugel or VREG.

Gyms and other subscriptions

No statute deals with gyms specifically. SPF Économie applies the general rules: the contract sets the cancellation conditions, provided you were told in advance and the clauses are not unfair. Before the first renewal, you are bound until the term unless the contract lets you leave earlier. After a tacit renewal, you can cancel at any time without an indemnity, with the notice in the contract but no more than two months, and the subscription stays payable during that notice (art. VI.91, § 2 CDE). If the contract asks for a lettre recommandée (registered letter), send one: no official source settles whether such a clause binds you.

Withdraw from a new contract within 14 days

For a contract concluded online, by phone or away from the trader’s premises, you generally have 14 days to withdraw without giving reasons (art. VI.47 and VI.67 CDE): for services, from the day the contract is concluded; for goods, from the day you receive them. If the trader did not tell you about this right, the period is extended by up to 12 months (art. VI.48). Use the model form or any unambiguous statement, such as “Je vous notifie par la présente ma rétractation du contrat conclu le [date]”; it is in time if you send it before the period ends, but you must be able to prove it (art. VI.49). The trader refunds you within 14 days (art. VI.50). If you asked for a service to start early, you pay for what was supplied (art. VI.51). There is no withdrawal right for contracts signed in a shop, and exceptions include dated leisure bookings and personalised goods (art. VI.53).

Since 14 August 2026, a trader selling online must offer a withdrawal function labelled “renoncer au contrat ici” or similar, followed by a “confirmer la rétractation” step, and acknowledge your withdrawal immediately on a durable medium (art. VI.61/2 CDE). Whether it covers online contracts concluded between 19 June and 13 August 2026 is unclear.

Write your cancellation letter

Include your customer number and the contract or line concerned: phone number, member number or EAN code (the energy meter point). For a telecom contract that has been extended, or a subscription after tacit renewal, you can choose the end date; otherwise the fallback ends the contract at the earliest date the contract and the law allow, without claiming more. Add both addresses and the date, and replace every placeholder.

Objet : Résiliation du contrat n° [numéro de contrat] — numéro de client [numéro de client]

Madame, Monsieur,

Par la présente, je résilie le contrat relatif à [service, par exemple abonnement internet et télévision ou abonnement à la salle de sport], conclu le [date du contrat] au nom de [prénom et nom] ([numéro de ligne, numéro de membre ou code EAN, le cas échéant]).

Je souhaite que la résiliation prenne effet le [date souhaitée] ou, si cette date n’est pas possible, à la première date permise par le contrat et par la loi.

Je vous prie de me confirmer par écrit la réception de la présente et la date de fin du contrat, de cesser toute domiciliation à partir de cette date, de m’adresser une facture de clôture ne comprenant aucun montant postérieur à cette date et de m’indiquer, le cas échéant, les modalités de restitution des équipements.

Veuillez agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l’expression de mes salutations distinguées. [Prénom et nom] [Adresse]

If billing continues: send a mise en demeure

If no confirmation arrives, or the company keeps charging you after the end date, send a mise en demeure (formal notice): a clear and unambiguous demand that it perform its obligations (art. 5.231 C. civ.). It refers to your original letter and does not replace it. Telecom operators may charge only for the notice period. You can ask your bank to refund a SEPA direct debit unconditionally within eight weeks (art. VII.47 CDE), and revoke the mandate with both the bank and the company, but that does not cancel an amount you really owe.

If the dispute continues, the Service de médiation pour les télécommunications (telecom ombudsman) or the Service de Médiation de l’Énergie (energy ombudsman) can help for free once you have complained to the company; the Service de Médiation pour le Consommateur deals with other sectors, such as gyms. They may refuse a case brought more than a year after your complaint to the company, and their recommendations are not binding. Claims of up to €5,000 go to the juge de paix (justice of the peace, art. 590 C. jud.). See our guides to formal complaints in Belgium and payment demands in Belgium.

Objet : Mise en demeure — facturation après la résiliation du contrat n° [numéro de contrat]

Madame, Monsieur,

Par [courrier, e-mail ou formulaire en ligne] du [date], dont je joins une copie, j’ai résilié le contrat n° [numéro de contrat] avec effet au [date de fin du contrat]. Vous avez pourtant [facturé ou prélevé] [montant] euros pour la période postérieure à cette date ([numéros de facture ou dates de prélèvement]).

Par la présente, je vous mets en demeure de cesser toute facturation et tout prélèvement au titre de ce contrat et de me rembourser la somme de [montant] euros sur le compte [IBAN] au nom de [titulaire du compte], dans un délai de quinze jours à compter de la réception de la présente.

Je vous prie également de me confirmer par écrit la date de fin du contrat ou, si vous estimez qu’une autre date s’applique, de m’en indiquer le fondement contractuel ou légal.

À défaut de réponse satisfaisante dans ce délai, je me réserve le droit de saisir [service de médiation compétent, par exemple le Service de médiation pour les télécommunications] ou le juge de paix.

Veuillez agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l’expression de mes salutations distinguées. [Prénom et nom] [Adresse]

Post your letter and keep evidence

If you prefer post, upload your final PDF or write the letter in MaisonMail. Use the cancellation address given in the contract or on the company’s website, not a general address you have not checked. The recipient address determines the destination; available services, estimated delivery and the final price appear before payment. Apart from the 14-day withdrawal, where sending in time is enough, a cancellation counts when it reaches the company (art. 1.5 C. civ.), so allow time for printing and delivery before a contractual deadline. MaisonMail sends standard and tracked letters to Belgium, not a lettre recommandée: if your contract requires one, send it by registered post from your post office. Sending the same text by email or through the customer area as well gives you a dated record. Keep a copy of the exact letter. Tracking shows that an item arrived, not what the envelope contained.