Advice: short-term rental in Brussels

Hi all,

I was hoping I could get some advice regarding short-term apartment rental in Brussels.

I previously worked in Brussels for around a year between 2015 and 2016, and have been offered the opportunity to return on a short-term employment contract of four months. Though there is potential for this to be extended - or for me to take on a new position in Brussels - I cannot guarantee I will stay beyond this term, and this obviously presents an issue regarding finding accommodation, since most rental contracts are at least a year long (and in my experience not very flexible).

Since I am looking to live alone, my first thought was finding an apartment on Airbnb, of which there are a few, but as I remember it, I will need a rental contract in order to register at the local commune, and I don't expect an Airbnb booking would quite suffice. I have looked at the many Facebook groups for apartments/flats in the hope of finding one I could sublet but those with flexible lease lengths are few and far between.

It seems my options are therefore:

(1) Finding an apartment which is specifically for short-term stays (e.g. Brussels Destination), but is far more expensive than the norm;

(2) Taking on a 12-month contract and potentially subletting for the final 8 months (if this would be easy and permissible with landlords).

Does anyone have any thoughts on what the best course of action might be?

Thanks in advance!