The procedure for buying a property in Belgium can be different from your home country. Read further to find out the steps to follow in order to purchase your home in Belgium.
If you are planning on buying a home in Belgium you can visit real estate agencies for help. You can also do your own search by looking for signs reading à vendre/te koop in windows.
If you decide to engage a real estate agent in the process, take into account they are usually regionally bond to properties. Also, they may not want to work with someone who doesn't speak the region's language (or isn't enrolled in language classes). Official real estate agents are members of the Professional Institute of Real Estate Agents (Institut des Professions Immobilières/Beroepsinstituut van Vastgoedmakelaars).
Some sellers may ask you to sign an Offre d'achat/Aankoopaanbod, which is a legal way of retaining the property. This commitment to buy only affects the buyer – if you back out of a purchase after signing the commitment, you will loose any fees involved.
The commitment to buy is optional, and you can agree with the seller to buy the property without signing the commitment.
In total, you must pay around 20% of the price of the property in transfer fees. Capital Gains Tax doesn't apply if the property is sold after five years.
The purchase agreement (compromis de vente/verkoopcompromis) is the document that closes the sale, but it isn't the last document you will sign.
A purchase agreement can take one or to months to complete, depending on your financial agreements to pay for the property (e.g. if you need a mortgage). This agreement can include clauses that note, for example, that the purchase depends on you receiving a mortgage.
It is also required that you pay a registration fee (droit d'enregistrement/registratierecht). The price of the registration fee is a percentage of the sale price, and varies form one region to another. There are tax incentives in certain regions that reduce the price of the registration fee.
The deposit on the purchase can be from 5% to 10% of the price of the property. This deposit is blocked until both you and the seller sign an officially notarised deed of sale (acte notarié/notariële akte). The deed of sale must be signed within four months of the purchase agreement.
You may be required additional official documentation or registration to purchase a property in certain regions of Belgium. The additional documentation can be a soil sample, a third party verification of the size of the property, or any other documentation that proves that the price of the property isn't estimated.