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A home of your own: The Bulletin's guide to housing in Belgium

09:52 30/05/2017
Housing experts and expats give us their advice on avoiding potential pitfalls when searching for a place to live

Every year, thousands of people move to the Belgian capital, and in a city with 19 communes, two official languages and hundreds of nationalities, navigating the property market isn’t always the easiest task.

Each of Brussels’ communes or municipalities have a distinct flavour, but for Florianne de Mahieu, a property developer in the city, Ixelles is the capital’s gem. “In Ixelles you have everything,” she says, citing its bars, markets and diverse restaurants as reasons for the commune’s popularity. “Local people love it and expats love it just as much. It’s a favourite, but it’s also the most expensive.”

Robbie Vendarre, from the expat renting service RentMore, highlights Woluwe-Saint-Pierre in the east of the city as another hotspot, as well as Etterbeek, home to many young professionals. Leonie Martin, from Germany, has been living in Etterbeek for more than three years. With many newcomers using Facebook sites like BXL à Louer to find an apartment from a distance, she advises people to visit rooms in person to avoid potential disasters.

“Don’t be afraid to test the furniture!” she says, warning that photographs online can be deceiving, having spotted thin windows and dirty furniture during her own viewings. Her Dutch flatmate recommends the personal touch when searching for a flat. “Get in touch with people you know in the city and see if they recommend any agencies or areas,” she says.

Rental contracts

Despite the relatively high turnover of renters in Brussels, thanks in part to the steady stream of interns and trainees who come and go every six months, rental contracts in the city are long – nine years for a standard contract and three years for a short-term let. While many landlords often allow for briefer stays, check these don’t come with extra responsibilities, as tenants can often be required to find their replacement. Terminating a contract early in this instance can mean extra costs, often through a withheld deposit. Deposits in Brussels tend to be the equivalent of two months’ rent.

Maarten Vermeir, a civil servant from Asse in Flanders, was concerned about this after two of his flatmates struggled for months to get their deposits back after leaving their shared apartment in Ixelles. He had experienced problems with his letting agency, which had ignored messages and calls about faulty fire alarms and missing letterbox keys. In the end, he leapfrogged the agency and went directly to the landlord to solve his problem.

One way to prevent disputes over deposits is to keep it in a blocked bank account, which requires authorisation from the tenant and landlord before the money – which accrues interest – can be withdrawn. It’s standard practice when renting in Belgium. De Mahieu also reassures tenants that they are well protected here, and encourages landlords to “choose renters wisely”.

“I’d always advise putting rent just a little below the price of the market – maybe €10 a month – because it’s going to attract a lot of people and you can choose the one that will suit you best,” she says. “Then you have someone who’s going to pay you every month because they have a lower price. And a happy tenant is a happy landlord.”

Among Belgians, there’s a culture of buying rather than renting. According to a 2014 study, the average price for a house in Brussels was €358,000. Once you’ve settled on a property you like, De Mahieu recommends making an offer
slightly lower than the price listed on websites like Immoweb. “People normally advertise 10 to 20% more than they really want,” she says.

Taxing issues

Newcomers to Belgium quickly discover the country’s reputation for high tax rates, and housing is no different, as buyers in Brussels and Wallonia have to stump up a figure worth 12.5% of their property price in a registration fee to the Belgian state. In Flanders, the rate is 10%. For those buying a new-build in Brussels, the tax rate can skyrocket to 23%, Vendarre warns.

Lisa Keil, an interpreter from Germany, has just bought a house in the EU quarter with her boyfriend, and says a nasty surprise on these charges can be avoided by putting money aside beforehand. “The bank doesn’t give you a loan for taxes – this is something you have to have saved already,” she warns. To give an example, someone buying an existing house worth €500,000 will have to fork out approximately €62,500 in taxes, on top of a typical 10% deposit. They will also have to pay a sum worth 2.5% of the property price in notary fees. Reductions are available for those who buy in certain neighbourhoods, known as “zones à revitaliser”.

There’s also a deduction available for first-time homeowners, providing they move in within two years of signing the contract and remain official owners of the property for five years. But Keil warns that not everyone can benefit from this. When buying her house in Belgium with her boyfriend – her first home – she missed out on the saving because he had inherited an apartment in Germany a few years earlier.

This article first appeared in The Bulletin Spring 2017. Browse the magazine here, pick up a copy in newsagents or subscribe today.

Written by Mari Eccles