Which works need no permit in Brussels?
In Brussels, the decree of 13 November 2008, known as the minor works decree (arrêté de minime importance), says which works need no planning permit. For a home: interior works without structural work, a garden shed up to 9 m², a pool up to 20 m², roof windows, solar panels and small items on the façade. The list does not apply to a protected property, and no exempt work may depart from the PRAS, a PPAS, a regulation or a subdivision permit.
What always applies
Each work is only exempt if it does not depart from a land use plan (the PRAS or a PPAS), a planning regulation (the RRU or that of the municipality) or a subdivision permit: that is how each article of the order begins.
The list applies to properties without a protection measure (art. 2). If an exemption is tied to a time limit, you report the start at least 60 days in advance on the regional platform (art. 2/1). A project listed in annex A or B of the CoBAT is never exempt (art. 2/4).
What you may build also depends on other rules, such as the PRAS, the PPAS and the RRU and the layers of planning rules on a plot. For one address, the free Perceelscan preview brings it together.
The exempt works for a home
| Works | What is allowed without a permit |
|---|---|
| Interior alterations | Fitting or removing interior installations (sanitary, electrical, heating, insulation, ventilation or telecommunications) and fixed interior furniture, and altering the interior, is exempt from a permit: without structural works, without changing the built volume or the architectural appearance, with the same number and layout of dwellings and without a change of use or purpose that requires a permit (art. 9). |
| A liberal profession or a room used differently | Using part of the dwelling for a liberal profession, intellectual services or private lessons, ancillary to the main residence of the person carrying them out: up to 75 m², or up to 200 m² if that is at most 45 % of the dwelling. Giving a room another residential use is also allowed, if the number and layout of dwellings stay the same. Each time without works that require a permit (art. 13). |
| Paths, terraces, fences and garden equipment | In the courtyard and garden area up to 3 m high and below the 45° line from the top of the party wall (or from 1.5 m high at the boundary); in the front setback up to 1 m high. Ground level changes by at most 50 cm. Water or fuel tanks, pipes and installations for water infiltration or treatment go underground (art. 21, 1°, a). |
| Swimming pool or ornamental pond | Uncovered, in the courtyard and garden area, at most 20 m² and at least 2 m from the neighbouring properties (art. 21, 1°, a). |
| Garden shed or storeroom | Detached and not for living in, in the courtyard and garden area, at most 9 m² (including the roof overhang), 3 m high and below the 45° line from the top of the party wall (art. 21, 1°, b). |
| Roof windows and skylights | In the plane of a roof pitched at less than 45°; on a pitched roof, at most 20 % of the roof slope in total (art. 21, 2°). |
| Small fixtures on the façade | House number, doorbell, boxes smaller than 0.1 m², supports for climbing plants, planters, outdoor lighting, letterbox and name plate, projecting less than 12 cm (art. 21, 3°). A security camera in the colour of the façade, projecting less than 12 cm below 4 m (art. 21, 12°). |
| Satellite dish | Not visible from the public space, not within 10 m of a protected property, in the colour of the roof or façade or transparent, and at most 40 dm²; removing it is always allowed (art. 21, 4° and 5°). |
| Chimney, ventilation duct, downpipe, awning, shutters | Fitting or removing is allowed if they are not visible from the public space (art. 21, 6°). |
| Replacing windows and doors | Replacing windows, glazing, front door and garage door keeping the original shapes (arches, visible divisions, opening and fixed parts) and without changing the architectural appearance (art. 21, 7°). |
| Making or closing openings | Making, closing or changing openings and windows is allowed if they are not visible from the public space, without structural works and not in the protection zone of a protected property (art. 21, 8°). |
| Façade colour and cladding | Changing the colour of a façade or painting a mural on it is allowed, except on the front façade and within 20 m of a protected property (art. 21, 10°). Rendering or re-cladding a façade not visible from the public space is allowed, except in a protection zone (art. 21, 11°). |
| Insulating roof and façades | Each time without structural works. Insulating a pitched roof keeping the materials and colours of the original covering, without reducing the daylight in the room under the roof and not within 20 m of a protected property. Renewing and raising a flat roof for insulation, a roof that stores rainwater or a non-accessible extensive green roof. Insulating a party wall or a façade not visible from the public space, not within 20 m of a protected property (art. 21/1). |
| Solar panels and home battery | On a building at least 20 m from a protected property: not visible from the public space, or visible but built into or parallel to the roof plane, projecting at most 30 cm, within the edges of the roof and as one simple shape of equal panels. A battery in the same place may be added. Never more than half of an existing green roof removed (art. 33/2, 1° and 2°). |
| Ground source heat pump | A ground source heat pump of at most 1 m³, at least 3 m from the party boundary and not visible from the public space (art. 33/2, 3°). |
| Rainwater in the garden | Facilities that do not seal the ground and store and infiltrate rainwater temporarily, preferably with planting (art. 32, 2°bis). |
| Trees | Maintenance pruning of a tall tree (40 cm girth at 1.5 m and at least 4 m high) is allowed: branches up to 22 cm girth, or at most a third of the crown. Felling a dead or dying tall tree is allowed, except in a green area, a green area of high biological value and Natura 2000. Felling a healthy tall tree requires a permit (art. 32, 1° and 2°). |
| Demolishing outbuildings | Demolishing an outbuilding without rebuilding is allowed if its floor area is under 100 m² and it is not visible from the public space, without structural works to what remains, with the exposed walls made good and courtyard or garden in its place (art. 17). |
| During the works | What the site needs, removed and restored at the latest 30 days after the works; site signs; test pits for rainwater infiltration, for less than a month and with at most 50 cm of relief; underground works and earthworks for soil remediation that do not change the relief permanently (art. 4). |
| For sale or to let sign | An estate agent’s board is exempt from a permit; its dimensions are set in the Regional Urban Planning Regulation (art. 25, 1°). |
Around a protected property
If the house lies in the protection zone of a listed property, new façade openings and different cladding are not exempt. Within 20 m of the protected property, no change of façade colour, no roof or façade insulation and no solar panels without a permit; within 10 m, no satellite dish.
What does need a permit
Not on the list, so with a planning permit: an extension or conservatory, a dormer or a raised roof, an extra dwelling or splitting a dwelling, a visible change to the front façade, felling a healthy tall tree and another renewable energy installation, such as an air source heat pump: the latter requires a permit without the opinion of the consultation committee and without an architect (art. 33/3).
A planning regulation can still require a permit for some of these works; that permit then needs no opinion of the delegated official (art. 33/4 and 33/5).
If in doubt, ask the municipal planning office before the works: it has the final word.
What the Perceelscan says about it
For each plot, the Perceelscan prepares this list and says what drops out on that plot: a listed property, a protection zone, a PPAS, a subdivision permit or a green zone of the PRAS.
Can you put up a garden shed without a permit in Brussels?
Yes, if it is free-standing, not for living in, in the yard or garden, at most 9 m² and 3 m high, below the 45° line from the top of the party wall (art. 21, 1°, b).
Do you need a permit for solar panels in Brussels?
Usually not: in or parallel to the roof plane, projecting at most 30 cm and within the edges of the roof. You do within 20 m of a protected property (art. 33/2).
In the other regions
- In Flanders: What can you build without a permit in Flanders?
- In Wallonia: What can you build without a permit in Wallonia?
Sources
Updated on