What should you check before buying a house in Brussels?
Before an offer, ask for the planning information, the soil certificate and the EPB certificate. Check yourself whether the house is permitted, whether it is listed or in the inventory, whether it lies in a pre-emption perimeter and how high the flood risk is. A mandatory asbestos certificate on sale does not exist in Brussels.
What the seller gives you
- the municipality’s planning information, which the seller requests in advance and gives you before the deed;
- the Brussels Environment soil certificate, before the agreement;
- the EPB certificate, with the class already in the advert;
- the electrical installation inspection report and, for works since 2001, the post-intervention file: federal rules, as elsewhere in Belgium;
- for a flat: the documents of the owners' association, also federal law.
More on the planning information, the soil certificate and the EPB certificate.
A purchase involves other points too, such as the certificates required for a sale and property tax by municipality. What a report on an address costs is listed under Perceelscan pricing. You can work out the taxes on a purchase for free with the registration duties calculator and the property tax calculator.
Asbestos
An asbestos certificate on sale, as in Flanders, does not exist in Brussels (as of October 2026). Before demolition or renovation works, however, Brussels Environment requires an asbestos inventory. The Region is preparing broader rules: ask your notary where they stand. If the house was built before 2001, assume it may contain asbestos and have it checked before you renovate.
What you check yourself
- whether the house is permitted: compare the latest permit and its drawings with what stands there;
- the zoning in the PRAS and any PPAS, in BruGIS and on ppas.brussels;
- heritage: listing, safeguarding list or inventory, on monument.heritage.brussels;
- a pre-emption perimeter: it adds a few months before the deed;
- the flood risk, on the Brussels Environment map;
- applications in the neighbourhood, on openpermits.brussels;
- the condition of the building: bring an architect or contractor.
Where to find each of these registers is in the step-by-step guide for a plot in Brussels.
The same everywhere in Belgium
The cadastral income, who owns a plot and easements fall under federal or civil law and work in Brussels as elsewhere. Read the guides on cadastral income, the owner of a plot and easements.
Registration duties
When you buy an existing home in Brussels you pay registration duties to the Region; for your own home an allowance applies to the first part of the price, under conditions. The amount and conditions change regularly: ask your notary. This is not tax advice.
What the Perceelscan says about it
For every Brussels address the PRAS and the PPAS, the m² of floor space under the RRU, heritage, pre-emption, flooding, the soil category, nature and the permits from Nova. No asbestos, no EPB certificate, no owner: those documents come from the seller or the notary.
Is an asbestos certificate required to sell a house in Brussels?
No, not in October 2026. Before demolition or renovation works an asbestos inventory is needed, and the Region is preparing broader rules.
In the other regions
- In Flanders: What should you check before making an offer on a house?
- In Flanders: Do I need an asbestos certificate when I buy a house?
- In Wallonia: What should you check before buying a house in Wallonia?
Sources
- Notaris.be: the model sale agreement for a property in Brussels
- Brussels Environment: applying for a soil certificate
- Brussels Environment: the EPB certificate of a home
- Brussels Environment: asbestos
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