How do you check a plot before you buy a house?

You check a plot along three tracks. What is in public registers you look up yourself, usually for free: the zoning, the permits, heritage, flooding and the right of pre-emption. The certificates and the property information you ask the seller for, because only the owner, their estate agent or the notary can request them. What is in deeds, such as easements, you have the notary read before you sign the compromis (the preliminary sale agreement).

The steps at a glance

Each row is a step. The name of the step takes you to the guide that covers it in depth.

Step	Where to find it	Who requests it
1. The zoning	spatial plans geoportal, the municipality’s plan register	you
2. The permits	permit register at the town hall, Omgevingsloket portal since 2018	you
3. The planning extract	the property information from the VIP	the seller, the estate agent or the notary
4. Heritage	Onroerend Erfgoed heritage inventory	you
5. Flooding and the water test	Waterinfo, report per plot	you; the seller states the scores
6. The soil certificate	OVAM, through the VIP	the seller, usually through the notary or the estate agent
7. The asbestos certificate	OVAM, after an asbestos expert	the seller
8. The right of pre-emption	Geopunt right of pre-emption map, e-voorkooploket	you; the notary at the sale
9. Easements	the title deeds, the Legal Certainty office	the notary
10. The EPC	the advertisement, the owner’s Woningpas	the seller
11. The cadastral income	the property tax assessment notice	the seller

A purchase involves other points too, such as requesting a building file and the certificates required for a sale. 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.

Step 1: the zoning of the plot

Start with what is allowed on the land. If the plot lies within a spatial implementation plan (RUP), that plan decides; otherwise a special development plan (BPA) or a general development plan (APA), and where none of these plans exists, the regional zoning plan. Look up the address in the spatial plans geoportal and note the zone and the plan it comes from. The map is for information only: what is binding is the adopted plan, which you find in the municipality’s plan register.

Watch out for a zone that does not suit a house, such as agricultural land, and for a zoning boundary that runs through the garden. The property information also states the most recent zoning.

More on this in the guide to the regional zoning plan and the one on a house outside its zone.

Step 2: what has a permit

Every municipality keeps a register of permits for each cadastral plot, and anyone may consult it at the town hall; you do not have to be the owner. Applications since 2018 are in the Omgevingsloket portal, and the public inspection portal (Inzageloket) shows files under public inquiry, including next door. An older building file is held by the municipality or the city archive; a copy of the plans is in principle only given to the owner.

Compare what you find with what is actually there: a conservatory, a dormer, a garage turned into a bedroom. Something that is time-barred is not therefore permitted.

A small garden shed or a terrace does not have to be in the register if it was exempt from a permit; what the list allows is explained in the guide to building without a permit.

More on this in the guide to whether a house is permitted.

Step 3: the planning extract

The extract shows what the municipality’s plan register and permit register say about the plot. Today it is part of the property information for transfer, a product of the property information platform (VIP). As a buyer you do not request it yourself: the owner does so via Mijn Burgerprofiel (the Flemish online citizen profile), and the notary and the estate agent have their own channels. At the deed it may be no more than one year old.

Do not confuse it with the planning certificate. That says in advance whether a specific building plan can reasonably be granted a permit, and you can request that one yourself from the municipality, even if you are not the owner.

More on this in the guide to the certificate and the extract.

Step 4: whether the building is heritage

In the Onroerend Erfgoed heritage inventory you search online by address. There are four statuses, each with a different weight: a protected monument, a protected townscape or village view, the established inventory of architectural heritage, where demolition always requires a permit, and the plain inventory, which only describes. The property information states whether the building is in the established inventory.

Step 5: flooding and the water test

On Waterinfo you request a flood report for each plot. The P-score applies to the plot, the G-score to the building: A means that no flooding has been modelled, D a medium probability in the current climate. In the advertisement and the deed, the seller only has to state the P-score and the G-score, and whether the plot lies in a designated flood area or a designated riverbank zone. A signal area or a risk zone for insurance is not part of that; the Waterinfo report does show them.

A purchase gets no water test. It only comes when you apply for a permit, for example to renovate, and then the permitting authority, usually the municipality, decides on conditions such as a higher floor level.

More on this in the guide to the water test and the one on the P-score and the G-score.

Step 6: the soil certificate

Every sale of land requires an OVAM soil certificate. The seller requests it before the agreement and shares its content; usually the notary or the estate agent arranges this through the VIP. Read what OVAM knows about the land: the investigations, the remediations and whether the plot is a risk site. On a risk site, the seller must have an exploratory soil investigation carried out on a transfer, at their own expense.

More on this in the guide to soil investigation.

Step 7: the asbestos certificate

If the building dates from 2000 or earlier, the seller must have a valid asbestos certificate at the compromis. A certified asbestos expert draws up the inventory, and OVAM issues the certificate. Look at the conclusion, ‘asbestos-safe’ or ‘not asbestos-safe’, and at which structures are included. For the common parts of a block of flats, a separate certificate is required by 31 December 2026 at the latest.

More on this in the guide to the asbestos certificate.

Step 8: the right of pre-emption

On the Geopunt right of pre-emption map you can see for free whether a public body may go first when the property is sold. At the sale, the notary checks the e-voorkooploket and offers the property there; in a private sale, the beneficiary has 60 days. A tenant farmer’s right of pre-emption and a right of pre-emption from a contract are not on the map.

More on this in the guide to the right of pre-emption.

Step 9: easements

A right of way for the neighbour or a ban on building passes with the plot. It is in the seller’s title deed and in the earlier deeds, registered with the Legal Certainty office of the Federal Public Service Finance. A visible easement can also arise without a deed: walk the plot and look at paths, gates and windows close to the boundary. Have the notary read the deeds; for cables and pipes there is KLIP.

Step 10: the EPC

The advertisement shows the energy score or the label, with the address or the unique code of the EPC. The EPC itself you ask the seller for: it can no longer be looked up online since the end of 2023, but the owner can share it with you from their Woningpas. With label E or F you must reach at least label D within six years of the deed.

Step 11: the cadastral income

The cadastral income determines the property tax you pay every year. Ask the seller for their latest property tax assessment notice: it shows the cadastral income and the amount. You can see the plot number yourself in CadGIS; the owner’s name is not in it, and the Federal Public Service Finance only gives it with a reasoned cadastral extract.

More on this in the guide to cadastral income and the one on the owner of a plot.

In which order

Before a viewing, yourself and online: the zoning, heritage, the flood report, the right of pre-emption and recent permits in the Omgevingsloket portal.
Before an offer, from the seller or the estate agent: the EPC, the asbestos certificate, the soil certificate, the property information, the title deed and the property tax assessment notice.
At the town hall: the permit register and the plan register, if something does not match what you saw on site.
Before the compromis, by the notary: the deeds, the easements and the e-voorkooploket.

What else belongs in the offer and the compromis, and what the purchase costs, is in the checklist before an offer; the abbreviations are explained in the glossary.

What the Perceelscan brings together in one report

The steps you take online yourself are brought together in a Perceelscan, in one report per address:

the zoning: the RUP, the BPA, the APA or the regional zoning plan, with the zone, a link to the regulations and the plans still being drawn up;
the environmental permits since 2018 on the plot and next door, with a link to the file;
the heritage status of the building and the plot;
the P-score and the G-score, a designated flood area or riverbank zone, and the signal area and the risk zone;
the right of pre-emption, OVAM’s soil investigations and the PFAS zones.

Every answer comes with its source and date, and a source that did not respond is shown as unreachable, not as ‘not found’. The certificates, the EPC, the cadastral income, the owner, the easements and the extract are not included: they come from the seller and the notary.

The preview per address is free; the full report costs €29.

Can I check a plot for free?

Largely, yes. The Onroerend Erfgoed heritage inventory, the Waterinfo flood report, the Geopunt right of pre-emption map, the spatial plans geoportal and the public inspection portal (Inzageloket) can be consulted online at no cost, and you can consult the permit register at the town hall. The certificates and the property information are drawn up or requested by the seller. The Perceelscan shows a free preview per address; the full report costs €29.

Who requests the planning extract?

Not the buyer. The owner requests the property information, which contains the extract, via Mijn Burgerprofiel; the notary, the estate agent and other professionals have their own channels. So ask the seller, the estate agent or the notary for it. At the deed it may be no more than one year old.

Can I check a plot that is not for sale?

The public registers, yes: the zoning, the permit register, heritage, flooding and the right of pre-emption are open to everyone. The certificates and the property information, no, because the owner, their estate agent or the notary requests them. You only get the owner’s name with a reasoned cadastral extract from the Federal Public Service Finance, for a purpose the rules allow.

In the other regions

In Brussels: How do you check a plot in Brussels, step by step?
In Wallonia: How do you check a building plot or parcel in Wallonia?

Sources

Check it for your address

Updated on 25 October 2026