How do you know whether a house in Brussels is permitted?
A house in Brussels is in order if what stands there matches the latest planning permit and its drawings. Most works need a permit (CoBAT art. 98). What was built without a permit remains a breach until it is regularised: time alone does not make it permitted.
Who decides on a permit
Usually the board of mayor and aldermen (art. 123/1). The Region’s delegated official decides among other things for protected properties, applications by public bodies and projects with an impact report (art. 123/2). An appeal lies with the Government (art. 123/3). A permit lapses if the works have not genuinely started within three years (art. 101).
A purchase involves other points too, such as the right of pre-emption in Brussels and planning information in Brussels. 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.
Public inquiry and consultation committee
An application that departs from the rules, or a larger project, goes to public inquiry: neighbours can then submit comments. The consultation committee, with representatives of the municipality and the Region, then gives its opinion.
How to check
- read the planning information: it lists the latest permits and the recorded breaches;
- ask the municipal planning office to see the file with the drawings;
- look up recent applications on openpermits.brussels;
- compare the number of dwellings, the floors, the rear extension and the conservatory with the drawings.
Found a breach?
Keeping works without a permit in place is itself an offence (art. 300); whoever buys takes over the problem. Paying an administrative fine regularises nothing (art. 313/5). The way forward is a regularisation permit: a planning permit for works already carried out. Agree with the seller before the sale agreement who will apply and who pays.
Works carried out before 2000
For works carried out before 1 January 2000 there is a simplified regularisation (art. 330, § 3): if they complied with the rules of the time or of today and need no impact assessment, the board decides within 45 days. It is still an application, not an automatic permit.
What the Perceelscan says about it
The planning and environmental permits from Nova on the plot, with their status and a link to openpermits.brussels. A file covering a range of house numbers may be missing; only the municipality knows the older files.
Does a planning breach in Brussels lapse after ten years?
Not in the way people often think. The CoBAT has no rule by which an old breach becomes permitted on its own: keeping it in place remains an offence (art. 300). For works from before 2000 there is, however, a simplified regularisation.
In the other regions
- In Flanders: What do the permits on a plot tell you?
- In Flanders: Is this house permitted?
- In Wallonia: How do you know whether a house in Wallonia has its permits?
Sources
- The Brussels Code of Spatial Planning (CoBAT)
- urban.brussels: planning breaches
- Openpermits.brussels: permits by address
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