What is in the renseignements urbanistiques?
Anyone selling in Brussels first requests the planning information (renseignements urbanistiques) from the municipality and gives it to the buyer before the notarial deed is signed (CoBAT art. 276/1). It covers, among other things, the zoning, heritage protection, a right of pre-emption, the latest permits and any recorded breaches.
What it contains
The municipality fills in a fixed form (CoBAT art. 275). Among other things:
- the zoning under the PRAS, a PPAS, a master development plan or a subdivision permit;
- an expropriation plan, a pre-emption perimeter and the building line;
- a heritage protection measure;
- for a seller: the date and purpose of the latest permits and certificates, granted or refused;
- the recorded planning breaches and the action taken on them.
A purchase involves other points too, such as the steps for a plot in Brussels and the right of pre-emption 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.
Request, deadline and price
The seller requests it with a short description of the property, including the number of dwellings. The same applies to a lease of more than nine years and to a long lease or building right (art. 276/1). The municipality issues it within 30 days for a fixed fee, 80 euros indexed under the CoBAT; urgently within five working days at double the rate (art. 275). The advert must also include information from it (art. 281), and the notary includes it in the deed (art. 281/1).
What it does not say
The planning information reflects what the municipality has in its archive. It does not say that everything you see is permitted. So compare the latest permit and its drawings with the building: an extra floor, a subdivided home or a conservatory built without a permit remains a breach, and keeping it in place is itself an offence (art. 300).
How to check that and what regularisation is: see the guide to permitted houses in Brussels.
Before you sign
The law only requires the planning information before the notarial deed. Ask for it anyway before you make an offer or sign the sale agreement: with the agreement the sale is concluded, and what you find out afterwards is harder to negotiate.
What the Perceelscan says about it
Per plot, much from the same registers: the PRAS, the PPAS, heritage, pre-emption and the permits from Nova. It does not replace the planning information: only the municipality knows its full archive and the recorded breaches.
Who pays for the planning information in Brussels?
The seller requests it and pays the fee to the municipality. The seller must give it to the buyer before the notarial deed.
In the other regions
- In Flanders: How do you request the permits for a property?
- In Wallonia: How do you know whether a house in Wallonia has its permits?
Sources
- The Brussels Code of Spatial Planning (CoBAT)
- Notaris.be: the model sale agreement for a property in Brussels
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