When do you need a soil certificate in Brussels?
For every transfer of a property right in a plot in Brussels, a sale but also a gift, a long lease or a building right, the seller requests a soil certificate from Brussels Environment and gives it to the buyer before the agreement (soil ordinance of 5 March 2009, art. 12). The certificate states the plot’s category in the soil status inventory.
The categories of the inventory
Brussels Environment sorts the plots in the soil status inventory into categories:
- 0: possibly polluted, because of a risk activity now or in the past, an accident or spread from a neighbouring plot;
- 1: meets the clean-up standards, not polluted;
- 2: slightly polluted, without risk; a vegetable garden is discouraged and excavated soil is waste;
- 3: polluted, with acceptable risks thanks to measures, sometimes with restrictions on use;
- 4: polluted, under investigation, treatment or monitoring.
- 0+1 to 0+4: already surveyed, but a risk activity continues, so the plot also stays in category 0.
Other things often matter on the same plot too, such as heritage in Brussels and the Brussels flood map. You can see how a report brings them together in the sample report.
Category 0: first a soil survey
If the plot is in category 0, alone or combined, a soil survey (reconnaissance de l’état du sol) must be carried out before the sale, by an approved soil pollution expert and at the seller’s expense (soil ordinance, art. 13). This is not needed if a compliant survey less than a year old already exists (art. 13/4), nor for a flat if the suspected pollution does not concern the private unit alone (art. 13/5).
Request, price and validity
Usually the notary or the estate agent requests the certificate; the seller can also do it, via IRISbox. Brussels Environment issues it within 20 days (art. 12). The price is around 50 euros, with surcharges for an urgent request or a plot without a cadastral number: check the rate on the Brussels Environment website. For categories 1 or 2 the certificate stays valid; for the others, for at most a year. Each certificate serves for one transfer.
Without a certificate
In the agreement, the buyer declares that they know the content of the certificate, and the seller that they have no further information. If the certificate is missing, the buyer can claim the sale is void; the buyer can expressly waive this in the notarial deed (art. 76).
What the certificate does not say
A plot that is not in the inventory has not necessarily been surveyed: it is simply not known as a risk. Anyone who wants to build or dig a cellar should, from category 2 upwards, budget for the cost of excavated soil.
What the Perceelscan says about it
The plot’s category in the soil status inventory, whether the plot is among the sites with a high or very high risk of PFAS pollution, and whether there is a Seveso company nearby. It does not replace the soil certificate.
Is a soil certificate also needed for a flat in Brussels?
Yes: a flat also carries a share of the land, and so a property right in a plot. A soil survey in category 0 is not always needed for a flat (art. 13/5).
In the other regions
- In Flanders: What is an orientation soil investigation?
- In Wallonia: What are the BDES and the extrait conforme in a sale?
Sources
- Brussels Environment: applying for a soil certificate
- The soil ordinance of 5 March 2009
- Notaris.be: the model sale agreement for a property in Brussels
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