How do you know whether a house in Wallonia has its permits?
Wallonia has no open register of planning permits per plot. What has been permitted appears in the planning information the notary requests from the municipality: permits granted since 1 January 1977 go into the preliminary contract and the deed (CoDT art. D.IV.99). Works without a permit are an offence, but since the decree of 13 December 2023 many works are irrebuttably deemed compliant after ten or twenty years.
What needs a permit
A permis d’urbanisme is needed to build, to demolish, to alter the load-bearing structure, the volume or the appearance, to create an extra home in a building, to change the use or to change the ground level significantly (art. D.IV.4). The municipal executive decides, usually after the opinion of the Region’s fonctionnaire délégué.
Small works are exempt; which ones is explained in the guide to building without a permit.
A purchase involves other points too, such as the Walloon right of pre-emption and the steps for a plot in Wallonia. 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.
What the seller must disclose
Every deed concerning a property, including the private preliminary contract, contains (art. D.IV.99):
- the planning information on the plot (art. D.IV.97);
- the permits granted since 1 January 1977, and planning certificates less than two years old;
- whether the seller committed a building offence and whether an official report was drawn up;
- the date of the last works that needed a permit, as declared by the seller.
The municipality replies within thirty days (art. D.IV.105). If it does not reply in time, the deed may still be signed, stating the date of the request (art. D.IV.100).
Compliant after ten or twenty years
Works carried out without a permit or contrary to one are irrebuttably deemed compliant (art. D.VII.1/1):
- after ten years, if the property is in a buildable zone of the plan de secteur, the works follow the standards of the guide régional and they depart by less than 20% from the permit in area, height, depth, volume or position;
- after twenty years for other works.
Never for works that do not fit the zone, a home created without a permit after 20 August 1994, works in a nature zone or on a listed property. Such an offence remains after a sale: the owner too can be pursued as an offender (art. D.VII.2). The old rule that everything from before 1 March 1998 was in order no longer applies in that form.
Regularising
An offence that is not deemed compliant is resolved with a regularisation permit. It only takes effect once the settlement is paid: between €250 and €25,000, within six months (art. D.VII.18 to D.VII.20). Agree before the preliminary contract who bears the regularisation and its costs.
Viewing the file
An old permit and its plans are kept by the municipality’s planning department. Ask the seller for a copy of their permits, or the municipality to view them, and compare the plans with what is there.
What the Perceelscan shows
Section 14 of the report shows the subdivision permits affecting the plot, with their status. It does not show permits per plot: Wallonia does not publish them.
Does a building offence lapse in Wallonia?
Not as it used to. Since the decree of 13 December 2023 works are deemed compliant after ten years if they lie in a buildable zone and depart only slightly, and otherwise after twenty years. For a home created without a permit after 20 August 1994 or works on a listed property, never.
What if the municipality does not provide the planning information in time?
Then the deed can still be signed; it states the date of the request and that the municipality did not reply. The buyer, however, bears the risk of what the information might have shown.
In the other regions
- In Flanders: What do the permits on a plot tell you?
- In Flanders: How do you request the permits for a property?
- In Flanders: Is this house permitted?
- In Brussels: What is in the renseignements urbanistiques?
- In Brussels: How do you know whether a house in Brussels is permitted?
Sources
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