Buying an apartment in Belgium: what to check before you make an offer

You have viewed the flat twice, the price suits you, and the estate agent is asking whether you will make an offer. At this point you know the apartment and almost nothing about the building. Yet you pay for both.

Buying an apartment in Belgium within a co-ownership means acquiring a unit and, at the same time, a seat in an owners' association (VME/ACP): its accounts, its arrears, its postponed works and its rules bind you from the deed onwards. The Civil Code organises how you are informed before signing. Before the contract, the offer or the promise to purchase is signed, the notary, the professional intermediary or the outgoing co-owner passes on to you a set of information about the co-ownership, which the property manager (syndic) provides on simple request within fifteen days (Art. 3.94, § 1, extract from the Civil Code published by the BIV/IPI). What most buyers do not know: you do not need to have made an offer to request it.

This page tells you what to read in those documents, in what order, and which bills may fall due after the deed. The full list of documents and how to request them are in documents required for a sale.

Three sets of minutes are worth ten viewings

The minutes of the ordinary and extraordinary general meetings of the last three years are part of the information due, together with the periodic service charge statements for the last two financial years and a copy of the latest approved balance sheet. Read in chronological order, they tell the story of the building better than a conversation with the seller.

You are looking for four things. A vote on the roof, the lift or the window frames postponed from one year to the next: the works exist, they are not funded. Next, a majority that fails, because works affecting the common parts are decided by a two-thirds majority of the votes, except works required by law and protective measures (Art. 3.88, § 1, 1°); an item that fails twice at that threshold will come back, and it will come back more expensive. A recent change of syndic, especially if it follows a dismissal. And discussions about arrears, which weigh on the common funds even when they do not concern you.

You can also go and look for yourself, without going through the seller. The register of decisions of the general meeting is kept at the registered office of the association and may be inspected on site, free of charge, by any interested party, as may the house rules (ROI)GlossaryRules drawn up by private agreement that set out at least how the general meeting operates, how the syndic is appointed and the fortnight in which the ordinary general meeting is held. They are kept at the association's registered office and can be consulted free of charge. See the glossary (Art. 3.93, §§ 3 and 4). A buyer in the middle of negotiations is an interested party.

Those decisions are not somebody else's past. Decisions taken before your right arose bind you as soon as they have been communicated to you, and that communication is the responsibility of the person transferring the unit to you (Art. 3.93, § 5). The voting thresholds are set out in detail in voting rules and majorities, and the conditions for challenging a decision in challenging a GM decision.

The accounts tell you what the apartment will cost

Two funds exist side by side, and their balances do not mean the same thing. The working capital fundGlossaryTotal of the advances paid by the co-owners, as provision, to cover recurring expenditure such as heating and lighting of the common parts or management fees. It is held in a separate account in the association's name. See the glossary covers recurring expenses: heating and lighting of the common areas, insurance, management fees. The reserve fundGlossaryTotal of the periodic contributions intended for non-recurring expenditure, such as replacing the heating system or the lift. It becomes mandatory no later than five years after provisional acceptance, with an annual contribution of at least 5% of the previous financial year's ordinary service charges, unless the general meeting decides otherwise by a four-fifths majority. See the glossary covers non-recurring expenses, the ones that come round once every fifteen years and run into tens of thousands of euros.

The second tells a buyer the most. It is mandatory at the latest five years after the provisional acceptance of the common parts, and the association pays into it each year at least 5% of the total ordinary common charges of the previous financial year, unless a contrary decision is taken by a four-fifths majority (Art. 3.86, § 3). A building from the 1970s with a reserve fund close to zero saves you nothing: it shifts the expense to your first calls for funds.

Here is our reading, with a nuance. A well-funded reserve is a good sign, but your share of that fund remains the property of the association and is not refunded to the seller (Art. 3.94, § 5). Many sellers therefore ask the buyer to reimburse it to them in the preliminary contract. The request is defensible; the amount is calculated, and it is negotiated like the rest of the price. How the two funds work is explained in working capital and reserve fund.

For running costs, do not rely on the last statement alone. A year without claims or works gives a flattering picture of the building. Set the two statements you received against the budget voted for the current financial year, whose logic is explained in co-ownership budget and in annual service charge statement. Finally, other co-owners' arrears will not be claimed from you, but they often explain why the works are on hold (co-owner not paying).

Which bill can you inherit without having voted?

The one for works decided before you arrived and invoiced afterwards. Expenses for preservation, maintenance, repair and renewal decided before the fixed date of transfer of ownership, but whose payment is requested after that date, are borne by the new co-owner, unless otherwise agreed (Art. 3.94, § 2). The same applies to calls for the reserve fund approved before the transfer. Works voted in February and invoiced in November can therefore land on you, even though you were not in the room.

Ordinary charges follow a different date: you bear them from the moment you can actually enjoy the common parts, in practice usually the day of the authentic deed.

This regime is not mandatory between seller and buyer, which is why the split is negotiated in the preliminary contract. We advise doing so with figures in hand: before you sign, ask the syndic for the list of expenses already decided and the planned schedule of calls. A known sum can be shared; a discovered sum is simply suffered. The same negotiation, seen from the seller's side, is described in selling a unit.

Fewer or more than twenty units: two different buildings

The number of units changes the building's bodies and the readability of its accounts. The threshold is twenty units, cellars, garages and parking spaces not counted, which puts many buildings that look bigger below the line.

This table is not a ranking. An eight-unit building without a co-ownership council works very well when the co-owners talk to each other, and a forty-unit building can have standardised accounts and a roof at the end of its life. The difference for you lies elsewhere: with simplified accounting you will have more questions to ask and fewer documents to answer them. Both accounting regimes are explained in co-ownership accounting, and the role of the council in co-ownership council.

What should you check in the deed of division before signing?

Four points, none of which can be seen during a viewing.

First, the shares (quotités)GlossaryFraction of the common parts attached to each unit, set in the deed of division according to the respective value of the private parts. Shares determine the number of votes at the general meeting and can only be changed with the unanimous agreement of all co-owners. See the glossary of the unit. They are set in the deed of division (acte de base / basisakte) according to the respective value of the private parts, they determine your number of votes at the meeting, and they can only be changed with the unanimous agreement of all co-owners (Art. 3.85, § 1, and 3.88, § 3). Then check the apportionment keys in the co-ownership regulations: a ground floor that contributes to the lift costs is something to discuss before the purchase, not at the first statement. The document is presented in deed of division and regulations.

Next, terraces and gardens. Many are not private parts, but common parts subject to a right of exclusive useGlossaryRight of exclusive use over a common part, such as a garden or a roof terrace, granted to a unit by the articles. The element remains a common part; the co-ownership regulations specify how its costs are shared. See the glossary. The distinction decides who pays for waterproofing and replacement, and it is read in the articles of association, not on site. The boundary is drawn in private and common parts.

Then the house rules. They contain the rules of daily life you will have to follow, and the most heavily regulated buildings are not always the ones you would expect: pets, short-term letting, an air-conditioning unit on the façade, use of the bike store. They are not drawn up by a notary, they are easier to change than the articles of association, and they are enforceable against you under the conditions of Article 3.93. Their minimum content is set out in house rules.

Finally, two administrative checks. The owners' association has a company number at the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises, which must appear on all its documents (Art. 3.86, § 1): if it is missing from a statement or a notice of meeting, that deserves a question, and how this legal entity works is described in owners' association. Then the energy performance certificate (EPC) of the home. In Flanders, a valid EPC drawn up in 2019 or later must be available for a sale, and the energy label and energy score must already appear in the advertisement (EPC of a residential unit, Vlaanderen.be, in Dutch). For an apartment, that EPC covers only the private parts: the roof and the external walls are covered by the EPC for the common parts, which is transferred to the buyer together with the apartment's EPC on a sale.

In Flanders, two further rules weigh directly on your budget. If you buy an apartment with label E or F, it must reach at least label D within six years of the notarial deed; the obligation applies to the dwelling unit, but works on the roof or the collective heating may be needed to reach that label. And if the building dates from before 2001, the seller must hold an asbestos certificate (asbestattest) for the private part and disclose its content when the preliminary contract is signed; by 31 December 2026 at the latest, the VME must also hold an asbestos certificate for the common parts.

The documents do not tell you everything about the building

A point of method, to finish. The information the co-ownership owes you says what was decided, voted and paid. It says nothing about the actual condition of the roof or the water riser. When the minutes have mentioned a project for three years without a quote appearing, a technical opinion before the offer costs less than the call for funds you discover in the second year.

The costs on top of the price also include registration duty. In Flanders, the transfer duty on the purchase of your only own home has been 2% since 1 January 2025. Your notary will go through the other rates and the conditions with you. If you buy in Brussels, different Brussels rules apply to registration duties and the energy certificate: check them with your notary.

And if the syndic does not reply within fifteen days, the parties are informed of the failure (Art. 3.94, § 1). That failure is no reason to sign without the documents. It is a reason to postpone the offer, or to make it conditional. General information such as this does not replace a notary's advice on your file, especially when the co-ownership has a dispute in progress.

The steps of the first months are brought together in new co-owner, and the whole transaction, from the preliminary contract to the notary's withholding, in buying and selling.