Dream Home in Belgium

Step 2: Visiting

Another golden piece of advice we’ve got from one agency is: The perfect house often comes as love at first sight, i.e.

When you walk into the place, you instantly feel like living in it.

So really like that chemical reaction when you come across Mr./Mrs. right, and this’s more important than anything else like condition of the house, as most of that can be changed with cost, but you cannot buy true love with money.

Although the most important thing is more about feeling, there’re a list of tangible checks that should be done before/while visiting, because they’ll influence the rightful price.

Belgian government also mandates the seller to provide certain documents/certificates while selling the house, ever since we bought our first house ten years ago, the rule has been evolving to cover more aspects in buyers’ favour, below is the list of critical docs required in Flanders by March 2026.

1. Title deed (notarial deed) – Eigendomstitel
   • Proof of ownership
   • Shows seller legally owns the property
2. Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) – Energieprestatiecertificaat
   woning
   • Mandatory before advertising the property
   • Indicates energy efficiency (A–G score)
3. Electrical inspection certificate – Attest van elektrische keuring
   • Report on whether installation complies with safety rules
   • Required even if non-compliant
4. Soil certificate – Bodemattest
   • Confirms whether land is polluted
   • Issued by OVAM in Flanders
5. Urban planning information – Stedenbouwkundige inlichtingen
   • Includes zoning, permits, violations, etc.
6. Asbestos certificate (if applicable) – Asbestattest
   • Mandatory for buildings built before 2001
   • Lists presence of asbestos
7. Fuel oil tank certificate (if applicable) – Keuringscertificaat stookolietank
   • Mandatory for property with fuel oil tank
   • Report of fuel oil tank condition, if repair is needed
8. Post-intervention file (PID) (if applicable) – Postinterventiedossier
   • Record (e.g. offer, invoice) of works in house after May 1st, 2001
9. Renting documents (if applicable) – Documenten over de huur
   • Required if property is rented out
   • Rental contract, registration proof, etc.

Feel free to ask seller to provide the docs even before scheduling the visit, it’s also better to contact a notary when planning to buy, as they can provide info & support to check the documents.

There’re also below websites providing useful info:

• Geopunt.be
  • The central digital geographical portal for flanders, combining data from various government sources, allowing users to view, combine, and analyse information on map
  • Useful to check the land info, historical satellite image, etc.
• Waterinfo
  • Flooding risk info portal for flanders
  • Indicates flooding risk in terms of P-score (risk of property get flooded), G-score (risk of ground around property get flooded)
• Notaris.be
  • General website of notaries in Belgium
  • Useful info on how to sell/buy property, and other topics where notary is involved

Other than those regulated documents/certificates, visual check while visiting the property is also important, below is what I normally look for:

• Cracks on wall? Pay attention to the horizontal ones, especially if it’s wide enough to fit in a coin.
• Bumpy wall surface or falling “skin”? There might be moisture in wall, especially if it’s close to where roof meets the wall.
• Water marks in beams under roof? Always go into attic and check the status of beams, isolation. Water marks (often appear as white lines) indicate potential leak in roof.
• Radiators are hot or cold? It’s often better to visit properties in winter as moisture issues are more obvious and radiator function can be checked easily, if not all radiators are as hot, it could indicate issue in heating system.

And there’re also professionals doing the check at certain cost, normally their check list contains items above.

If all certificates are conform and no issues are found, congrats! The house is really ready to move in, minimum work is needed. Even if issues exist, no need to worry as it’s a good chance to negotiate the price, normally such listing may come with a lower price taking the issues into account, but you can always negotiate based on your expectation, in the end, every property in Belgium is kind of unique, so no standardised price really exists.

So now you’ve visited a few houses and fall in love with one so ready to give an offer, what’s the best approach? By email? Call the seller? Send an offer letter or simple text? That’ll be for the next interesting step, making an offer.