Buying a house in Belgium: the compromis binds at once, and your region sets your tax

First the order that is fixed on this site: you don't buy in your first year — you rent, you get to know the municipality, and only then do you decide. This article is for the moment you have got that far. And Belgium is then treacherously familiar: the notary handles the deed, collects the tax and takes care of the registration, just like at home. The differences are at the start (the compromis) and in the wallet (the region).

Pitfall one: the compromis is the purchase

In the Netherlands you are used to three days' cooling-off after the purchase agreement. Not in Belgium: the private sale agreement — the compromis — is binding as soon as buyer and seller agree on the property and the price. No deposit paid? Doesn't matter: sold is sold. The notarial deed that follows is not a second moment of decision but the legal completion, and it has to be there within four months — within that period the registration duties are also paid, via the notary. So everything you want to arrange — a condition precedent for your financing, a survey, questions about the property — you arrange before you sign the compromis, not afterwards.

Your rate depends on the region — and on your Dutch house

Registration tax is a regional matter, and the three regions each have their own favourable regime for whoever is really going to live there:

• Flanders: standard 12%, but 2% for the sole owner-occupied home. Conditions: natural persons only, full ownership, you register at the address within three years and (since 2026) remain registered there for at least one uninterrupted year.
• Wallonia: standard 12.5%, but 3% for the habitation propre et unique. You establish your main residence there within three years (five years for building land) and then keep living there for at least three years.
• Brussels: standard 12.5%, but with an abattement: on the first € 200,000 you pay nothing — a discount of € 25,000 — provided the price is at most € 600,000, you establish your main residence there within three years and keep living there for five years. Whoever substantially renovates the property for energy performance gets a further € 25,000 abattement per energy class gained.

And now the point that decides everything for emigrants: your Dutch owner-occupied home counts everywhere. Whoever still owns a home in full ownership — anywhere in the world — in principle falls back on the standard rate. The escape differs per region: Flanders allows the 2% rate if the other home is sold within two years, Wallonia grants the 3% if you promise in the deed to sell within three years (and checks afterwards), Brussels works with a refund of the abattement after a sale within two years. If you don't sell in time, you pay the difference after all — so place the sale of your Dutch house before or tightly alongside the Belgian purchase, not "some day". If you buy a new build, by the way, no registration duty applies but 21% VAT.

And afterwards: the property tax, every year

As an owner you pay the annual onroerende voorheffing (property tax), calculated on the indexed cadastral income of the property, with provincial and municipal surcharges on top — so the amount differs per municipality, and the scheme is again regional. For a specific property, ask for the latest assessment and put it in your monthly budget; whoever settles in Belgium soon notices that the cadastral income comes back in more schemes than this one alone.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey: the same steps, but applied to your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines monitored. See the whole journey to Belgium.