Buying a house in Luxembourg: 7 percent duties, and 40,000 euros credit per person

Buying in Luxembourg is legally simple and financially the heaviest decision of this journey. Two numbers determine it: the 7 percent, and the 40,000.

No permit

Anyone may buy immovable property in Luxembourg, regardless of nationality and without a permit. The purchase runs through the notary, who draws up the deed and has it transcribed; you're the owner on that transcription. Take a notary of your own or get advice from someone who reads the French deed, because the notary in Luxembourg works for both parties.

The 7 percent

On purchase the state charges 7 percent: 6 percent registration duties and 1 percent transcription duties, on the purchase price. In Luxembourg City the commune charges a surcharge on the registration duties on top. Then come the notary, per a statutory tariff, and possibly the estate agent, who in Luxembourg is usually paid by the seller.

The Bëllegen Akt: 40,000 euros per person

The Bëllegen Akt — the "cheap deed" — is a tax credit on those duties: 40,000 euros per acquirer, since the law of 3 July 2025, so 80,000 euros for a couple buying together. The state always keeps at least 100 euros.

The conditions are strict and simple. The home must become your own main residence: no second home, no letting. You must move in within two years of the deed — four years for building land or an unfinished house — and stay living there for at least two consecutive years. Whoever leaves earlier pays the credit back. And the credit is per person and once: whoever used it before has only the remainder.

Have the notary apply for the credit before signing; the balance you still have can be checked online via MyGuichet.

The price

House prices in and around Luxembourg City exceed those of the Randstad, and the banks calculate with the same strictness as in the Netherlands. Whoever has a Dutch pension gets a mortgage on that income only — and the tax office then wants to see that home as your only residence, otherwise the credit lapses.

And the tax on what you buy

With property the tax treaty doesn't follow your place of residence but the bricks: income from immovable property may be taxed in the state where that property is situated. That's in article 6. A property in Luxembourg is taxed there, and a home you keep in the Netherlands stays taxed in the Netherlands. Luxembourg exempts that Dutch part, but counts it for the rate on the rest of your income — in a progressive scale that isn't nothing.