There used to be a list of Estate Agents on this site, can anyone point me in the right direction?

Has anyone ANY experience of buying a property in Belgium? Would love to hear about it....

I don't know about the agency list on this site, but the best source for property is www.immoweb.com and you can find agency details there too. You can also look on vlan.be and even ebay.be. But all in all I think immoweb is the most comprehensive.

I am in the process of buying a house outside Brussels. I used immoweb to find properties and see which agents were listing them and then I looked to see if the agencies had websites with other properties and just gradually built up a search list like that. I also emailed agencies with my requirements but didn't find that I received a great deal from most of them so it was better to check all the websites daily myself and call when I wanted a viewing.

The biggest thing I had to get my head round was the tax. Basically you are advised to figure in about 19-21% of the property value to account for the tax (12,5% compared to the UK's 1-3%!) and notaire fees etc. You can generally incorporate some of this into your mortgage though and probably because of these costs, you don't need to have a big (or any, in fact) deposit. But still, it's a large chunk of money just for the 'right' to buy a house in Belgium which is not easy to part with! However, that being said, the market here is not bad and mortgage rates are quite competitive. Unlike the UK, the banks are actually a good place for mortgages, though there are other mortgage companies arond too.

Regarding the process, we had our offer accepted last week and we're signing the first compromis tomorrow where we have to pay 10%. After that our notaire will be doing the necessary searches etc. before completion where we pay the balance, sign the acte de vente and the house becomes ours. That has to take place within 4 months from signing the compromis. I have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly we have been able to organise things.

So far, the process hasn't been too complicated. The bank were very helpful regarding the mortgage and we have a good notaire so after understanding the basics, I haven't found it too many surprises compared to buying in the UK.

Hope this helps a little and would be happy to let you know how the process continues!

Thanks so much.. very helpful. I have been looking at the website you mention.

Please keep me up to date, would love to know how it goes.

As for the taxes. I heard all about that. I suppose I deal with it by thinking that at least its up front and not a stealth type tax like it would be in the UK!

i bought my apartment 11 years ago during batibouw as the interest rates go down for that period and took out a fixed mortgage for the total time of my mortgage as i wanted peace of mind and to know exactly what was going out. my notaire was very good and dealt with everything and my bank as well. i was advised it normally takes 3 months for everything to go through but the notaire had everything done within 2 months as the building was empty and so i was lucky to have first choice of floors and also one of the two garages. i expected it to be as bad as the uk but found everything smooth going

aye aye aye...

Buying property in Belgium. If you want to experience what's its like trying to get anything done in Belgium then try buying a property and you will experience all of the usual emotions associated with trying to do even the simplest of task in Belgium.
Q - Why does it take so long ?
A - Cos its always been like that in Belgium.
Q - What is that charge for ? what service/goods to I get for it ?
A - Cos its always been like that in Belgium.
Q - What have you been doing for the last 4 months Ms.Notary ? and why are you still asking basic no-brainer questions now that we are about to sign the final sales agreement ?
A - Cos its always been like that in Belgium.
Q - Why, even though it took you 4 months to "do something" (which still remains a mystery what exactly that was) did you not even notice that there was water damage/problems reported in the apartment and the previous owners are suing the builder. Why oh why did you not find this out in your searches ?
A - Cos its always been like that in Belgium.

Apart from the obvious usual crap that you have to put up with in Belgium, buying a property is the same as most other simple tasks involving Belgian Bureaucracy.

We bought an apartment in Feb 2007 for 275K EURO, the total cost of purchase (including all the un-explainable taxes) was 317K. Do your research on immoweb, I can strongly recommend Stefan at the IBP agency if you want to contact an estate agent. He was tops and well on the ball, for property in the Brussels area.

Avoid like the plague the Notary Huylebrueck. They get a U for Useless although alas this seems to be the norm for most Belgian service providers. Of course Notary's are not the same as a solicitor in the UK but you still bloody well pay them so I expect to have some say in the level of service that they provide. I'll not be paying them again suffice to say.........

I raised finance through the KBC in Leuvain and as always received top quality service and assistance. Is it a Flemish thing ? I dunno...

In any case if you have specific questions holler and I'll see what I can do....

Well the process is still ongoing....

I was supposed to sign the compromis before going on holiday but the owner had lost the deeds so we had to delay while they sent off for a new copy. No real problem though as my notaire drew up a mini contract to make sure the offer wouldn't expire while we waited. So that's all done now, just need to sign the final acte.

The notiare did all the usual checks with the contracts and boundries etc. and are now just waiting for us to decide on our moving date. So we made the first offer at the beginning of April and will move at the end of June. No complaints here really, my notiare has been excellent (though for no small fee of course) and the estate agent (Jacques Bonnivers) has been surprisingly helpful in giving us access to the house (for surveys and measurements etc.) even after 'their work' has been done and the property sold.

I've found the process and timing comparable to when I bought my apartment in the UK (12 weeks). But I think it can rely a lot the luck of finding a decent notiare and a less snotty agency to keep things moving along. I was all geared up for the usual Belgian bureaucracy of needed 100 copies of my ID card and signing things in triplicate, but I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised.

Now just the 'small' task of renovating the house......

Oh, and I got my mortgage with ING in the end. They seem to have some good deals on at the moment.

Do you know if we are subject to a capital gain tax if we already have a property in the UK when buying another property in Belgium?
At the moment we have rented out our flat in the UK and considering buying a property in Belgium but not sure if we are subject to capital gain tax if doing so.
Please can anyone advice! Thank you.

Buying property is quite confusing in Belgium and not all the “professionals” seem to follow the same rules . But you can find most properties on the market on immoweb.be (at least in Brussels) and there are some good agents who seem to be specialised in the expat market. I most liked Christian from immoLiving.com and he was of fantastic help and knows his way around the practical and juridical implications of buying. He has only few properties but they are all in nice areas and in perfect condition (the philosophy of immoLiving); his English and Spanish are perfect and his mother tongue is German. Check out the website www.immoLiving.com and subscribe to the mailing list which works really fine. Good luck!

No idea about the capital gains, I suppose it depends where you pay your taxes and which country you're declaring things to - possibly they wouldn't even check such a detail unless you were personally audited, who knows....