The true cost of buying property in Belgium: notary, duties, mortgage and hidden costs

Buying
Écrit par Celia Souralaysak

A flat advertised at €300,000 never costs €300,000. Between registration duties, notary's fees, the mortgage deed, interest and a few less visible expenses, the real budget can exceed the price by several tens of thousands of euros. Most of these costs are paid from your own funds, as banks rarely lend more than the value of the property. This article sets them out one by one, with a full worked example for a €300,000 flat in Brussels.

1. Registration duties: the biggest item

When you buy an existing property, the Region levies registration duties (droits d'enregistrement) on the price. The rate depends on the region in which the property is located:

  • Brussels: 12.5%, with an abatement (abattement) of €200,000 when you buy your main residence, provided the price does not exceed €600,000. The saving is €25,000.
  • Wallonia: 3% for a buyer's only home, subject to conditions.
  • Flanders: 2% for a buyer's only home, subject to conditions.

For a purchase in Brussels that does not meet the conditions for the abatement – typically a buy-to-let investment – the duties amount to 12.5% of the full price. The detailed conditions and several worked examples can be found in our article on registration duties in Brussels.

For a new-build home sold by a developer, it is in principle 21% VAT that applies to the building, instead of registration duties. It is generally included in the advertised price. Always check this point in the offer.

2. The notary's costs for the purchase deed

People often talk about “notary's fees” to mean all the costs associated with the deed. In reality, the notary keeps only part of them. Here are the items listed by the official calculator on notaire.be:

  • Fees (honoraires): set by a statutory sliding scale and identical at every notary. Since 1 January 2023, they have been reduced for the purchase of a buyer's only home (by around 10% for the purchase deed).
  • Administrative costs: a flat rate covering searches and formalities (planning, land registry, mortgage register, etc.).
  • Disbursements (débours): sums paid by the notary to third parties on your behalf.
  • Transcription fees: recording the sale in the register of the General Administration of Legal Security (Administration Sécurité juridique).
  • The writing duty (droit d'écriture) (€100) and a flat fee for registering the annexes.
  • 21% VAT on the fees and on certain costs.

According to the scales built into the notaire.be calculator (consulted in October 2026), for a €300,000 purchase in Brussels, the notary's fees come to around €2,322 excluding VAT for a buyer's only home, and around €2,578 in other cases.

On top of these amounts comes your share of the withholding tax on property (précompte immobilier) for the current year, which you reimburse to the seller pro rata for the period following the signing of the deed.

3. Mortgage costs

If you borrow, a second notarial deed is required: the mortgage deed (acte de crédit), which creates the mortgage in favour of the bank. Its costs are calculated on the registered amount, which in practice comprises the capital borrowed plus “ancillary amounts” of around 10%.

  • Registration duty on the mortgage: 1% of the registered amount.
  • Mortgage duty: 0.3% of the registered amount.
  • Fee payable to the General Administration of Legal Security: a flat €270 for registered amounts up to €300,000, according to the notaire.be calculator.
  • Notary's fees on a statutory scale, reduced by around 20% since 2023 when the loan finances the buyer's only home, plus administrative costs, disbursements, the writing duty and VAT.

For a €270,000 loan (registered amount of €297,000), the notaire.be calculator arrives at around €6,150 in costs for the mortgage deed, when it is signed at the same time as the purchase deed and finances the buyer's own home.

Bank charges

The bank may charge an arrangement fee and a valuation of the property. It will generally require mortgage protection insurance (assurance solde restant dû) and buildings insurance. These amounts vary from bank to bank and according to your profile: ask for them in writing and compare the APRC (annual percentage rate of charge – TAEG in French), which partly incorporates them.

The cost of interest

Interest remains the main cost of a loan. By way of illustration – these rates are neither an offer nor a forecast – here is what a €270,000 loan represents:

  • ⊞ Fixed-rate assumption | Term | Monthly repayment | Total interest
  • 3.0% | 20 years | ≈ €1,492 | ≈ €88,070
  • 3.0% | 25 years | ≈ €1,275 | ≈ €112,410
  • 3.5% | 20 years | ≈ €1,558 | ≈ €103,990
  • 3.5% | 25 years | ≈ €1,344 | ≈ €133,120

Calculated on the basis of constant monthly repayments, excluding insurance. In Brussels, the “housing bonus” (bonus logement – a tax relief linked to mortgage loans) was abolished on 1 January 2017. It still applies only to loans taken out before that date and has been replaced by the abatement on registration duties. A new purchase in Brussels therefore does not entitle you to any regional tax relief on your repayments.

4. The costs people forget

  • Withholding tax on property: your share reimbursed to the seller in the year of purchase, followed by an annual tax.
  • The co-ownership: when you buy a flat, the syndic (building manager) will ask you for a contribution to the working capital fund (fonds de roulement). After that come the regular service charges and the compulsory contribution to the reserve fund (fonds de réserve), of at least 5% of the ordinary charges. The preliminary sale agreement (compromis de vente) may also provide for the seller to be reimbursed for their share of the reserve fund. Read the minutes of the most recent general meetings: works that have already been voted may be charged to you.
  • Works: redecoration, bringing the property up to standard, improving energy performance. Their cost depends heavily on the condition of the property and its EPB certificate (certificat PEB).
  • Moving in: removals, utility connections, furniture, insurance.

Certain mandatory documents, such as the EPB certificate and the electrical installation inspection, are in principle paid for by the seller. Check that they are included in the sale file.

5. Full example: a €300,000 flat in Brussels

We compare two situations. In the first, A, the buyer is acquiring their main residence and meets the conditions for the abatement; they borrow €270,000 (90% of the price). In the second, B, the purchase is a buy-to-let investment financed by a €240,000 loan (80% of the price). The notarial costs are calculated using the scales in the notaire.be calculator (October 2026), for an existing property subject to registration duties. Amounts are rounded to the nearest euro.

  • ⊞ Item | A. Own home (with abatement) | B. Buy-to-let investment
  • Purchase price | €300,000 | €300,000
  • Registration duties (12.5%) | €12,500 | €37,500
  • Notary's fees (purchase, excl. VAT) | €2,322 | €2,578
  • Administrative costs, disbursements, transcription, writing duty, annexes | €1,649 | €1,649
  • VAT on fees and costs | €753 | €807
  • Subtotal: purchase costs | €17,224 | €42,534
  • Amount borrowed | €270,000 | €240,000
  • Mortgage duties (1% + 0.3%) and fee | €4,131 | €3,702
  • Fees, costs, writing duty, annexes and VAT (mortgage deed) | €2,016 | €2,264
  • Subtotal: mortgage deed costs | €6,147 | €5,966
  • Total acquisition costs | €23,371 (7.8% of the price) | €48,500 (16.2% of the price)
  • Minimum personal contribution (unfinanced portion of the price + costs) | €53,371 | €108,500
  • Not included | Share of withholding tax on property, bank arrangement and valuation fees, insurance, working capital and reserve funds, works, interest

For a €300,000 flat in Brussels, acquisition costs range from around €23,400 with the abatement to around €48,500 without it.

Three lessons emerge from this example:

  • The abatement is the decisive factor: on its own, it accounts for €25,000 of the difference between the two situations.
  • Notarial costs in the strict sense (fees, costs and VAT) remain modest compared with the duties: around €4,700 for the purchase in situation A.
  • A deposit is essential: even with a 90% loan, you need to budget for more than €50,000 of your own funds in situation A, and more than €100,000 in situation B.

As regards the loan-to-value ratio, since 1 January 2020 the National Bank of Belgium has applied prudential expectations to lenders. In principle, a loan should not exceed 90% of the property's value for an owner-occupied home (with greater tolerance for first-time buyers), or 80% for a buy-to-let investment. Your bank will tell you its policy.

How to prepare your budget properly

  • Estimate your costs with the notaire.be calculators, then ask your notary for a quote.
  • Compare at least two or three mortgage offers on the basis of the APRC and the cost of insurance.
  • Keep a contingency reserve for the unexpected (works, co-ownership charges).
  • For a property needing renovation, cost the works before making an offer. For a property that has already been renovated, check the EPB certificate and the condition of the common parts.

This article is for information only. The amounts are estimates based on the public scales in force as at 21 October 2026 and may vary depending on your circumstances. Your notary and your bank remain your points of contact for an exact breakdown.

Sources

A clear budget from the outset

At Living Home Promotion, we sell flats in Brussels buildings that have been fully renovated by our partner Next Homes. A renovated property keeps the “works” line of your budget to a minimum, although you should still check every document with your notary. Discover our fully renovated flats in Brussels, in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Forest and Uccle.

Celia Souralaysak
Précédent

De werkelijke kostprijs van een vastgoedaankoop in België: notaris, rechten, krediet, verborgen kosten
Suivant

Le vrai coût d'un achat immobilier en Belgique : notaire, droits, crédit, frais cachés