Notary fees and registration duties in 2026: Brussels, Wallonia, Flanders

When you prepare to buy a property, the same question always comes up: how much should you set aside on top of the price? The answer depends first of all on the region where the property is located, because registration duties are a regional tax. They are not the notary's pay, and the notary keeps none of it. Here are the rules in force in October 2026.

Three regions, three regimes

In Brussels, the standard rate is 12.5%. For a sole and own home, you get an allowance of 200,000 EUR on the taxable base, in force since 1 April 2023. It applies up to a price of 600,000 EUR and disappears entirely above that. For building land, the allowance is 100,000 EUR and applies up to 300,000 EUR.

A simple example: for an apartment bought at 400,000 EUR as your sole and own home, 12.5% is applied to 200,000 EUR, which gives 25,000 EUR in duties. Without the allowance it would be 50,000 EUR.

In Wallonia, it is the rate itself that falls. Since 1 January 2025, a sole and own home is taxed at 3%, with no price ceiling, and building land qualifies too. In other cases the rate stays at 12.5%. On a 300,000 EUR property, that means 9,000 EUR instead of 37,500 EUR.

In Flanders, the rate is 2% for the enige eigen woning (sole own home) since 1 January 2025, and 12% otherwise. A reduction of 1,867 EUR is added, granted up to a price of 220,000 EUR (240,000 EUR in certain municipalities). The press reports a return to 3% on 1 January 2027. Treat this with caution: until the text is passed and published nothing is certain, and what counts is the regime in force on the date of the deed.

What a sole and own home means

The reduced rate is reserved for buying a home you intend to live in as your main residence, provided you do not already own another property. The precise conditions (time limits for moving in, ownership of another property) vary from one region to another. If your situation is out of the ordinary, for instance because you already own a home you are selling, ask us to check before you sign the preliminary agreement.

The notary's fees

The fees follow a legal sliding scale that is the same across Belgium: they cannot be negotiated and do not vary from one office to another. A reduced scale exists for the sole and own home. Administrative costs, search costs and 21% VAT on the fees and those costs are added. For an ordinary purchase, fees and costs weigh far less than registration duties.

The loan deed, a second deed

If you borrow, the notary draws up a second deed, the one that registers the mortgage securing the loan. It has its own costs. The registration generally covers 110% of the amount borrowed, a margin the lender asks for so that interest and costs are also covered in case of default. On that registration you pay a registration duty of 1% and a mortgage duty of 0.3%.

For a 200,000 EUR loan, the registration is therefore 220,000 EUR, which gives 2,200 EUR of registration duty and 660 EUR of mortgage duty. The notary's fees, calculated on the loan amount, and administrative costs come on top.

How to budget without nasty surprises

Keep in mind that these costs are generally not included in the loan: they are paid when the deed is signed, from your own funds. Plan for them from the very start of your search, before you set the maximum price you are aiming for.

Scales, allowances and rates change with every reform. The figures in this article were checked in October 2026, and only the notary handling the deed produces the final statement.

For a first estimate, use the notary fees calculator on our website: it applies each region's thresholds. If you would rather talk it through, book an appointment at our office in the Passage Charles Rogier in Brussels or by video call, and we will go through your project figure by figure.