Search Q&A
Apartment Purchase
Basically, yes. Add notary and bank fees on that as well.
This differs from one region to another, so it's far more complex than that. You can make some seriously expensive mistakes buying a property if you don't understand the law.
The first step in buying (or, indeed, selling) any property in Belgium should be to visit a notaire/notaris. You will need one anyway as you cannot buy or sell without one and their fees are fixed for the total transaction - so any advice that they give you is potentially free. Be careful to follow that advice as property and contract law in the three Belgian regions is probably very different to anything that you have been used to and "doing your thing" has the potential for proving very expensive.
The figures vary according to region and whether or not the purchasers are 'first time buyers'. And the definition of 'first time buyer' is not a obvious as it appears.
When we bought in Flanders - and we qualified as 'first time buyers' - the additional costs were 12% almost to the Euro.
Don't forget that if your friend takes a mortgage with a bank the Notaire is also obliged to register that too and that is an additional 2% (approx) to be added to the tax bill. The house will have an "hypothèque" on top of it, which is a sort of a guarantee for the bank in case the mortgage is unpaid, usually it last for the length of the mortgage or more.
There are ways to avoid this "hypothèque" but you need to fullfill certain conditions at the bank (mainly $$$$!)
Your friend also need to advance the property tax from date of purchase until end of the year. Notaire will calculate that.
Again, as the other suggested a Notaire should be consulted first although you can make a pretty decent simulation in their website Notaire.be (although it could be some '00 EUR off)
As others have said, the actual final cost will depend on a variety of factors, (where you are in belgium, whether you are a first time buyer, what the revenue cadastral is, whether you have a mortgage, etc. etc.). Most probably, the cost will be somewhere between 12% to 15%
There is a simple calculator here:
https://www.notaire.be/calcul-de-frais
Your friend would be well advised to see a notaire BEFORE considering buying a property (or offering to buy a property).
Short term view = Expensive
Long Term view = Good investment
Property prices are growing quite fast ESPECIALLY in Brussels 1000 area.
Maybe is just my impression but Brussels is becoming a quite dynamic city with interesting projects and reasonable growth. Population is increasing really fast, so it is up to your friend to take the right conclusions.
If it is a very old apartment you might only pay 6% taxes, but check this with a notaris.