Buying a house pt. 3

As a continuation of the popular Property in Belgium series, this brief article relates to buying property with a shed:

Owning a shed in Belgium

If you have recently acquired a house with a garden and shed congratulations, but please be aware of the following steps:

Check the contract very carefully. You want to be sure that the shed is included in the purchase price and that inheritance tax etc doesn’t apply. Also, are the shed and the contents of the shed covered by the home contents insurance? If not, will you need to take out special shed contents insurance?

And be careful mowing the lawn. In Belgium you are only legally allowed to do it between 11.15 and 13.15 Monday to Friday inclusive but excluding Thursday. Sundays are forbidden and on Saturdays you may mow between 14.30 until 16.30 but for no longer than 45 minutes without an obligatory 15 minutes break. This break may be taken in your principal residence, or in the shed, but if you take it in the shed must spend at least 20 minutes in a seated position. You are also legally obliged to join L’Union Syndicale de Tondeurs de Gazon, but forbidden from striking or taking part in any union action without the prior authorisation from the commune.

To get such authorisation, you will have to move at least three of your children (or three-quarters of the total amount of your children, whichever is the greater) into a school at least ten but no more than 25 minutes from your place of residence. Their ages combined may be no more than 26, unless they represent over 85% of your total offspring. If you have no offspring, you will need to provide proof of residence in at least six previous domiciles. Should you have lived in less than three previous domiciles, but more than one, a reference from your secondary school headteacher is required. If you have no offspring, but you are a regular churchgoer, authorisation is not necessary, but prior notification of intent to the local maison communale is required at least 24 hours prior to the initation of proceedings.

The shed must also be registered with the commune. Your name must be attached to the door, with a copy of your identity card. Once you take possession of the shed, an agent from the local police force will visit to ensure that you are indeed the owner. If you are not there when he calls, you are obliged to leave a note that says “I certify that I am the owner of the shed”. This must be written in the mother-tongue of the visiting police-officer. If however, you are present at the time of the policeman’s visit, and the aforementioned note is also attached to the shed despite your being there, you are likely to be charged the shed-tax twice, plus once for every child under the age of six. This represents the extra work-load of reading the note.

Finally, should you fail to declare the cadastral income of any shed greater than 9 cubic metres (not including roof-space) then you risk having your shed repossessed. You may challenge this decision. Any challenge must be in writing and hand-delivered to the competent authority, the address of whom will be communicated to you with the notice of repossession. Any challenge must be received at least 28 days before the decision to repossess is taken by the appointing authority and no later than 21 days before your receive notification of such a decision. Proof of delivery will not be accepted as proof of postage. No telephone communication may be entered into unless you suffer from any or none of the disabilities mentioned in pamplet 16.4 of the civil code, neither excluding nor limited to blindness or total paralysis.