Buying a house together in Belgium: married, cohabiting or with friends
Buying together is deciding together, also about what happens if life turns out differently than planned. How you become owners depends on your status and on what is in the deed. Here you read which choices there are and what you discuss with the notary.
If you buy together, you are co-owners according to the shares in the deed, and with a joint loan the bank can hold each of you liable for the full amount (Wikifin, June 2026). Spouses and legal cohabitants have statutory protection of the family home, de facto cohabitants and friends do not; they also do not inherit from each other without a will or accretion clause (notaris.be). In Flanders the reduced rate of % is assessed per buyer (Vlaamse Belastingdienst, checked on 28 October 2026).
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That depends on your status. If you are married without a marriage contract, a home that you buy during the marriage automatically falls into the common assets (notaris.be). With a marriage contract, for example separation of property, that can be different; your notary checks it.
Legal cohabitants, de facto cohabitants and friends are co-owners according to the shares in the deed, for example half each (notaris.be). That is called joint ownership: each has a share of the whole home, not their own floor or room.
If you buy together before you marry, half each, the notary can already include in the purchase deed that the home will later come into the common assets. That is called a declaration of anticipatory contribution and has been possible since 1 September 2018 (notaris.be). In a row:
Married: the home usually falls into the common assets, the family home is legally protected and the surviving spouse inherits by law.
Legally cohabiting: co-owner according to the deed, with protection of the family home and its usufruct for the surviving partner.
De facto cohabiting or friends: co-owner according to the deed, without that statutory protection and without inheritance rights.
Part 2
What if one of you contributes more?
It often happens that one partner contributes more of their own money than the other (notaris.be, March 2026). Then there are two ways: you buy in shares that follow the contribution, for example 60 and 4 %, or you buy half each and record the difference.
If you buy half each, the notary can record that whoever contributed more has a claim on the other. That usually only plays a role in a break-up or a death, and until then the agreements are safely recorded (notaris.be, March 2026).
Equal shares have an advantage: only with a purchase half each is an accretion clause possible (notaris.be). If you later invest in your partner’s home, for example in a renovation or in the repayment, record that in writing too (notaris.be, March 2026).
Part 3
What does a joint loan mean?
With a joint loan you are usually jointly and severally liable: the bank can hold each of you liable for the full amount, even if you agree otherwise among yourselves. If one of you has insufficient means, the other carries the repayments alone (Wikifin, June 2026).
That remains so after a break-up. Only a document from the bank stating that you no longer have to repay releases you. The bank usually only gives that once the loan is repaid, or once it is sure that the other partner can carry the loan alone (Wikifin, August 2025).
So look together, before you sign, whether each of you could also carry the repayment alone for a while. Also agree with your bank for which part of the loan the outstanding balance insurance covers each of you.
Part 4
Do you both get % registration duty?
In Flanders the Vlaamse Belastingdienst, the Flemish Tax Administration, assesses the conditions for % per buyer. Each buyer registers at the address within 3 years after the deed and, for a sale agreement from 2026, remains registered there without interruption for at least 1 year (Vlaamse Belastingdienst).
Unequal shares are no problem: if you buy 30 and 7 %, you can both get the reduced rate (Vlaamse Belastingdienst). Since 2026 only purchases by natural persons qualify: if a company buys along, no buyer gets %.
Watch out with other property. Neither of you may own another home or building plot in full ownership for the whole, and you may not own the whole of it together either (Vlaamse Belastingdienst, advance ruling 25038, May 2025). If that is the case, you only get % if you commit to selling that home within 2 years after the deed.
If someone buys along who is not going to live there, for example a parent, that buyer does not meet the registration requirement and in principle pays the standard rate of 1 % on their share. Have that checked in advance by your notary.
Part 5
What is an accretion clause?
With an accretion clause (beding van aanwas), you agree in the purchase deed that whoever lives longest receives the other’s share. That share does not come into the estate of whoever dies first, so their heirs cannot touch it (notaris.be). It is mainly useful for couples who are not married. The conditions:
You buy half each.
Your survival chances are equivalent. With a big age difference the clause can be seen as a gift (notaris.be; Wikifin).
Whoever remains pays no inheritance tax on the accreted share, but registration duty on that half (notaris.be; Wikifin). Ask your notary which rate then applies.
With an optional clause the surviving partner chooses whether to invoke it, or whether inheritance law applies, for example with a will (notaris.be).
The clause cannot be broken unilaterally (Wikifin). The notary can include that it lapses in a break-up, for example six months after a de facto separation (notaris.be).
Part 6
What happens to the home if one of you dies?
That depends strongly on your status (notaris.be; Wikifin):
Spouses: by law the surviving spouse receives the usufruct of the family home and the household effects. With a marriage contract you can adjust that.
Legal cohabitants: the surviving partner receives the usufruct of the family home and its contents, the heirs of the deceased the bare ownership.
De facto cohabitants and friends: without a will or accretion clause the surviving partner inherits nothing. The share of the deceased goes to their heirs, who can demand the sale.
In Flanders the surviving partner pays no inheritance tax on the family home if you were married or legally cohabiting, or if you were de facto cohabiting for at least 3 years and had a joint household (Vlaamse Belastingdienst).
A will you can always revoke, an accretion clause not unilaterally. Notaries therefore often combine them (notaris.be).
Part 7
What if you separate?
Nobody can be forced to remain in joint ownership: if you cannot work it out, you can ask the court for the division. Remaining owners together is also possible, with an agreement of at most five years (notaris.be).
If one of you takes over the other’s share, you pay division duty (verdeelrecht) in Flanders on the full value of the home. The standard rate is 2. %; ex-spouses and former legal cohabitants who were legally cohabiting for at least a year pay % under conditions (notaris.be; Vlaamse Belastingdienst, March 2026). De facto cohabitants and friends pay 2. %.
So already agree at the purchase what happens in a break-up: who may take over the home, how you determine the value and what happens with an unequal contribution. The notary records it for you. How a sale or buyout then proceeds, you read in the guide on selling or buying out in a divorce.
Frequently asked questions
Answered briefly.
Do you have to buy equal shares if you buy a house together?
No. You may each buy a different share, for example 60 and 4 %. For an accretion clause you do have to buy half each; a difference in contribution you can then record as a claim (notaris.be).
Does my partner inherit the house if we are not married?
Legal cohabitants receive the usufruct of the family home. De facto cohabitants inherit nothing without a will or accretion clause (notaris.be).
Do you pay inheritance tax with an accretion clause?
No, but registration duty on the share that accretes, usually half of the home (notaris.be; Wikifin). Ask your notary which rate applies in your situation.
Do we both get % registration duty if we buy together?
Each buyer is assessed separately (Vlaamse Belastingdienst). If you are both going to live there and neither of you, alone or together, owns another home for the whole, you in principle both get %.
Can I force my ex to sell the house?
Nobody can be forced to remain co-owner. If you cannot work it out, you can ask the court for the division (notaris.be).
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