Giving your house to family without a notary in Belgium: why it does not work and what the alternatives are

The short answer is no. If you want to give a house, flat or plot of land to a child or another family member in Belgium, you have to do it by notarial deed. A letter, a private contract or a verbal agreement is not enough to transfer ownership of a home.

This article explains why, what happens in practice if you arrange it informally anyway, and which alternatives exist: a gift through a notary, a gift with reserved usufruct, a sale within the family, or a will.

Why a gift of a house always goes through a notary

The Federal Public Service Finance is clear on this: if you give away real estate, such as a home or building land, you must always use a notary. Registration of the gift is then compulsory and is handled by the notary. You can read this on the FPS Finance page on gifts.

Money or jewellery is different. A gift by hand or by bank transfer can be made without a notary, and registering it is optional. That route does not exist for a home.

The notaries' French-language site notaire.be puts it plainly as well: you cannot arrange a gift of real estate yourself, a notarial deed is indispensable. The notary also advises on the approach that suits your family and financial situation.

What happens if you do it without a notary

Suppose a father writes a letter giving his house to his son, and both of them sign it. Everyone in the family assumes the son now owns the house. Legally, nothing has changed.

• The house still belongs to the father. Without a notarial deed, ownership does not pass.
• The son cannot sell the house. A sale has to be signed by the owner, and that is still the father.
• The son cannot use the house for a mortgage loan. The bank deals with the official owner.
• When the father dies, the house is simply part of his estate. It then goes to the heirs under the legal rules or a valid will, not automatically to the son who received the letter.

If the father has several children, that last point can cause tension. A letter the family treated as a gift does not make the son the owner.

Alternative 1: a gift through a notary

With a notarial gift, the child becomes the owner straight away. The recipient pays gift tax. The rate depends on the region where the donor had their tax residence for the longest period in the five years before the gift, not on where the house is located.

For a home given by a parent to a child, the brackets are the same in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia. The same rate applies between spouses and legal cohabitants, and in Flanders and Brussels also between de facto cohabitants who have lived together for at least a year.

Bracket	Rate for direct line and partners
€0 to €150,000	3%
€150,000 to €250,000	9%
€250,000 to €450,000	18%
Above €450,000	27%

Example. A parent gives a house with a market value of €300,000 to one child.

• 3% on the first €150,000: €4,500
• 9% on the next €100,000: €9,000
• 18% on the last €50,000: €9,000
• Total: €22,500 gift tax

The cost of the notarial deed comes on top of this. Your notary will give you an estimate beforehand.

A few points worth knowing:

• In Flanders, the tax is calculated on the market value on the date of the gift. If that value is set too low in the deed, a tax increase is due, according to vlaanderen.be. A realistic valuation of the home beforehand is therefore useful.
• If the same donor gives real estate to the same person again within three years, both gifts are added together for the brackets. Keep this in mind if you give half of a house first and the other half later.
• The other children keep their reserved portion, a minimum share of the estate protected by law. If one child receives too much through gifts or a will, the others can claim their reserved portion, according to notaris.be.

For how the process works, read our article on gifting property to your child, and for all rates per region how much gift tax you pay in Belgium. What happens if the donor dies shortly after the gift is covered in property donation and the donor dying within 3 years.

Alternative 2: a gift with reserved usufruct

If you want to pass on the house but keep living in it or keep receiving the rent, notaire.be mentions the option of giving the bare ownership while reserving the usufruct for yourself. This is also done by notarial deed. How the gift tax is then calculated, and whether this arrangement makes sense for you, is something to discuss with your notary.

Alternative 3: selling the house to a family member

A parent can also sell the house to a child. The sale is completed by notarial deed, and the buyer then pays registration duty rather than gift tax, as with any other purchase. For deeds signed in 2026, the rates are as follows.

• Flanders: 12%, or 2% if it is the buyer's only home and the conditions are met.
• Wallonia: 12.5%, or 3% for the buyer's only own home, subject to conditions.
• Brussels: 12.5%, with an allowance on the first €200,000 for the buyer's only own home, provided the taxable base does not exceed €600,000.

In a sale, the parent does receive money, and the child has to be able to pay the price. More on the conditions in registration duties in Flanders.

Alternative 4: a will

With a will, the owner keeps full control of the house during their lifetime. Only after death does it pass to the heir or legatee. A will can always be revoked. Notaris.be points out that a notarial will is harder to contest than a handwritten one. Here too, the other children's reserved portion remains protected.

Instead of gift tax now, the heir pays inheritance tax later. The rate depends on the region where the deceased had their tax residence for the longest period in the five years before death.

Example for a death in 2026 in Flanders. One child inherits a house worth €300,000 and no other real estate. In Flanders, the immovable share is taxed separately from the movable share.

• 3% on the first €50,000: €1,500
• 9% on the bracket from €50,000 to €250,000: €18,000
• 27% on the last €50,000: €13,500
• Total: €33,000 inheritance tax

In this example that is more than the €22,500 gift tax on the same house. Bear in mind that the value of the house at the time of death may differ from today, and that Brussels and Wallonia have different rates and reductions. A reform of Flemish inheritance tax has been announced, but according to vlaanderen.be nothing has been decided yet and the current rates still apply. More worked examples per region are in how much inheritance tax a child pays in Belgium.

Which route suits you?

If you want your child to own the house now, a notarial gift is the direct route. If you want to keep living there, a gift with reserved usufruct may be an option. If you need money from the property, a sale is the better fit. If you want to keep everything in your own hands until you die, a will is the tool for that. In each case, the notary is the starting point. An informal arrangement without a notary does not transfer the house.