Inheritance: what do you need to know?

You inherit a property with your brothers and sisters: what should you do now?
You are now joint owners in ‘undivided ownership’, which means that you must take the others’ views on the future of the property into account.
There are two possible scenarios:

You all agree.

All the heirs agree to sell the property, so the procedure is very straightforward. You can now put the property up for sale, for example by using the services of an estate agency. The property can be sold to a third party, but you can also agree that one of the heirs will buy out the others’ shares.
In this case, they pay no sales duty, only a partition duty. In Brussels and Wallonia, this amounts to 1% of the property’s value. In Flanders, it is 2.5%.

You do not all agree.

In this case, a notary will examine whether a division in kind is possible, meaning that they will determine whether each heir can receive an equivalent share.
If such a division is not possible and no agreement has been reached, each heir may apply to the family court to request a division. The property will often be sold at public auction.

Would you like to buy the property yourself, but the others do not agree? You can wait until the property is put up for public auction and then buy it. At that point, you will have to pay the full purchase price, but you will recover part of it when the final division takes place. However, you will only pay the partition duty, not the sales duty.

Source:
property tips & advice no. 11 – 15 May 2019