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Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is home to several European Union institutions and international organizations, such as NATO.
Although officially bilingual, the language spoken in Brussels is largely French, while Dutch is more prevalent in the central and northern parts of the city. Given the many nationalities present in Brussels, English is also widely spoken.
With a surface area of 32.6 km², Brussels is the largest municipality in the Brussels-Capital region, which covers 161 km² and comprises a total of 19 autonomous municipalities.
The region has a population of around 1,250,000, or 545,000 households. It is home to 450,000 housing units in 2020, including 220,000 in condominiums.
The city is divided into several sections:
The city is becoming denser, with taller buildings being developed on the few plots of land still available, or along the canal. However, the region's ambition is to make the city more pleasant, with more peaceful mobility. On landscape issues such as water management, ecological corridors, food production and energy generation, for example, the Metropolitan Landscapes project, an initiative of the Brussels and Flemish Regions, aims to contribute to urban planning reflections, upstream of policy-making, by exploring new ideas and new avenues in spatial planning.
Sustainable development is another of the city's key priorities. Several projects have been put in place, such as the group purchase of green energy, eco-pasturing, the installation of LED lighting, the introduction of hybrid and electric vehicles or bicycles, the planting of trees at every birth, and a climate bonus.
In a jointly-owned building in Brussels, the expenses borne by each co-owner are not limited to the upkeep of their private areas. Maintenance costs for corridors, staircases and all other areas used by all owners are common expenses. These also include the costs of service contracts from which all co-owners benefit. How are they divided between co-owners? What do condominium charges in Brussels include?
Condominium fees are calculated on the basis of the shares owned by each co-owner. The higher your share, the higher your condominium fees. All other things being equal, the costs of the various permanent service providers (gardener, janitor, etc.) will also contribute to increasing the charges borne by each co-owner.
According to data collected by the syndicat des propriétaires et copropriétaires (SNPC), and analyzed by the Observatoire des charges de copropriété in Belgium, each lot incurs average monthly charges of 192 euros.
In Brussels, as elsewhere in Belgium, the cost of cleaning common areas is the main item of expenditure included in condominium charges. On average, each lot incurs annual charges of 596 euros, or around 49.7 euros per month.
When a professional is called in to administer a condominium, in the role of syndic, the remuneration he or she receives is also borne by all the condominium owners.
Depending on the condominium's legal and tax needs, the services of a lawyer or accountant also involve costs, which are part of the common charges within a condominium. According to SNPC figures, these charges are around 96 euros per year for each lot. Finally, the cost of maintaining common facilities and installations (garden, elevator, etc.) is also the responsibility of each co-owner.
To keep track of all these expenses, the property manager must draw up an annual forecast.
