Guides
What the Belgian public registers say about a construction firm, where to consult them, and what they do not prove.
Neutral explanations, written from the official sources. No contractor is named here, and no company is recommended.
Checking a contractor before you sign
The four public, free checks worth making before you hand a job to a Belgian company: existence, VAT, insolvency, registered activity.
Updated on 12 Aug 2026
Checking a Belgian VAT number, before you pay
How to check a Belgian VAT number for free: what the number looks like, what VIES and the KBO/CBE actually answer, and what "valid" does and does not mean.
Updated on 13 Aug 2026
Looking up a company in the KBO/CBE register
How to look up any Belgian company in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises: by enterprise number or by name, what an entry shows, and what the register does not say.
Updated on 13 Aug 2026
An invalid VAT number: what it means, and what it does not
Why VIES answers "invalid" for a Belgian VAT number, the possible causes, and what it changes on the invoice for a job.
Updated on 12 Aug 2026
Insolvency: what it changes for your project and your deposit
Bankruptcy and judicial reorganisation in Belgium: where they are published, what they mean for a contract under way, and what becomes of a deposit.
Updated on 12 Aug 2026
Contractor recognition (agréation), and when it is required
What the Belgian recognition (agréation) of contractors is, what its categories and classes mean, and why it does not apply to a private job.
Updated on 13 Aug 2026
VCA explained
What VCA (LSC) certifies in Belgium, the difference between VCA*, VCA** and VCA Petrochemicals, and what the certificate does not cover.
Updated on 12 Aug 2026
Reading a Crossroads Bank for Enterprises extract
How to read a KBO/BCE extract: enterprise number, legal form, status, legal situation, establishment units and NACE codes.
Updated on 13 Aug 2026
A deposit to a contractor: how much, when, and what becomes of it in a bankruptcy
What Belgian law does and does not require by way of a deposit for building work, what the order form has to state, and what money paid in advance becomes if the company goes bankrupt.
Updated on 13 Aug 2026
My contractor has gone bankrupt: the steps, your rights, and what the register says
A job stopped by a bankruptcy: how to confirm the judgment, file a statement of claim in RegSol, where a private customer's deposit ranks, and the two exceptions that change the answer.
Updated on 13 Aug 2026
The Breyne Act: what it requires when a home is paid for before it is finished
Scope of the Act of 9 July 1971, the cap on the advance, payments tied to progress, the two-stage acceptance and the completion guarantee depending on whether the company is recognised or not.
Updated on 13 Aug 2026
Ten-year liability insurance: compulsory since 2018, and why only the certificate proves it
What ten-year (decennial) liability covers in Belgium, what the Act of 31 May 2017 has made compulsory since 1 July 2018, and why no public register says whether a company is insured.
Updated on 13 Aug 2026
Access to the profession in construction: three Regions, three regimes
What Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia require — or no longer require — before a construction business opens, and why a registration in the KBO/BCE does not prove competence.
Updated on 13 Aug 2026
The blacklist of contractors: what does not exist, and what does
No Belgian authority publishes a blacklist of contractors. What does exist: the central register of management bans, the KBO/BCE data, and two places to report a scam.
Updated on 13 Aug 2026
Hiring a contractor in Belgium when you do not yet know the system
The identifiers a Belgian company has to give you, the public registers where you check them, and the contract and invoicing rules peculiar to Belgium that nobody guesses on arrival.
Updated on 13 Aug 2026