On 21 September 2026, the Royal Decree of 20 July 2026 approving the new Code of Ethics of the Professional Institute of Real Estate Agents (BIV) was published in the Belgian Official Gazette. The new Code enters into force on 1 October 2026, the date on which the 2018 regulations are repealed.
At first sight, the new Code mainly appears to involve a renumbering exercise: 84 of the 89 articles of the 2018 code have been carried over word for word. The changes that have been made, however, are far from insignificant. They shift the nature of the Code from a set of professional conduct rules governing relations between members of the profession to an instrument that incorporates the civil-law standard of due care into the disciplinary framework. Moreover, the Code has not been aligned with the consumer protection regime introduced by the Royal Decree of 28 September 2023. Below, we highlight the ten most important changes.
1. From a closed list to a catch-all provision (Article 4)
The 2018 Code listed, in its first article, nine pieces of legislation with which real estate agents were required to comply in addition to the rules of professional conduct. That closed list has now disappeared. Article 4 provides that the Code of Ethics also encompasses "the statutory and regulatory framework applicable to the real estate agent in the performance of their duties" and adds the principle of due care to the existing principles of dignity and integrity. A non-exhaustive list of applicable legislation will be published on the BIV website.
The consequences are far-reaching. Any breach of any applicable rule, from regional lease legislation and energy performance regulations to tax legislation, thereby automatically becomes a breach of professional conduct that may give rise to disciplinary proceedings, even though the King has never designated that particular rule as an ethical standard.
This approach sits uneasily with Article 8, § 1 of the Framework Act on service-providing intellectual professions and Article 13 of the Act of 11 February 2013 organising the profession of real estate agent (the "Real Estate Agents Act"), which require rules of professional conduct to be declared generally binding by the King, as well as with the principle of foreseeability, which also applies in disciplinary matters.
2. Conflicts of interest: an objective and significantly broader circle (Articles 20, 48 and 79)
Under the former Code, a real estate agent was required to inform the client where the other contracting party was someone with whom the agent had "a moral, family or legal relationship". That vague wording has been replaced by an objectively defined but considerably broader group: employees and appointed staff (aangestelden), close relations, relatives by blood or marriage up to and including the third degree, including those of the agent's spouse up to the same degree, and any undertaking owned by any of those persons, in which they hold an equity interest, perform a management or supervisory role, or are employed.
The same group is relevant where a property administrator (condominium manager or property manager) places orders: without the client's informed consent or subsequent ratification, this is prohibited.
For firms with their own investment vehicles, affiliated property developers or connected maintenance and insurance companies, this is likely to be the change with the greatest practical impact. The disclosure obligation is now objectively verifiable: it is sufficient for an employee of the firm to be a shareholder in the purchasing company. Failure to comply may expose the agent not only to disciplinary sanctions but also to a civil claim based on non-disclosure, with potential consequences for the agent's fees and even for the validity of the transaction. Remarkably, unlike Article 13, 5° of the Real Estate Agents Act, the Code does not require the conflict of interest to be notified to the Institute.
3. Mandatory information also on social media (Article 10)
Real estate agents must include certain information on their documents, whether in paper or electronic form, and on their website at all times: their BIV registration number, the name of their undertaking together with its legal form and company number, the name of the insurer providing professional liability and surety cover and the corresponding policy number, as well as the information required under the Code of Economic Law.
A new requirement is that the number of the third-party account (derdenrekening), where such an account is required, must also appear on all documents and on the website. Another new feature is the express extension of this obligation to social media: on their social media profile, real estate agents must display the same information, with the exception of the third-party account number. Where there is insufficient space to include all of the required information, a hyperlink to the website containing that information will suffice.
4. Continuing professional development: greater flexibility for newly qualified agents (Articles 12 and 13)
The continuing professional development requirement remains unchanged: ten hours per calendar year for each registration category, meaning twenty hours for agents registered in both categories.
What is new is an exemption for persons entered on the register following completion of their traineeship, for the remainder of that calendar year. A full or partial exemption also applies in the event of re-registration or registration with an exemption from the traineeship, depending on whether this takes place during the first or second half of the year.
5. Anti-discrimination rules receive a dedicated chapter (Article 15)
Previously, the obligation to comply with statutory anti-discrimination rules appeared only in the list of applicable legislation set out in Article 1 of the Code. With that list now removed, anti-discrimination legislation has been given its own Chapter V, containing Article 15.
The underlying legislation remains unchanged, but its inclusion as a separate provision makes clear that discrimination, for example when selecting prospective tenants or buyers, is also a matter of professional conduct and may therefore result in disciplinary sanctions. Practical tests conducted by Unia or by the regional inspection authorities may now feed directly into disciplinary proceedings.
6. New on artificial intelligence (Articles 43 to 45)
The most widely discussed addition concerns the use of AI systems. The Code now also contains a definition of an artificial intelligence system, taken from the EU AI Act (Article 5). The key principles are as follows:
- the use of AI by a real estate agent, or by persons for whom the agent is responsible, does not release the agent from their professional or statutory obligations;
- information generated by AI must be assessed carefully and critically;
- to the extent required by law, the agent must be transparent towards third parties regarding the use of AI;
- the agent must have sufficient knowledge to understand and control the system being used, with the required level depending on the complexity of the system and the context in which it is used;
- personal data may not be entered into an open AI system;
- AI may not be used to mislead individuals.
Two elements go beyond the AI Act and the GDPR: the absolute prohibition on entering personal data into an "open" AI system, a term that is not defined in the Code, and the competence requirement, which introduces a new and objectively assessable standard of due care.
An appraisal based on an AI tool that subsequently proves incorrect may therefore be regarded as negligent on this basis. Firms using chatbots, automated valuations or AI-generated images of properties would be well advised to review their practices against these requirements.
The BIV also recommends identifying AI-generated images used in advertising as such, even where this is not strictly required by law.
7. Updated rules on quality accounts (Articles 92 to 94)
The provisions governing quality accounts (kwaliteitsrekening), i.e. third-party (derdenrekening) and individualised client accounts (rubriekrekening), have been updated and consolidated into a new chapter, resulting in the repeal of the former separate guideline.
The basic principles remain unchanged: the account may not have a debit balance, may not be used for lending or as security, and may not be subject to set-off, merger or any form of unity with the real estate agent's other bank accounts.
From the moment the account is opened, the real estate agent irrevocably authorises the legal assessor of the Executive Chamber, upon request, to obtain from the bank details of all transactions on the account and any attachments affecting it, at the agent's expense.
A new requirement is that intermediaries and property managers must notify the BIV of the number of their third-party account or accounts, as well as any subsequent changes. This does not apply to individualised client accounts. The former rule under which interest accrued on a third-party account belonged to the ultimate recipient of the funds has been deleted.
8. Fees must be disclosed in advance (Article 38)
Fees must now be determined on the basis of criteria relating to the assignment and must be disclosed before entering into a contractual relationship. In addition, the real estate agent may only request fees, reimbursements or compensation that are permitted by law or contract and are not misleading.
As regards consumers, this information requirement already applied under the Code of Economic Law and the Royal Decree of 28 September 2023, which requires an all-inclusive rate covering VAT and costs. The Code, by contrast, refers only to the "fee" and to "the manner in which the fee is determined".
For professional clients, the Code introduces a new standard. In both cases, a fee that has not been disclosed in advance may be challenged from both a disciplinary and civil-law perspective.
9. Lack of alignment with the Royal Decree of 28 September 2023
The Royal Decree of 28 September 2023 on real estate brokerage agreements with consumers has been in force since 1 February 2024, more than two years before the adoption of the new Code. Nevertheless, the definitions and contractual provisions of the Code have not been aligned with that Royal Decree.
The clearest example concerns exclusivity. The Code defines exclusivity from the real estate agent's perspective, as a situation in which the agent is appointed "to the exclusion of others", and treats co-exclusivity in the same way. The Royal Decree, however, defines exclusivity from the consumer's perspective: the consumer may neither entrust another undertaking with a brokerage assignment nor independently purchase, sell, rent or let the property.
A co-exclusive assignment is therefore exclusive under the Code but, by definition, non-exclusive under the Royal Decree.
This distinction is not merely academic. The classification determines whether the maximum term of six months applies, whether a penalty clause for breach of exclusivity may be invoked, capped at 75% of the agreed rate, and whether the real estate agent must inform interested parties that the assignment is not exclusive (Article 64 of the Code). An agent who follows the terminology used in the Code when drafting a contract may therefore include clauses that are void under the Royal Decree.
The same issue arises in relation to terminology. The Code continues to define the assignment as a service arising from "a contract for work (huur van werk), a judicial appointment and/or a mandate", concepts derived from the Civil Code of 1804 that no longer exist as such in Book 5 of the new Civil Code. The Royal Decree, by contrast, takes a functional approach by referring to the assignment and the scope of the undertaking's authority.
Article 21 of the Code requires a proposed agreement to be provided "on a durable medium", while Articles 50, 80 and 90 still refer to a "written agreement". Similarly, whereas the Royal Decree requires monthly information on the progress of the assignment to be provided on a durable medium, Article 56 of the Code merely requires information to be provided "in due course".
In other words, the revision was selective: new provisions were added, but the existing text was not reviewed as a whole.
10. From professional conduct to liability
The common thread running through these changes is that the Code blurs the boundary between disciplinary law and civil liability. As a result of the catch-all provision in Article 4 and the new principle of due care, the disciplinary standard effectively coincides with the standard of due care laid down in Article 6.6 of the Civil Code.
A disciplinary finding will be relied upon in civil proceedings as evidence of fault, while conversely any civil judgment, for example concerning incorrect information in an advertisement, may support a disciplinary complaint.
The conflict-of-interest rules and the AI provisions replace open-ended standards with objectively assessable criteria, making it easier to establish evidence against the real estate agent.
In addition, two protective provisions contained in the former Code have been silently removed. Former Article 88 provided that no written document was required in relation to the information obligations towards the client and third parties. Former Article 89 provided for a transitional period of sixty days before new provisions could be enforced through disciplinary proceedings.
Without Article 88, real estate agents are, in practice, subject to a documentation obligation in respect of every reservation, warning and disclosure of a conflict of interest: after all, they bear the burden of proving compliance with their information obligations. Without Article 89, all of the new rules will apply for disciplinary purposes from 1 October 2026.
Conclusion
In addition to these ten points, the new Code contains a number of more limited clarifications and amendments, including provisions on consulting databases such as Kadasterfinder (Article 17), disparaging statements about colleagues in online interactions (Article 33), and anti-money laundering obligations as a separate ethical duty (Article 95).
It is also noteworthy that the published text contains incorrect cross-references, presumably because the articles of the Royal Decree itself were included in the numbering. Article 13 refers to "Article 9" where Article 12 appears to have been intended, while Articles 7, 28 and 43 refer to an "Article 3" that does not exist. An erratum in the Belgian Official Gazette can therefore not be ruled out.
Real estate agents, as well as the parties with whom they work, would be well advised to review five matters before 1 October 2026: the information displayed on documents, websites and social media; the pre-contractual disclosure of fees; conflict-of-interest screening within the firm and its affiliated undertakings; policies governing AI tools and personal data; and the notification of third-party account numbers to the BIV.
It is also advisable to confirm every warning, reservation and conflict-of-interest disclosure by email from now on, and to review exclusivity clauses in brokerage agreements with consumers against the definition contained in the Royal Decree of 28 September 2023.
Do you have questions about the impact of these changes on your matters or your practice? Andersen in Belgium's Real Estate team would be pleased to assist you.
Authors:
- Lina Bashir
- Ulrike Beuselinck
- Koen de Puydt
