A question that always surprises my clients in the week they sign the reception PV: “I have the meter, I have the keys, but I still don’t have a street number — what do I do?” Here is the full administrative path in Wallonia, up to date as of 2026, with real deadlines and common pitfalls. The procedure is not automatic at the time of the building permit, contrary to what 7 out of 10 owners I support post-reception believe.
Who allocates the street number
It is the municipality, and only the municipality. Neither the notary, the contractor, nor the architect has authority to allocate this number. In Wallonia, allocation is done depending on municipalities by the Population department (for small councils) or the Urbanism department (for councils with more than 30,000 inhabitants). In Brussels, it is the Civil Registry of the relevant municipality.
The street number has a legal value: it is the official identifier of your dwelling in the cadastre, in council registers, and with all postal and tax services. Without it, you exist geographically but not administratively. Many owners discover this subtlety after moving in and spend 2 to 4 months without mail received, invoices returned, subscriptions blocked.
You must make the explicit request. Allocation is not automatic upon delivery of the building permit. It is a step on your initiative, ideally to be started 2 months before the provisional reception.
The procedure, step by step
Here is the path I recommend to my clients, based on the experience of 612 receptions:
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Written request by email or counter to the municipality, including: building permit, location plan, preliminary agreement or property deed, ID card.
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Visit of the municipal surveyor on site to verify consistency with neighbouring numbers (within 10-15 days on average). He checks the logical order of the street, possible “bis” suffixes to retain, the orientation of the main facade.
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Written notification of the allocated number (within 4-6 weeks after the initial request). This notification is official and enforceable.
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Physical installation of the number on the facade: at your expense, within a period generally set at 1 month by the municipal regulation. Imposed format in some municipalities (RRU in Brussels).
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Communication to services: bpost, energy suppliers, bank, mutual insurance, employer, national register (via your municipality if you are moving there).
Common pitfalls
Across the 612 files in my history, I see five recurring pitfalls:
- Provisional vs final number: some municipalities allocate a “bis” or temporary number that becomes final without formally notifying the owner
- Inconsistency with the preliminary agreement: the notarial deed often mentions “cadastre section X plot Y” without a street number — this is normal but tricky
- Forgetting to communicate to bpost: without a declaration, mail keeps coming back “unknown address” for 3 months
- Non-compliant installation: specific municipal urban regulation (size, materials, location)
- Deadline exceeded: some municipalities require installation within 30 days under threat of administrative fine (50 to 250 €)
The ideal calendar
On the sites I support, here is the calendar I recommend to avoid any administrative delay:
- D-90 before reception: filing the request with the municipality
- D-60: visit of the municipal surveyor (if travel required)
- D-30: receiving the official notification
- D-15: ordering the physical number (ceramic, metal, plexi)
- Day of reception: number already installed on the facade
If you start the procedure after reception, count 2 extra months before being fully operational administratively.
Pitfalls to avoid
- Do not wait for key handover to make the request
- Beware of developers who announce “the council handles it, don’t worry about anything”
- Keep the municipal notification in your owner’s file
- Photograph the installation of the number for archive
- Verify the format compliance with the municipal urban regulation (RCU)
For administrative steps related to housing in Belgium, see the official portal belgium.be — housing.
What to do next?
If you want to secure all the post-reception administrative steps (street number, connections, EPC declarations, ten-year monitoring), my firm offers complete follow-up as part of the Breyne Law support or provisional reception expert mission. For a one-off check, request a free quote.