March 2026, Wavre, turnkey house of 165 m². On arrival for the provisional reception, I quickly count: 23 missing finishes. Skirting boards missing in two rooms, silicone joints not run in two bathrooms, incomplete paint on three ceilings, door handles not fitted on five interior doors, two light fittings not installed, seven points of tiling to redo, incomplete kitchen silicone joints. The owner looks at me, perplexed. What to do? Refuse, accept, postpone? Here is the unfolding of this decision and the legal principles that guided it.
Refuse: why it is rarely the right answer
Refusing reception suspends everything:
- No legal occupation of the property
- No commissioning with ORES or SWDE
- No release of the credit in the final tranche
- No transfer of the ten-year liability
- Continued mortgage interest at the owner’s expense
For 23 minor finishes, that is disproportionate — and legally, the contractor can challenge the refusal as abusive. The Breyne Law distinguishes two categories of defects:
- Visible non-fatal defects: justify a reservation, not a refusal
- Defects rendering the property unfit for its purpose: justify the refusal
Here, we are in the first category. The 23 identified defects affect aesthetics and finishing, not habitability or safety. The kitchen works, water flows, electrics are RGIE-compliant, heating runs.
Accept with reservations: the right reflex
Reception accepted under express reservations, with an exhaustive list of the 23 defects and a lifting deadline set at 30 days. The 5% retention guarantee (Breyne Law guarantee, see Breyne Law financing guarantee) is maintained until full lifting. Word-for-word mention in the minutes:
“The retentions will be released pro rata to the effective lifting of the 23 reservations listed in annex, within a maximum 30-day period from the signature of these minutes. Failing full lifting at D+30, a formal notice will be sent and the retention will remain blocked.”
“Refusing means depriving oneself of occupation. Accepting without reservations means handing out a blank cheque. The middle path is the only rational one for non-fatal defects.”
Day-by-day on-site follow-up
The actual unfolding of the lifting of the 23 reservations in the Wavre case:
- D+5: 6 finishes lifted (silicone joints, door handles)
- D+12: 14 finishes lifted (ceiling paint, light fittings)
- D+22: 19 finishes lifted (kitchen tiling, skirtings)
- D+30: 23 finishes lifted, contradictory counter-visit performed
- D+31: lifting minutes signed contradictorily
- D+33: retention guarantee released by notary
Total repair cost for the contractor: about €3,200 (materials + labour). Cost for the owner: €0, plus 30 days of acceptable tension.
The 3 cumulative conditions to refuse
The cases where refusal is legitimate across my 612 cases:
- Major RGIE defect (8 cases): no commissioning possible
- Faulty roof watertightness (5 cases): property uninhabitable
- Visible structural crack (3 cases): safety compromised
- Serious non-compliant EPC (2 cases): property value strongly impacted
That is 18 legitimate refusals out of 612, around 3% of cases. Statistically, refusal is rare.
Drafting reservations: imperative precision
Each reservation must be drafted with measurable and verifiable precision:
- ❌ “Redo kitchen tiling” (vague, unenforceable)
- ✅ “Redo the kitchen tile joint between sink and north-facing wall, over 80 cm linear, with sanding and new white sanitary silicone” (precise, enforceable)
A vague reservation is not as bad as an absent reservation — but it is worth much less than a precise one.
Pitfalls to avoid
- Do not accept “we’ll sort it out between ourselves” without writing
- Refuse deadlines without quantified commitment
- Check the causal link between defect and uninhabitability
- Keep the 5% retention even if the contractor pushes for release
- Have a third-party expert intervene to draft the reservations
For the legal framework of reception in Belgium, see justice.belgium.be — real estate.
What next?
If your reception is approaching and the finishes do not seem complete, have the decision validated by an expert before signing. My practice offers a provisional reception expert mission that includes drafting enforceable reservations and follow-up of liftings. Request a free quote specifying your reception date.