Planning, environment and public real estate law

RESOLVED’s attorneys have in-depth experience in planning law, environmental law and the other administrative regulations applicable to properties and real estate projects.

We assist individuals, companies, developers and public authorities in preparing and carrying out their projects, analysing their rights and obligations, authorisation and regularisation procedures, as well as in administrative and judicial litigation.

We have a thorough command of the legislation and procedures specific to the country’s three Regions — Brussels, Wallonia and Flanders — as well as the appeal mechanisms before the administrative and constitutional courts.

Our practice covers both preventive and strategic advice and the preparation of administrative files, negotiation with the authorities, defence of our clients’ interests and the handling of disputes.

It is also distinguished by a command of the interactions between administrative regulations and civil real estate law and construction law. This dual expertise allows projects and disputes to be approached as a whole, taking account of their consequences for ownership, contracts, liabilities and the use of properties.

Planning and administrative authorisations

We act in particular in:

• Analysis of the planning situation of properties and of the legal feasibility of construction, conversion and change-of-use projects;
• Preparation and support of applications for planning permits, environmental permits, single permits and omgevingsvergunningen, in accordance with the applicable regional legislation;
• Contacts and prior consultations with the competent authorities;
• Preparation of observations and objections in the context of public inquiries;
• Analysis of development plans, planning prescriptions, permits and other existing authorisations;
• Planning and environmental regularisations, and the development of strategies adapted to irregular situations;
• Support for public authorities in the examination of files, the drafting, reasoning and, where appropriate, revision of their decisions.

Administrative appeals and litigation

We have in-depth experience in administrative and judicial procedures, both for applicants and permit holders and for concerned third parties and public authorities.

Our work concerns in particular:

• Lodging and defending administrative appeals before the competent authorities, in particular the regional Governments and the Deputations;
• Judicial appeals before the Council of State and the Council for Permit Disputes (Raad voor Vergunningsbetwistingen);
• Proceedings before the Constitutional Court concerning the applicable legislative standards;
• Civil and administrative litigation relating to authorisations, administrative restrictions and environmental liabilities;
• Planning and environmental offences, remediation measures, criminal proceedings and administrative sanctions.

We also assist public authorities in preventing disputes, securing their decisions legally and defending them before the competent courts.

Environmental law

We advise our clients on the environmental obligations applicable to real estate projects, installations and economic activities.

Our practice covers in particular:

• Environmental permits and authorisations, operating conditions and compliance obligations;
• Environmental impact assessments and studies;
• Regulations on energy and the environmental performance of buildings, in particular the Brussels schemes such as COBRACE and PLAGE;
• Regulations on waste, its management, recovery and end-of-waste status;
• Environmental offences, administrative measures, sanctions and liabilities;
• Coordination between the various administrative authorities, in particular in the areas of planning, environment, waste and contaminated soil.

Contaminated soil and environmental liabilities

The management of contaminated soil is an area in which administrative obligations, technical constraints and civil liabilities are particularly closely linked.

We act in particular in:

• Analysis of investigation, management and remediation obligations for contaminated soil in the three Regions;
• Determination of the obligations and liabilities of owners, operators, sellers, purchasers and other parties involved;
• Support for real estate transactions and projects involving contaminated or potentially contaminated land;
• Negotiation and drafting of agreements and contractual clauses relating to soil status, investigations, remediation works, cost-sharing and liabilities;
• Administrative procedures, challenges and disputes relating to management and remediation obligations;
• Interactions between regulations on soil, waste, excavated earth and planning or environmental authorisations.

Our complementary civil real estate practice allows us to integrate the contractual and proprietary consequences of these obligations, in particular in acquisition, disposal and real estate valuation transactions.

Heritage, expropriation, roads and public real estate law

Beyond planning and environmental law proper, we act in various areas of public law that concern the ownership, use or realisation of real estate projects.

These areas include in particular:

• Protection of immovable heritage: listed monuments and sites, protection measures and the resulting administrative constraints;
• Expropriation for reasons of public utility: administrative and judicial procedures, challenges, taking of possession and compensation;
• Roads and servitudes of public utility: creation, modification or removal of roads, building lines, access, public rights of way and administrative restrictions affecting properties;
• Public domain: occupation and use of the public domain, authorisations, concessions and agreements relating to public property;
• Utilities and infrastructure of public utility: rights of occupation, servitudes, relocation of pipes and installations, agreements and cost-sharing;
• Housing quality and safety: unfit-for-habitation orders, administrative measures and legal consequences;
• Real estate taxes and charges: in particular local and regional taxes relating to vacancy, parking and the environment.

We pay particular attention to the interactions between these various regulations, as well as their consequences for the rights of owners and other parties involved.

Audits, due diligence and project support

We carry out audits and legal compliance analyses, in particular in the context of acquisitions, disposals, restructurings, conversions and real estate development projects.

This work concerns in particular:

• The planning and environmental situation of properties;
• Existing or required permits and authorisations;
• Possible offences, regularisation obligations and administrative risks;
• Constraints arising from environmental, heritage or other public-law provisions;
• The consequences of these elements for the parties’ rights, the transactions envisaged and the contracts.

We favour a preventive, pragmatic and creative approach, in consultation with technical advisers and other parties involved in the project.

The combined mastery of public and private real estate law

Planning and environmental legislation cannot always be approached independently of civil law.

The conditions of a permit may affect the performance of a construction contract. An irregular planning situation may raise questions about the liability of the seller or the landlord. The management obligations relating to contaminated soil may influence a real estate transaction and the allocation of liabilities between the parties. A public servitude or an expropriation measure may have consequences for rights in rem and existing agreements.

RESOLVED’s dual expertise in administrative law and civil real estate law allows us to deal with these questions in a coordinated manner, from the design and legal structuring of projects through to their completion and, where appropriate, the resolution of disputes.

We act for legal entities governed by public and private law as well as for individuals, in Brussels, Wallonia and Flanders.

Contacts: Laurent DELMOTTE, Marie-Cécile FLAMENT and Bart VAN HYFTE.