Accredited Domiciliation Provider in Belgium: What Are They Legally Required to Provide?

The six conditions that describe a domiciliation provider under Belgian law.

An accredited domiciliation provider in Belgium is a company registered with the SPF Économie (Federal Public Service Economy) under the law of 29 March 2018, permitted to make its address available to other companies as their registered office. It concerns any founder, freelancer or director who wants to register a company somewhere other than their private home. The provider must satisfy six material conditions, all verifiable, and its registration appears on a public list anyone can search for free. Operating without that registration carries a fine of €250 to €100,000.

Two terms need a precise definition before anything else, because everything below depends on them.

A company service provider is, under the law of 29 March 2018, a natural or legal person supplying third parties with certain services connected to forming or managing companies. Domiciliation, the practice of using a provider's address as your company's registered office, is one of them. Registration, commonly called the agrément in everyday speech, is the decision by which the SPF Économie authorises that activity. It is an authorisation to operate, carrying conditions the provider must keep meeting for as long as it operates. Not a commercial badge.

That distinction changes how you choose. You are not ranking suppliers on a quality scale. You are checking which ones comply with a specific legal regime, and that check is one you can run yourself.

If the concept itself is new to you, start with what company domiciliation actually is, then come back here for the selection criteria.

What does Belgian law require a domiciliation provider to provide?

The law imposes six concrete conditions on any company wanting to supply domiciliation. They concern premises and contracts, never reputation.

The SPF Économie words them as follows. The provider must offer domiciled clients premises with one or more offices or rooms, each equipped with furniture allowing them to fulfil their respective roles. It must operate a system for the secure archiving of documents, at the customer's request. It must supply an ICT infrastructure with internet access and office equipment, photocopier and scanner included. It must provide a reception or welcome area. It must be the lawful occupant of those premises, which implies a title deed or a lease. And it must include the occupancy conditions in a model contract given to the client.

Read that list again. It never mentions a website, a price, or a turnaround time. It talks about square metres, furniture, an internet connection, and somewhere a person can receive you. That is deliberate. The Belgian legislator set out to separate companies genuinely operating premises from those merely renting out a name on a plaque.

Here is the part most price comparisons leave out. The fine of €250 to €100,000 does not only strike operators with no registration. It applies equally to a registered provider that stops meeting these conditions. Registration is not something won once and kept. It is a state to maintain. A provider that has moved, shrunk its premises or quietly given up its reception area can still appear on the list while no longer complying.

Accredited Domiciliation Provider in Belgium: How Do You Check the Register?

The SPF Économie publishes the list of registered providers, and it is free to search, with no account and no prior formality.

You will find it here: public list of company service providers. Search the trading name or the enterprise number of the provider you are considering. If it does not appear, the conversation stops there, whatever price was quoted.

Three precautions are worth taking while you are in there. Search the exact legal entity name rather than the brand, because the two often differ and an apparent absence may be nothing more than a naming mismatch. Compare the address shown on the list with the one the provider is offering you, since a discrepancy deserves a question. And ask for the model contract before signing, because the law requires it to exist: a provider with none to hand raises a doubt about the other five conditions.

The check takes a few minutes. We recommend it to every prospect who contacts us, including those comparing us against competitors, because a client who has verified asks better questions afterwards.

What Should Warn You Before You Sign?

The most reliable warning signs are absences: no verifiable registration, no identity check, no premises you can visit, no written commitment.

Take a common situation. You are forming your Belgian SRL, the equivalent of a limited liability company. You compare four Brussels providers, the price spread runs from single to triple, and you pick the cheapest. Three weeks later your bank asks for the domiciliation certificate before opening the formation account. You request it, it is slow to arrive, and while you wait you open the public list: the provider is not on it. You are now stuck at step four of a seven-step formation sequence, on a point you thought you had settled at step three, with a notary appointment already booked.

Here is what should have raised a flag earlier.

Nobody ever asked for your identity documents or your draft articles of association. The anti-money laundering law of 18 September 2017 requires identification of the client, the directors and the ultimate beneficial owners to be completed before the contract is concluded. A provider who lets you sign without checking anything is operating outside the framework, and the client list building up at that address is one you would rather not appear on.

No physical address is shown to you, or a visit is discouraged. The six conditions describe real premises. If nobody can receive you in the reception area the law requires, ask whether it exists.

Nobody can tell you what actually happens to a letter. "We handle your mail" is not a scope. Ask for the sequence: is post received, are you notified, is it scanned, and can the physical original be forwarded on request? A provider unable to describe its own process in one sentence has not designed one. For reference, ours is received, notified by email, scanned, and physically forwarded when asked.

The price only makes sense once you reach the second or third tier. Scanning at one price, forwarding at another, a deposit on top: the figure you compared was never the figure you pay. Ask what the total is after twelve months with your actual usage, in writing. A single all-inclusive subscription, with no tiers, no deposit and no setup fee, is easier to audit than a grid, and it is the model Yelomex runs at €60 per month excluding VAT.

No commitment on response times, anywhere. Belgian administrative letters run on fixed deadlines. A registered office is only useful if someone is behind it on the day it matters. Ask for the commitment in writing rather than in conversation: how fast does a reply come, and how fast does an address go live? Ours are twenty-four hours and forty-eight hours respectively, and you are entitled to ask any provider for the same in writing.

What Stays Your Obligation Once You Have Chosen?

Registration covers the provider. Your company's substance remains your own obligation, and no agrément transfers it.

Your registered office is the address where the administration notifies you, where a court serves you, where the tax authority writes to you. The law expects a real link between your company and that address. In practice: your mail is handled there and reaches you, you can be received there, and you are able to explain your setup to an inspector in two sentences. A faultless provider does not exempt you from that requirement. It gives you the means to meet it.

Which is also why we insist, against a good part of this market, that a registered office address in Brussels is not a product you buy and forget. It works for as long as it is used. Companies registered in the BCE, Belgium's central company registry, are read by banks and administrations as a set of signals, and the address is one of the loudest.

Looking for a professional address in Brussels?

Yelomex offers commercial domiciliation from €60/month, in real premises in the heart of Brussels. No long-term commitment required.

See pricing and options

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know whether a domiciliation provider is registered with the SPF Économie?

Search the public list of company service providers on the SPF Économie site, at prestatairesdeservices.economie.fgov.be. You can search by company name or enterprise number, it is free, and no account is needed. Check the legal entity name rather than the trading brand, since the two frequently differ.

What does a provider risk by operating without registration?

A fine of €250 to €100,000. The same penalty applies to an already registered provider that stops meeting the legal conditions, for example by abandoning its premises or its reception area. Registration is a state to maintain, not a formality acquired once.

Does the provider's registration protect my company?

No. Registration governs the provider's activity. It does not cover the obligations resting on your own company. Your registered office must keep a real link with your activity, which is what substance means. That requirement stays yours regardless of how good the provider is.

What should I ask a provider about mail handling?

Ask for the sequence rather than the promise: is post received, are you notified, is it scanned, and can the physical original be forwarded on request? A notification alone tells you an envelope exists. It does not tell you which deadline is inside it.

Is an unusually low price a warning sign?

It deserves a question, not a conclusion. Furnished offices, secure archiving, ICT infrastructure, office equipment, a reception area and lawful occupancy are all fixed costs. A price that plainly cannot fund them justifies checking the registration and asking to visit the premises.