Entrepreneurship sometimes involves risks. Entrepreneurs therefore want to segregate and protect private assets from any professional debts as best they can. One way to do this is to set up a company, allowing professional creditors to recover only from the company's assets. However, for self-employed individuals who do not wish to form a company, the question often remains how to better protect private assets against professional debts. The declaration of unseizability of the family home is one of these. However, this protection is exceptional in nature and is strictly interpreted by case law, including recently confirmed by the Court of Cassation.
Who can enjoy this protection?
Any natural person exercising a professional activity on a self-employed basis (including, consequently, liberal professionals and natural persons exercising a managerial function in a company) may have a declaration of non-attachment made, irrespective of whether the activity is exercised as a main or secondary occupation. Those who exercise a self-employed activity after retirement may also make this declaration.
Conditions?
The declaration of unseizability ensures that the rights in rem, which the entrepreneur holds on the real estate where he/she has his/her main residence, are protected from enforcement by pure professional creditors. However, the declaration does not apply to mixed debts, debts arising from a crime or resulting from a managerial error that led to the bankruptcy. In addition, the unseizability only applies to new debts after the registration date of the declaration of unseizability in the mortgage office.
If the self-employed person also carries on a professional activity in the dwelling where he has his main residence, this must be taken into account in the declaration. If the surface area used for professional activities is less than 30%, the entire dwelling will be declared exempt from seizure. If it exceeds 30%, then the protection only applies to the private part and not to the professional part.
If one is married as an entrepreneur, the declaration must be co-signed by the spouse, regardless of the marriage system.
The declaration of nonattachment can only be made before a notary. This is followed by an entry in the mortgage office so that this declaration is opposable to third parties.
What to do when selling your own home?
When selling one's own home to purchase a new home, a few rules apply to remain in compliance with the owner-occupied home's non-seizability. These are quite strict:
- The funds from the sale of the first home must be kept at the notary's office. These monies are then also unattachable.
- The purchase of the new home must take place within one year of the deed of sale of the first home.
- The deed to the new home must state that it is a reinvestment.
In a March 19, 2026 judgment, the Supreme Court explicitly confirmed that these conditions must be strictly and cumulatively respected. As soon as (part of) the sale proceeds are no longer held with the notary, or the reinvestment is not done timely and correctly, the unseizability lapses immediately and completely.
Thus, the sale proceeds do not enjoy autonomous protection, but only a temporary and functional extension of the protection of the family home itself.
When does the unseizability end?
Unseizability ends in a number of cases:
- When at the time of the sale of the owner-occupied home the conditions are not met to continue to enjoy the protection;
- When the self-employed person dies;
- When the self-employed person waives the declaration;
Attention: you cannot make a distinction between the creditors in this respect. If you waive this declaration against 1 creditor, then this also applies to the other creditors.
Foreclosure, professional and tax debts
The declaration of unseizability provides protection only against certain purely professional creditors in the course of self-employment. This protection affects neither personal income tax nor tax collection.
Debts owed to the tax authorities, such as personal income tax, VAT, tax increases, negligence interest and social security contributions, are not considered as professional debts subject to the attachment regime. The tax authorities therefore continue to take authorized recovery measures even when the family home has been declared unattachable through a declaration.
The Supreme Court ruling confirms that the declaration of unseizability is a purely civil protection mechanism, strictly interpreted and does not result in tax immunity. It does not alter the taxability of income or assets for personal income tax purposes.
Effective but not sanctified
Protecting the family home from professional debts can thus be achieved for natural persons who are self-employed through the declaration of unseizability.
However, this declaration also has its limitations: the declaration will not provide relief for all debts and, as an entrepreneur, one should be aware of the fact that some banks will be less inclined to grant professional loans since the home can no longer be used as collateral. In this case, other guarantees will have to be provided to the bank.
Moreover, the Court of Cassate's ruling confirms that this protection is not a flexible or equitable mechanism, but a strictly defined exception whose benefit can be quickly lost, especially in the case of a sale of the family home.
If you would like more information about this, please contact us at 051 26 82 68 or via email at info@titeca.be.