About Katjaja

Status:

Expatriate  

Gender:

Female

Currently Lives:

Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Belgium

Citizen Of:

Germany

Past Expat Posts:

New Zealand

United Kingdom

I would love to live in...

Hongkong

Education:

Open University
  2006 to 2008

Favorite Cuisine:

indian, korean

Favorite Museum:

Riksmuseet Stockholm

Favorite Movie:

Time and Tide

Favorite Book:

View from the Mirror

Favorite Sports Team:

Auckland Blues

Some Forum Posts:

Belgium: Residential lettings:

Hi there, a good place to start is http://www.vlan.be/ it's the belgian equivalent to Loot. Agencies as well as private landlords place adverts there. The website lets you search in english, and you will find links to other agencies on individual property profiles. Only drawback is that some adverts are classified wrong (i.e. you might search for a 3-bedroom flat for you and your family and land on adverts looking for a flatmate in a 3-bedroom share). If you can, travel to Brugge for a few days and just walk around. By far the most common way to rent out (or even sell) a place is by placing a large bright orange sign ('te huur' (for rent) or 'te koop' (for sale)) in the window. There are tons of places for rent that are never advertised anywhere online. The landlord's contact details (and often the specs of the apartment) are usually listed directly on the sign.

Belgium: 10 Tips for Living in Belgium:

- get used to bureaucracy. You need an ID card for a lot of things. To get that, you need to get registered. It's not too difficult (go to your local council office or the central registry in Brussels), but depending where you are it can take some time until you finally get your card. - be prepared to take a number and wait. In Brussels it can easily take up to an hour to buy a stamp at the post office if you're unlucky. Get used to it. If you're grumpy to the clerk after waiting for an hour and a half they have no qualms to ignore you and send you away without any stamps at all. If you need to go to the central registry office in Brussels in person during a busy time you may find that you have to wait in line to get a number, which will allocate you a place in the queue to get another number for the actual queue.

Date Joined:

5/13/2008

Total Posts:

2

Posts/Day:

0.00