Privacy statement

Bureaubuitenland België BV, Brusselstraat 51, 2018 Antwerpen, enterprise number 0736.772.309. Version October 2026.

This privacy statement explains which personal data we process, why we do so, how long we retain them, with whom we share them and what rights you have. It applies to our website www.bureaubuitenland.be and to our services to public centres for social welfare (OCMW), housing companies and other commissioning parties.

You can submit questions about this statement or about your data via info@bureaubuitenland.be or by post to the address above. Our data protection officer (DPO) is Mr Danny Baerts, who can be reached via info@dpoassociates.eu.

We process personal data of three groups.

Contact persons at commissioning parties and business relations. Employees of public centres for social welfare (OCMW), housing companies, law firms, suppliers and other organisations with which we are in contact or enter into an agreement.

Visitors to our website. Anyone who visits our website or fills in a form.

Data subjects in investigations. Persons whom a commissioning party asks us to investigate as to whether they own real estate abroad. For this group we act as processor on behalf of the commissioning party. The commissioning party is the controller and determines the purpose and the legal basis of the investigation. The arrangements on this are set out in the data processing agreement that we conclude with each commissioning party.

Contact persons at commissioning parties. Name, position, organisation, business e-mail address and telephone number, correspondence, quotations, agreements and invoices. We use these data to perform the agreement, to invoice, to inform you of the progress of case files and to keep our administration and comply with our legal obligations.

Website visitors. The data you enter in a form (name, organisation, position, e-mail address, telephone number, your question), your IP address and the cookies you allow via the cookie banner. We use these data to answer your question or request, to prevent misuse of our website and, only with your consent, to measure the use of the website.

Data subjects in investigations. Exclusively the data that the commissioning party provides to us and that are necessary to establish real estate registered in the person’s name: name, date of birth and place of birth, nationality, where applicable the name of the partner and the names and dates of birth of the parents, and the research country. We process these data only for the investigation commissioned by the commissioning party and on its written instructions. We never use them for any other purpose.

• Performance of an agreement: for data of commissioning parties and business relations.
• Legal obligation: for our accounting and tax records.
• Legitimate interest: for the security of our website and systems and for the retention of correspondence.
• Consent: for cookies that are not strictly necessary. You can withdraw that consent at any time via the cookie banner.
• Assignment from the controller: for data subjects in investigations. The commissioning party determines the legal basis, usually a statutory task or a legitimate interest in verifying the lawfulness of a benefit or a social housing unit.

We do not retain personal data for longer than necessary for the purpose for which we received them.

• Requests and questions via the website: twelve months after handling, unless an agreement results from them.
• Data of commissioning parties and business relations: for as long as the relationship lasts and thereafter for as long as the law requires. We retain accounting records for seven years.
• Case files of data subjects in investigations: the period agreed in the data processing agreement with the commissioning party. Upon expiry we destroy the data or return them to the commissioning party.

We do not sell personal data and share them only with parties that are necessary for our services.

Lawyers, estate agents and valuers in the research country. They carry out the investigations on site under our supervision. We have a contract with each of them containing confidentiality and security arrangements. They receive only the data necessary for the investigation concerned.

Microsoft 365. Our e-mail, documents and case files are held in Microsoft 365, with storage in data centres within the European Union and a data processing agreement with Microsoft.

Cookiebot. Manages cookie consent on our website.

Government and courts. If the law or a court decision obliges us to do so.

An asset investigation abroad means that data of data subjects are sent to the research country, within or outside the European Union. This takes place only to the extent that the investigation requires it, only to the lawyer or valuer contracted by us, and on the basis of the safeguards that the GDPR prescribes for such transfers, including the standard contractual clauses of the European Commission. The commissioning party is informed of this in advance in the data processing agreement.

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures: multi-factor authentication on all our accounts, encrypted storage and connections, access only for employees who need the data for their work, a secure channel for the exchange of case file data with commissioning parties (never via the website form or ordinary e-mail), a duty of confidentiality for all employees and engaged third parties, and a data breach protocol in case something does go wrong.

You have the right of access to your data, to rectification of inaccurate data, to erasure, to restriction of processing, to object to processing on the basis of legitimate interest, and to portability of data you have provided yourself. You can withdraw any consent you have given at any time.

If you are a data subject in an investigation, you exercise these rights with the commissioning party that had the investigation carried out. That party is the controller. We assist the commissioning party in this.

Send your request to info@bureaubuitenland.be. We may ask you to identify yourself. You will receive a reply within one month.

If you are not satisfied with how we handle your data, please let us know first. You can also lodge a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (GBA), Drukpersstraat 35, 1000 Brussel, contact@apd-gba.be, telephone 02 274 48 00.

You can read which cookies we use and how to adjust your preferences in our cookie statement.

Changes

We may amend this privacy statement. The current version is always available at www.bureaubuitenland.be. This version dates from October 2026 and replaces the version of June 2023.