Private detective or investigation agency via lawyers: the difference

The profession of private detective is regulated in Belgium by the wet van 19 juli 1991 tot regeling van het beroep van privédetective (Act of 19 July 1991 regulating the profession of private detective). A detective needs a licence from the FOD Binnenlandse Zaken (FPS Home Affairs) and may collect information about persons on behalf of a client: observing, tailing, interviewing witnesses, consulting public sources. The Act imposes strict limits: no investigation into political or religious conviction, health or sexual orientation, no intrusion into the home, and mandatory reporting to the commissioning party.

Two limitations are decisive for public centres for social welfare (OCMWs) and housing companies. The Belgian licence applies in Belgium; abroad, a Belgian detective has no authority and no access to registers. And observation is a serious interference with private life, which for a public-sector client is quickly considered disproportionate if a less intrusive means exists.

Bureaubuitenland België is not a private detective and observes no one. We answer one question: is there real estate registered in the name of the person concerned in the country of investigation, and if so, what exactly? We do this by having the property registers of that country consulted by a lawyer who is registered and competent there, in accordance with the law of that country.

The result is a register entry: an extract showing the date, plot, owner, method of acquisition and co-owners, where necessary with the underlying deeds, a sworn translation and a valuation by a local appraiser. We do not investigate the behaviour, contacts or stay of the person concerned. How this works step by step is described under how we work. Read more about Bureaubuitenland België.

The two routes differ in what they deliver before a court.

An observation report describes what a detective has seen: a person entering a home, a car in front of a door. That says nothing about ownership. The person concerned may be staying there as a guest, renting or visiting family. Moreover, observation abroad by a Belgian detective is not permitted, and a report on it would itself be unlawful.

A register extract describes who is the owner according to the official register. That is precisely the fact that counts for the property ownership condition and the means test. In specific cases, such as Hamme (2019), Antwerp (2020, on appeal) and the Woonhaven case, the Belgian courts took these investigative findings into account and rejected the defences based on privacy and anti-discrimination; see what the Belgian courts say. Each ruling relates to a specific case and offers no guarantee for the outcome of another case. Because the investigation remains limited to ownership in a person’s name, it is also the least intrusive means: that is what the GDPR and the courts expect of a public-sector client.

For an OCMW or housing company, any investigation into a person is a processing of personal data. The GDPR then requires a legal basis, a clear purpose and no more data than necessary. Observation by a detective produces a great deal of data about the daily life of the person concerned and of third parties, such as family members and visitors; this is at odds with data minimisation. Register investigation produces one piece of data that fits the purpose precisely: the ownership situation.

At Bureaubuitenland you are the controller and we are the processor. We conclude a data processing agreement with every commissioning party, receive case data exclusively via a secure channel and pass on to our lawyer in the country of investigation only what is needed for the consultation: name, date of birth and the region. We do not process special categories of data, such as health or conviction. You can read more about this in our privacy statement.

Observation is paid per hour and only yields something after days or weeks, without certainty. Register investigation is clearly delimited. At Bureaubuitenland the pre-check is usually completed within 1 to 2 weeks; a full in-depth investigation usually takes 2 to 4 weeks and is estimated in advance per case. For investigations within the Flemish framework agreement, housing companies have the costs reimbursed in full or for the most part; no such scheme exists for observation.

The choice follows from the question you want answered.

• Does the person concerned really live at the stated address, or do they live with someone? That is a domicile question. You answer it in Belgium, with home visits, consumption data and the neighbourhood police officer; in exceptional cases with a licensed detective. See domicile fraud versus property fraud.
• Does the person concerned own real estate abroad? That is an ownership question. You answer it with register investigation via local lawyers, never with observation.
• Both? Then you combine a domicile investigation in Belgium with a property investigation abroad. The absence established in the domicile investigation is often the concrete suspicion that justifies the property investigation.

In case of doubt, a pre-check helps you decide: usually within 1 to 2 weeks you have an initial picture of what is registered in the person’s name and whether further investigation is worthwhile.

Sources: Act of 19 July 1991 regulating the profession of private detective, see FOD Binnenlandse Zaken, Veiligheid en Preventie (FPS Home Affairs, Safety and Prevention); VRT NWS, 18 June 2019.