This year’s third edition of the “Kom op tegen Kanker 1000 kilometres” is Flanders’ longest bike rally. During the 17 to 20 May bank holiday weekend (Ascension), 350 teams will cycle 1000 kilometres through Flanders. Each team raises 5000 euro in support of scientific cancer research.

Ifac Service wants to support the fight against cancer and sponsors the Erps Kwerps-based team “Cavacrossers”. For more information about their activities, please visit their facebook page.  Donations for the team can be made via ban account 773-1999999-83, with the team’s id as payment reference: 170015561. For more information about the “1000 kilometres”, please visit www.1000km.be (website in Dutch)
 

Since 2008, all properties offered for sale or rent in Flanders must have a valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).  In 2009, the EPC also became obligatory in the Walloon region and in 2011, the Brussels Capital Region introduced EPC legislation. The certificate helps buyers and tenants to assess the energy performance of a property and to compare it to other properties.

On 1 January 2012, Flanders introduced the additional obligation to include EPC-related information in all real estate advertisements: the property's EPC score, expressed in kWh/m² per year, as well as either the address of the property, or the unique code identifying the property's EPC, to allow the VEA to verify the validity of the posted EPC score. Property owners who fail to provide the required information in ads for their properties, risk a fine. In 2011, fines amounted, on average, to 500 euro, or about twice the price of an EPC.

A VEA spot check revealed that EPC information is still lacking in many advertisements. Since January 1, we at Ifac Service include both the EPC score and the EPC unique code for all private properties for sale or for rent in Flanders. An evaluation by trade organisation BIV (BeroepsInstituut voor Vastgoedmakelaars) underscored our efforts in this respect. BIV commented: "We are delighted to establish that your agency makes a serious effort to comply with EPC regulations. It is a challenge to respond adequately to the ever increasing regulatory pressure."

For more information about the EPC in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia, please consult the Real Estate Info section on this site.
 

At the start of the new year, we like to take a look back at the past 12 months. Despite the challenging economic climate, our agency managed to continue to grow. In 2011, we sold 10 properties and let 27 houses and apartments on average per month. Our Property Management portfolio grew as well. Today, we manage over 500 properties. To ensure sufficient follow-up for all technical interventions in these properties, we hired a technical coordinator: the fourteenth member in our growing team of enthusiastic real estate specialists.

We also continued to expand our property development activities. We finalised the Mayfair project in Leefdaal and started to build Kensington Residence in Moorsel (Tervuren). In a first phase, 5 family homes will be built, which all have already been sold. In the second phase, starting in 2012, we will build 8 apartments (4 ground floor flats with 1 or 2 bedrooms and 4 duplex apartments with 2 bedrooms, each with cellar and garage). Please do not hesitate to phone or mail us for more information about this project (info@ifacservice.be of 02 767 14 14).

Our good results allow us to keep investing in service, in training for our personnel and in information campaigns for owners, tenants and buyers. Next year, we will continue to publish our monthly Ifac Service Woonkrant. We will also place large ads in the local paper Passe-Partout, in magazines targeted at the expat audience, and we will reinforce our presence on major real estate website like Immoweb and Vlan.

In 2012, we will publish a series of information leaflets. The first leaflet will deal with the best approach to real estate investments in our region. And as safety is our prime concern, we will also set up an information campaign about mandatory safety audits and about the measures owners and tenants can take to prevent fires and CO intoxication.

As a Tervuren SME, we sponsor about 20 projects each year. We support local schools, youth organisations, sports and cultural initiatives. We also continue to support Les Cajoutiers, a non- profit organisation that helps Senegalese children through education and continuous guidance. You can read more about their achievements on the website www.lescajoutiers.com.

Together with our full staff, we look forward to helping you realise your real estate projects this year. We would like to thank you for your confidence in our agency and wish you a successful and healthy 2012!