After two years at rock bottom, the trend in Ostend has started to rise again: 217 residential burglaries in 2025, compared with 186 in 2024, an increase of 16.7%. In a town where the local council itself funds part of the cost of making homes secure, it is worth knowing exactly what the grant covers, what it does not cover, and the order in which you need to do things to ensure you do not lose it.
217 incidents in 2025: a rise that needs to be acknowledged
The federal police publish the recorded figures municipality by municipality. In Ostend, the figures are as follows: 251 incidents in 2019, 267 in 2020, 214 in 2021, 234 in 2022, followed by a sharp drop to 177 in 2023, 186 in 2024, and 217 in 2025.
There are two ways of reading these figures, and they must be considered together. Over six years, the balance remains negative: −13.5% compared with 2019, and we are a long way from the highest figure on record, 282 incidents in 2015, or the 259 recorded in 2000. However, over a single year, the increase is clear: thirty-one more incidents, +16.7%. The low point of 2023 did not hold.
Ostend is also a town where burglaries primarily target homes: of the 263 burglaries in buildings recorded in 2025, 217 were in homes, representing 83%. On average, that is 4.2 homes per week.
The Ostend grant: generous, precise, and closed to electronics
The city of Ostend provides a municipal grant to help make private homes more secure. It is one of the best-defined schemes in the country, and it is worth reading through line by line.
The amount. The grant covers a quarter of the purchase and installation costs, excluding VAT, up to a maximum of €250 per dwelling. For people who have been victims of a burglary, a more favourable scheme applies: the first €125 is reimbursed in full (100%).
The conditions. They are strict, and the order of the steps matters more than anything. A preliminary visit by a theft prevention adviser is compulsory. All the recommendations in their report must be implemented — not just some of them, but all of them. A follow-up inspection must take place before the application is submitted. And new-build properties are excluded from the scheme.
The practical consequence is stark: if you commission the work before the visit, you lose the grant. If you implement three out of four recommendations, you lose it too. The starting point is not a quote, but an appointment.
What the grant does not cover. Let’s be absolutely clear about this, because this is the mistake that most commercial websites make: this grant does not cover the cost of alarm systems or CCTV cameras. Electronic measures are excluded. It funds mechanical protection: measures that physically delay a break-in — strong locks and cylinders, reinforced doors and frames, burglar-resistant glazing, and window security fittings.
This is not a dismissal of the alarm, it is a division of labour. The municipality subsidises what slows down, because lost time is the main reason why a burglary in progress is abandoned. The alarm and the camera, for their part, alert and document — at your own expense. The full regulations are set out on the page on the urban grant for private individuals, and both the amounts and the conditions may vary from one financial year to the next.
Belgian legal obligations, and costly mistakes
Two separate, federal systems, identical across all three regions. Ignoring them is not merely a paperwork oversight: it renders the system useless on the day it is needed.
Alarm. Registration within ten days of installation via police-on-web, annual confirmation, an annual service, an outdoor siren limited to three minutes, and mandatory verification before any police intervention. Legal basis: the Royal Decree of 25 April 2007. The classic mistake made by property owners in Ostend who do not live in their property all year round is to believe that a phone call will be enough to send out a patrol: without verification — a witness at the scene, or verification via image or sound — the alarm remains just an alarm. This is precisely why photo-verification detectors are more useful than a simple motion detector when you are two hundred kilometres away. Our guide to registering an alarm system sets out the procedure to follow.
Camera. Registration on declarationcamera.be, a clearly visible regulatory pictogram, a register of processing activities, and a ban on filming public roads or other people’s property. In Ostend, two very common set-ups fall directly under this ban. A camera installed on a seafront balcony and pointing towards the promenade films public space: this is illegal for a private individual. A camera installed in the corridor or hall of a block of flats is not a matter for an individual decision but for the co-ownership. The permissible field of view is narrow: your door, your terrace, your driveway, and nothing else. See our article on Belgian CCTV camera law, and our comparison alarm or camera if you have not yet made your choice.
Seafront, holiday homes and long periods of absence
Ostend’s housing stock comprises a mix of seafront apartment blocks, more traditional residential neighbourhoods and a significant number of properties that are occupied only intermittently. It is this last category that concentrates the risk: residential burglary is a crime of opportunity, and a property left unoccupied for several weeks out of season presents the most obvious opportunity of all — a full letterbox and shutters that remain permanently closed.
What this means in practice. In a flat, the main point of entry is the front door, and the blind spot is the terrace, which can be accessed from a neighbouring balcony or a roof. Door and window contacts on the door, the patio windows and any reachable window frames cover the essentials, with a control panel that sends alerts to your phone without requiring a subscription. In a house, you also need to cover the rear: the kitchen door, the extension and the garage.
For an unoccupied property, two functions matter more than the number of detectors: knowing immediately, and being able to check without having to travel there. An alarm kit supplemented by a camera at the main entrance, framed strictly on your own plot, fulfils both these roles. The approximate cost of such a set-up ranges from a few hundred to just over a thousand euros of equipment, depending on the number of access points to be covered.
The theft prevention adviser: free of charge, and essential here
Elsewhere, a visit from the diefstalpreventieadviseur (theft prevention adviser) is a good reflex. In Ostend, it is the key to the grant: without the preliminary visit, without fully implementing the recommendations and without the follow-up inspection, no application will succeed.
The visit is free of charge, has no commercial purpose, and the city sets out the procedure on its diefstalpreventieadvies page; the Ostend local police carry it out. Allow for a waiting time before the appointment, and another before the follow-up visit: if you are aiming for the grant, start the process well in advance of the works.
Frequently asked questions
How many burglaries were recorded in Ostend in 2025?
217 residential burglaries, according to the Federal Police’s crime statistics, an average of 4.2 per week. This represents a 16.7% increase compared with 2024 (186 incidents), but a 13.5% decrease compared with 2019 (251 incidents).
How much is the Ostend municipal grant?
The grant covers a quarter of the purchase and installation costs excluding VAT, up to a maximum of €250 per dwelling. For burglary victims, the first €125 is reimbursed in full (100%). The amounts and conditions are subject to change: check the regulations in force before incurring any costs.
Does the Ostend grant cover an alarm or a camera?
No. This grant covers only mechanical protection: high-security locks and cylinders, reinforced doors and frames, and burglar-resistant glazing. Alarm systems and CCTV cameras, like other electronic measures, are excluded.
What conditions must be met to receive the grant in Ostend?
A preliminary visit by a theft prevention adviser is compulsory, all the recommendations in their report must be implemented, and a follow-up inspection must take place before the application is submitted. New-build properties are excluded. In practical terms, you must request the visit before ordering any work whatsoever.
Can I point a camera towards the promenade from my flat in Ostend?
No. A private CCTV camera may not film public roads or other people’s property, which excludes the promenade, the beach and the street. The field of view must be limited to your terrace, your door or your plot; the camera must be registered on declarationcamera.be and signposted with the regulatory pictogram.
Sources: Police crime statistics, Federal Police DGR/DRI/BIPOL, publication 2025_T04 (cut-off date 24/04/2026) — Ostend municipal fact sheet. Grant regulations: City of Ostend, urban grant for private individuals. Grant amounts and conditions change from one financial year to the next: check with the city before incurring any costs.