A worksite turns an Ixelles house into an open building: door removed, window frames waiting to be fitted, scaffolding on the façade, keys circulating between five trades. This happens in a municipality that recorded 499 residential burglaries in 2025 — a spectacular 26.9% fall in one year, but still 9.6 incidents per week. The works period is precisely when you are least protected, and when you can best prepare what comes next.
Ixelles 2025: a fall of a quarter, after three high years
The series published by the federal police shows a municipality long settled on a high plateau: 692 residential burglaries in 2019, a drop to 473 in 2020 — the year of lockdowns, when homes were occupied — then an immediate rebound to 716 in 2021, a peak of 772 in 2022 and 759 in 2023. The turning point came next: 683 in 2024, then 499 in 2025.
This latest figure marks a 26.9% fall in one year and 27.9% compared with 2019. It puts Ixelles below its 2015 level (760 incidents) and below that of 2000 (580 incidents). The municipality is emerging from a long high phase, which makes 2025 encouraging — without erasing the volume: 9.6 residential burglaries per week.
Another useful figure before opening a worksite: of the 716 burglaries in buildings recorded in Ixelles in 2025, homes account for 70%. The rest targets shops, practices and offices, very present between the Ixelles Ponds, Flagey and the upper chaussée d’Ixelles. An Ixelles building often houses both uses: a worksite on the second floor opens an access that is not only yours.
Why a worksite in Ixelles creates a window of risk
Renovating means temporarily suspending everything that protects a home. Four mechanisms add up, and they are particularly marked in the municipality’s dense housing.
The closures disappear. A window frame removed, a landing door replaced by a temporary door, an opening boarded up with a panel: for weeks, the mechanical line of defence no longer exists. In a townhouse divided into flats, the landing door is the real point of entry — not the building’s carriage door, which everyone holds open for material deliveries.
Keys multiply. General contractor, electrician, heating engineer, property manager, architect: the number of people with access grows, and nobody keeps count of the copies. This is not an accusation, it is an organisational reality — and it is why replacing the cylinders at the end of the works is not an excessive precaution.
The worksite is visible from the street. Skip, scaffolding, bags of rubble: the façade signals both valuable equipment inside and a home that is probably empty in the evening. The scaffolding is itself an access route to the upper floors, including flats thought to be out of reach.
Comings and goings blur the usual cues. In an Ixelles building where people pass without knowing each other, a stranger in work clothes surprises nobody: the neighbours, a building’s best sensor, temporarily stop playing that role.
Securing during the works without bringing the worksite to a halt
You do not fit a permanent system in a home whose walls are open and where the electricity is cut intermittently. The answer is a temporary, standalone and movable system.
Here, a wireless system offers something a wired one cannot during the works: detectors are put in place in the evening, moved as work progresses from room to room, and reconfigured without pulling any cable. A control panel with dual communication keeps its link even if the building’s internet line is removed along with everything else. On a worksite spread over time, the X-Observer lets you monitor its status remotely without going on site every evening.
Three priorities during this phase: whichever door is actually used for access that day, with an opening contact; the room where equipment and materials are stored; and the high point if scaffolding is up, because a third-floor window stops being inaccessible the moment someone can climb up to it. An IP camera pointed at the storage area also documents deliveries and damage, which is useful beyond theft.
The only time wiring is cheap
Renovation offers an opportunity that will not come again: wall chases are open, false ceilings removed, conduits accessible. The extra cost of running a cable, prohibitive in a finished home, becomes marginal when the worksite is already there.
In practice, it is worth laying conduit to three destinations, even without fitting equipment straight away: the flat entrance, the point on the façade where a camera could legally be framed, and the technical room. A wired Fibra installation makes direct use of these routes and removes the battery issue in hard-to-reach spots. As for the sensor, our comparison Dahua 4 MP or 8 MP camera shows that resolution matters less than framing and available light; in a narrow Ixelles street, framing is what decides. If the project starts from scratch, our guide which Ajax alarm to choose in Belgium helps with sizing before you ask for a quote.
A last end-of-works reflex, and the cheapest: replace the cylinders once the trades have left, and collect the sets of keys that were lent out.
Grant, technoprevention and obligations: what is established in Ixelles
Ixelles has a Techno-prevention service and offers a home security grant, applied for via the municipal e-Guichet. In all honesty: the amount of this grant is not published on the municipal website. We will not make it up — ask the Techno-prevention service directly before costing your works, together with the exact list of eligible works and the deadline for submitting the application.
A word of caution: do not assume that this grant will fund your alarm or cameras. Belgian municipal home security grants generally cover mechanical protection — reinforced locks and cylinders, burglar-resistant glazing, doors and frames — and not electronic equipment. Have the scope confirmed before ordering anything, via the Techno-prevention page of the municipality of Ixelles.
Free of charge and with no commercial interest, the burglary prevention adviser of the Brussels Capital Ixelles police zone (PolBru, 5339) makes home visits. Call on the adviser during the design phase, not after the window frames are fitted: it is the only time their recommendations can be implemented at no extra cost.
That leaves the federal obligations, identical in all three Regions. For an alarm: declaration within ten days via police-on-web, annual confirmation, outdoor siren limited to three minutes, annual maintenance and verification before police intervention — Royal Decree of 25 April 2007; see our guide on the declaration of an alarm system. For a camera: declaration on declarationcamera.be, regulatory pictogram, record of processing activities, and a ban on filming the public highway or the neighbour’s property — a decisive constraint on a façade opening directly onto the pavement, detailed in our article on the camera law in Belgium.
Frequently asked questions
How many burglaries were recorded in Ixelles in 2025?
499 residential burglaries were recorded in Ixelles in 2025, or 9.6 per week. This is a fall of 26.9% compared with 2024 (683 incidents) and 27.9% compared with 2019 (692 incidents), after a peak of 772 incidents in 2022.
Does Ixelles offer a home security grant?
Yes, a home security grant exists in Ixelles, managed by the Techno-prevention service, with applications submitted via the municipal e-Guichet. Its amount is not published on the municipality’s website: you must ask the service directly, along with the list of eligible works.
Does this grant cover an alarm or cameras?
Do not assume so. Belgian municipal home security grants generally target mechanical protection — locks, cylinders, burglar-resistant glazing, frames — and not electronic systems. Have the exact scope confirmed by the Ixelles Techno-prevention service before any purchase.
How do you protect a home during renovation works?
By installing a temporary, movable system: an opening contact on the door actually in use, detection in the room where equipment and materials are stored, and a high-level monitoring point if scaffolding is up. At the end of the works, replace the cylinders and collect the keys entrusted to the various trades.
Should you plan alarm wiring during the renovation?
It is the best time to do it. With wall chases open and false ceilings removed, the cost of running conduit becomes marginal, whereas it is prohibitive in a finished home. Laying conduit to the entrance, the façade and the technical room keeps the option of a wired installation later, even without fitting equipment straight away.
Sources: Police crime statistics, Federal Police DGR/DRI/BIPOL, publication 2025_T04 (closing date 24/04/2026) — Ixelles municipal factsheet. Home security grant: Techno-prevention service of the municipality of Ixelles, amount not published at the time of writing. Amounts and conditions change from one year to the next: check with the municipality before incurring any costs.