The peak of the Zaventem series is not from the distant past: it was 2015, with 386 residential burglaries. Ten years later, the municipality records 136. The question residents are asking is therefore no longer ‘should we get equipped?’, but ‘how much does it really cost, item by item, and where is the money useful?’. Here is the answer, without a price catalogue.
Zaventem in figures: a plateau after a sharp fall
| Year | Residential burglaries in Zaventem |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 204 |
| 2020 | 112 |
| 2021 | 208 |
| 2022 | 222 |
| 2023 | 123 |
| 2024 | 139 |
| 2025 | 136 |
The picture has two phases. Up to 2022, the municipality had high years — 208 then 222 incidents — continuing the pattern of the 2010s, which peaked at 386 in 2015. Then, from 2023, the level moved to a new plateau: 123, 139, 136. Three consecutive years in the same band. The fall compared with 2019 reaches 33.3%, but over the last year the change is only 2.2%. In other words, most of the decline is behind us; what remains is a stable level of 2.6 residential burglaries per week.
One figure deserves attention before drawing up a budget: of the 194 burglaries in buildings recorded in Zaventem in 2025, only 70% targeted a home. This share is low, and it reflects the make-up of the municipality, where economic activity and business premises carry great weight. For a private individual, this means that a total for ‘burglaries in buildings’ overestimates the risk that concerns them: the relevant line, for a home, is the 136.
What Zaventem’s housing requires you to cover
The number of access points to protect is the variable that determines the budget. It depends not on the owner’s taste but on the house.
Zaventem’s residential fabric consists of detached and semi-detached houses with gardens, often fenced and often not overlooked at the rear. The front façade, visible from the street and lit, is almost never the point of entry. What is: the living-room French window, the picture window, the conservatory, the kitchen door onto the terrace, and the side door of the garage or garden shed. These access points have three things in common: they are glazed, they are not visible from the street, and the fence that protects the occupants’ privacy also protects the intruder once inside.
The direct consequence for the budget: a typical Zaventem house rarely has just one rear access point. Two to four vulnerable openings are the norm, and it is this number — not the living area — that sets the cost of the installation.
The real cost, item by item
A residential installation breaks down into six items. Knowing them prevents you from buying in the wrong order.
- The control panel. A single, unavoidable item, it determines everything else: number of devices that can be connected, range, communication. See the Ajax control panels and the comparison Hub 2 versus Hub 2 Plus.
- Opening detection. One magnetic contact per vulnerable opening. This is the item that varies most from one house to another, and the one people underestimate by equipping only the front door.
- Indoor detection. One or two detectors in the rooms people pass through. Photo verification costs more per unit but avoids unnecessary trips and directly serves the alarm verification required before any police intervention.
- Outdoor detection. Optional in a flat, relevant here: in an enclosed garden that is not overlooked, outdoor detectors move the alert to before the glass is broken rather than after.
- Signalling. An outdoor siren — see the Ajax sirens — whose deterrent effect remains the main reason a break-in in progress is abandoned, and a keypad or arming control so that the system is actually used day to day.
- Video, if justified. An item in its own right, with its own dependencies: cameras, recorder and storage. Our guides 4 MP or 8 MP and how many TB for four cameras help you avoid oversizing.
For a Zaventem house with a garden, the equipment typically costs between €900 and €2,000, depending on the number of access points to cover. The gap between the two figures is almost entirely down to the ‘opening detection’ item and whether or not there is an outdoor part.
The costs nobody mentions
An honest budget does not stop at the purchase. Three items come back afterwards.
Annual maintenance is not optional: it is a Belgian legal obligation for an alarm system. It must therefore be budgeted for, whether it is carried out by an installer or under a contract.
Power. Wireless devices run on batteries, replaced at long but very real intervals. A system of fifteen devices is not maintained like a system of five.
The subscription — the most debatable item. Many offers present a monthly fee as inseparable from the equipment. It is not: a system can operate fully autonomously, with notifications sent directly to the owner. Our article on the Ajax alarm with no subscription sets out what you lose and what you keep. Over the lifetime of an installation, it is often the largest expense, far ahead of the equipment.
The zero-euro item, and what no grant will fund
Before any purchase, the municipality provides its residents with security advice, in conjunction with the Lokale Politie Zaventem (5400). A burglary prevention adviser visits, examines the actual access points and provides recommendations. The visit is free and has no commercial interest — it is the only item in the budget with an infinite return, and it remains largely under-used.
As for financial support, check with your municipal administration: some Belgian municipalities offer a grant for securing homes. One thing is certain and must be built into the budget from the outset: these grants fund mechanical protection — reinforced cylinders and locks, burglar-resistant glazing, sturdy doors and frames — and almost always exclude alarm systems and cameras. No line of your detection installation will be reimbursed this way.
Two legal obligations not to forget in the calculation
They are federal and identical throughout the country. An alarm must be declared via police-on-web within ten days of installation, confirmed every year and maintained annually, and its outdoor siren may not sound for more than three minutes; alarm verification is mandatory before police intervention — see the declaration of an alarm system. A camera must be declared on declarationcamera.be, requires a pictogram and a register, and may film neither the public highway nor the neighbour’s garden: on a Zaventem housing estate, this rule determines the orientation of every outdoor camera.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an alarm for a house in Zaventem cost?
The cost depends on the number of access points to protect, not on the floor area. For a house with a garden, the equipment typically costs between €900 and €2,000 depending on the number of access points to cover, the difference coming mainly from the number of openings equipped and whether outdoor detection is included. On top of this come annual maintenance, which is a legal obligation, and any subscription, which is not essential.
How many burglaries are recorded in Zaventem?
136 residential burglaries in 2025, or 2.6 per week. This is 33.3% fewer than in 2019 (204 incidents) but only 2.2% fewer than in 2024 (139 incidents): after a sharp fall, the municipality is on a plateau. The highest figure in the series, 386 incidents, dates from 2015.
Can a municipal grant reduce the cost of an alarm in Zaventem?
No. Where municipal home-security grants exist in Belgium, they fund only mechanical protection — locks, cylinders, burglar-resistant glazing, frames — and almost always exclude alarms and cameras. Check with your municipal administration to find out which scheme applies, but do not count on it for your detection system.
Do you need a monthly subscription for an alarm?
No, it is not an obligation. A system can operate autonomously, with notifications sent directly to the owner. A remote monitoring subscription adds a human alarm verification and response service, but over the lifetime of the installation it is the heaviest expense.
What share of burglaries in Zaventem targets homes?
In 2025, Zaventem recorded 194 burglaries in buildings, 70% of them in a home. This relatively low share is explained by the weight of business premises in the municipality: for a private individual, the relevant statistic is the 136 residential burglaries.
Sources: Police crime statistics, Federal Police DGR/DRI/BIPOL, publication 2025_T04 (cut-off date 24/04/2026) — Zaventem municipal fact sheet. Security advice: municipality of Zaventem. Municipal support schemes change from one budget year to the next: check with your administration before incurring any costs.