Is heat pump maintenance mandatory? What the regions require, and how to organise maintenance for your customers

Is heat pump maintenance mandatory?

Is heat pump maintenance mandatory? On the official pages of the three regions, we found no general maintenance obligation for every heat pump, like the one that exists for a central heating boiler. There are rules, however, for the refrigerant circuit containing fluorinated gases (F-gases): who may work on it, and leak checks above a certain quantity of refrigerant. Brussels also imposes a maintenance programme on larger systems. The manufacturer’s manual determines the rest.

Be careful with what you find online: many pages about mandatory heat pump maintenance describe the rules of the Netherlands or France. Those rules do not apply in Belgium.

Where it goes wrong with heat pumps

• They are not on any list. The boiler had a fixed maintenance date; the heat pump that replaced it does not.
• The wrong technician goes. Without accreditation as a refrigeration technician, they may not work on the refrigerant circuit.
• Nobody knows the quantity of refrigerant. Whether leak checks are needed depends on it.
• The warranty requires maintenance. The manufacturer prescribes it, and after a breakdown it turns out it never happened.

Is heat pump maintenance mandatory in Belgium? What each region says

What the official pages state, consulted on 31 October 2026.

Flanders

• The page inspection and maintenance of your heating on vlaanderen.be (in Dutch, undated) covers central heating boilers, individual appliances, chimneys and heating oil tanks. It does not mention a maintenance obligation for heat pumps.
• According to the page accreditation as a refrigeration technician (in Dutch, undated), the installation, maintenance, repair, decommissioning, leak checks and refrigerant recovery of heat pumps with F-gases may only be carried out by an accredited refrigeration technician. Installation, maintenance, repair and decommissioning also require an accredited refrigeration company. A RESCert certificate alone is not enough.
• The accreditation applies to work where there is a risk of refrigerant emissions.
• For the frequency of leak checks in Flanders, we refer you to the Flemish environment department (Departement Omgeving). We could not consult its page on 31 October 2026, so we do not include the frequencies.

Brussels

• Heat pumps, air-conditioning equipment and refrigeration equipment (in Dutch, 18 May 2026): heat pumps fall under refrigeration installations. For classified installations with HFCs, each circuit needs a leak check every year from 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, every six months from 50 tonnes and every three months from 500 tonnes. A hermetically closed, sealed and labelled system below 10 tonnes of CO2 equivalent is exempt from the annual check. A check also follows commissioning, a repair or a refill. The operator carries out a visual check every month and makes sure the register is filled in.
• The same page says that these conditions do not apply to an installation that is not classified, including when the total electrical power of the compressors is below 10 kW.
• EPB checks and maintenance (in Dutch, 19 May 2026): a heating system with at least one heat pump of more than 12 kW thermal falls under the minimum maintenance programme, with a logbook and a schedule of measurements and maintenance, coordinated by an EPB maintenance coordinator. The EPB acceptance and the EPB diagnostic for such systems are listed in the table as “in the future”.

Wallonia

• The page heat pump (pompe à chaleur) on energie.wallonie.be (in French, undated) mentions no maintenance obligation. It strongly recommends working with SER-certified professionals.
• The Walloon Government Order of 12 July 2007 on fixed installations that produce cold or heat with a refrigeration cycle (unofficial consolidated version on Wallex, in French, in force since 24 February 2023) applies to the classified installations under its headings. Article 22 requires a visual check every 6 months and a leak check every 12 months for less than 30 kg of fluorinated refrigerant. The leak check is carried out by a specialised refrigeration technician, and the operator is responsible for the logbook (livret de bord).

Whether a heat pump is classified depends, in Brussels, on the electrical power of the compressors and the quantity of refrigerant per circuit. Check it for each unit, and if in doubt, ask the region or your legal adviser. Who may work on the refrigerant circuit is explained in the F-gas certificate.

Who is responsible: owner, tenant or operator?

• Brussels: the operator is responsible for the refrigeration installation. For the EPB maintenance programme, it is the owner, or the holder of the environmental permit.
• Wallonia: the operator keeps the logbook of a classified installation.
• Flanders: the pages consulted about heat pumps do not name anyone responsible.

Who pays for the maintenance when the home is rented depends on the region’s rental rules and on the lease. Check with your legal adviser. In any case, state in your contract who your customer is: the owner, the tenant or the property manager (syndic).

What does a heat pump maintenance visit involve?

An example from practice, not a standard: the manufacturer’s manual and the region’s rules always come first.

In Brussels, for classified installations with HFCs, the leak checks, the full maintenance and the repairs are carried out by a qualified refrigeration technician. Have the values recorded, not just “OK”. How to build such a list for each type of unit is explained in preventive maintenance.

Offering and organising heat pump maintenance

1. Make the inventory. For each heat pump: customer, address and region, type, brand, model, serial number, installation date, thermal output, refrigerant and quantity, warranty, and who the customer is.
2. Decide what applies to each unit. The manufacturer’s frequency, the warranty conditions, and whether the unit needs a leak check or a maintenance programme.
3. Offer maintenance when you install. Brussels Environment (Leefmilieu Brussel / Bruxelles Environnement) advises private individuals to ask in the quote whether there is a maintenance contract, and for large installations to include a clause on maintenance (page of 23 May 2025, in Dutch). How to write the contract is explained in writing a maintenance contract.
4. Schedule the right profile. For work on the refrigerant circuit, an accredited refrigeration technician; for the rest, a technician who knows the brand.
5. Group by area and by season, and keep the report, the logbook and the warranty certificate with the unit.

If you also maintain boilers, follow the rules in the boiler maintenance certificate for the certificates.

An example: an installer with heat pumps in Flanders and Brussels

A fictional installer fits air-to-water heat pumps for private customers. Until now, only the customers who asked for it received maintenance. The managing director enters every heat pump in the register, with the refrigerant and the quantity from the rating plate, and checks which programme applies to a Brussels building with a larger system.

At handover, every customer receives a proposal for an annual visit, following the manufacturer’s manual, grouped by area in the spring. The technician follows the same list every time and records the temperatures. A colleague accredited as a refrigeration technician comes along when the refrigerant circuit needs work.

How it works in Digitalnatie Service Suite

The recurring work sits in the maintenance contracts module.

• The heat pumps: in the installation register, you record each unit with a customer and a site, with its brand and model, serial number, installation date and end of warranty. A column shows the next maintenance: on schedule, soon, overdue or not scheduled.
• The contract: you create a maintenance contract for one installation, with a frequency such as annual or a custom number of days, and optionally a technician. The visit template sets the instructions and the duration of each visit; the text of the terms and instructions becomes a task on every visit.
• The visits: once a day, Service Suite creates a preventive maintenance intervention for every active contract whose next visit is due. Tabs show what needs attention: overdue visits, visits in the next 30 days and contracts to renew. You can also schedule an extra visit.
• On site: in the app, the technician fills in the intervention report (work done, problem found, solution), with remarks for the customer, photos before and after, and the signatures. A checklist lets them tick the installations on the site that they serviced. After ending the work, they send the report to the customer.
• The documents: in the installation’s file, you keep a copy of the logbook or the certificates; a visibility setting makes a document appear in the customer’s portal.
• Invoicing: for each contract, the visit, the extra working hours and the parts are either billable or included in the contract.

Good to know:

• There is no dedicated field for the refrigerant and its quantity in kg or in tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Record them in a note in the installation’s log or in a document.
• The user guide does not describe an official logbook for a refrigeration installation: the refrigeration technician fills that in as the region requires.
• A contract has no price of its own: the annual price applies to all active contracts.
• A completed intervention does not automatically move the installation’s next maintenance date. Without a site, Service Suite creates no visits.

Frequently asked questions

Is heat pump maintenance mandatory in Belgium?

On the official pages of the three regions, we found no general maintenance obligation for every heat pump, as there is for a central heating boiler. There are rules for the refrigerant circuit with F-gases, such as leak checks above a certain quantity of refrigerant, and in Brussels a minimum maintenance programme for a heating system with a heat pump of more than 12 kW thermal.

How often should a heat pump be maintained?

Follow the manufacturer’s manual and warranty conditions. A leak check may also be needed, for example in Brussels every year for classified installations from 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent of HFCs per circuit.

Who may maintain a heat pump?

Work on the refrigerant circuit with F-gases requires an accredited refrigeration technician. In Flanders, according to vlaanderen.be, installation, maintenance and repair also require an accredited refrigeration company, and a RESCert certificate alone is not enough. In Brussels, for classified installations with HFCs, the full maintenance is also carried out by a qualified refrigeration technician.

Does the tenant or the owner have to have the heat pump maintained?

In Brussels, the operator is responsible for the refrigeration installation, and the owner or the holder of the environmental permit for the EPB maintenance programme. Who pays for routine maintenance in a rented home depends on the region’s rental rules and the lease. Check with your legal adviser.

Is a maintenance contract for a heat pump mandatory?

On the official pages consulted, we found no obligation to sign a contract. Brussels Environment does advise private individuals to ask, at the quote stage, whether there is a maintenance contract, and to include a clause on maintenance for large installations.