It’s a SLAPP!: The Price of Exposing Belgium’s Real Estate Injustices
In 2024, Joost Debucquoy, patriarch of one of Belgium’s richest families, initiated a €1.2 million SLAPP against volunteer-led non-profits Samen Sterk! vzw (Together Strong! NPO) and Erfpacht vzw (Leasehold NPO), as well as one of their directors. On 7th August 2025, the CASE Coalition officially recognised the lawsuit as a SLAPP, intended to silence the organisations and individuals exposing the deep injustice behind the Debucquoy family’s companies business dealings.
Joost Debucquoy, a Belgian real estate entrepreneur, has initiated a SLAPP against Samen Sterk! vzw and Erfpacht vzw, as well as one of their board members. He is seeking €1.2 million in damages and demanding the removal of a newspaper article and a petition, both of which raise awareness about a complex real estate scheme that has financially trapped hundreds of families.
The Heart of the Matter: A Story of Leaseholds and Lost Savings
The Debucquoy family’s real estate companies specialise in selling long-term property leases on holiday flats, residential apartments, hotel rooms and parking spaces. Their target demographic is typically blue-collar workers, pensioners, and lower-middle-class families – individuals with humble savings who are averse to stock market risks. The companies promote these leaseholds as a stable, high-return, and inflation-proof investment.
However, in reality, the investments are structurally loss-making. The family’s companies act as developer, seller, landowner, and property manager, allowing them to collect the majority of the income while passing all costs on to the leaseholder. As the investments prove to be unprofitable, they become unsellable, trapping the leaseholders and generations of their families for up to 99 years.
The Lawsuit: A Tactic of Intimidation
The lawsuit claims the non-profits’ actions have caused Joost Debucquoy reputational harm and a loss in share value. The specific actions in question are:
- Reposting a Newspaper Article: The organisations reposted a balanced news article about multiple lawsuits against the family’s companies, which had been a finalist for a prestigious Belgian press award.
- Launching a Parliamentary Petition: The groups started a petition on the Belgian Chamber of Representatives’ website, vetted and approved by the Chamber, to ban the sale of leasehold rights as investments to consumers.
The staggering €1.2 million demand for damages is a key indicator of a SLAPP, as such inflated claims are designed to intimidate and financially drain defendants, forcing them to abandon their public criticism.
A History of Silencing Critics
This is not the first time the Debucquoy family and their companies have used aggressive tactics. For 30 years, they have used legal threats and pressure to suppress negative reports. Prior to the lawsuit, one of the non-profits received a cease and desist letter from one of the family’s companies, Creadomus Invest NV. In fact, this company was among the finalists for the Farcical Threat of the Year award in this year’s European SLAPP Contest for threatening Samen Sterk! vzw with criminal and civil lawsuits and damages of “tens of thousands of euros per week.”
A Classic SLAPP
The case of Joost Debucquoy illustrates a classic example of a SLAPP. He is a powerful individual with vast resources targeting two small non-profit organisations for trying to protect consumers. By demanding a massive sum and targeting basic acts of free speech – sharing a public news article and starting a public petition – the plaintiff aims to silence public debate on a matter of clear public interest.
This case highlights the urgent need for robust anti-SLAPP legislation in Europe to protect journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens from being bullied into silence.