Viewing posts from: October 2017
30.10.17

When buying a property in France, you will also need to pay what are called “notaire fees”. These can rarely be included in the mortgage hence why you should plan for this expense beforehand.

The notaire will first draw the pre-sales contract (compromis), and then the final contract, for completion (acte de vente). These documents will include all the details of the purchase, the vendors, the buyers, as well as the amount of notaire fees.

Notaire fees are mistakenly called as such. In reality, they are purchase costs (frais d’acquisition), and are added to the purchase cost of the property. In common language they are referred as notary fees but in reality they are made of:

  • 80% national and local taxes
  • 10% of funds the notaire has to anticipate to settle the purchase (filing, purchase of official documents, paying eventual third parties involved, etc.)
  • 10% of actual notaire fees.
  • These fees are set and controlled by French law, and are calculated based on the purchase amount.

Example: For a purchase of 250,000€ of an existing property, and with a 200,000€ mortgage with a security on the property (garantie hypothécaire), the total purchase cost/notaire fees will come to 20,300€, thus approximately 8% of the purchase price.
*Out of these 20,300€, only approximately 2,440.41€ are actual notaire fees.

You will find more information and a useful simulator on the “Notaires in France” website at:
https://www.immobilier.notaires.fr/fr/frais-de-notaire

And in case of doubt, remember we are here to help! Contact us here

Posted by WebMaster in mortgages in france, notaire fees