“Notary fees”: their increase sends a “very bad signal” to buyers, it is the notaries who say so

The increase in transfer taxes for payment in 2025, announced by the Prime Minister, is “a very bad economic signal for small budgets”, judge the notaries of Greater Paris. And a “very bad psychological signal” for others.

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Despite the drop in real estate loan rate for several months, candidates for home ownership have remained “wait-and-see”notes Elodie Frémont, notary in Paris. A wait-and-see attitude that it attributes in particular to the upcoming increase in transfer taxes for valuable consideration (DMTO), incorrectly called “notary fees» as they are mainly made up of local and national taxes. The Prime Minister has announcement on November 15 that the departments which wish to do so will be able to increase the DMTO by 0.5 points in 2025. For a real estate buyer, “this will represent 500 euros extra of DMTO for each tranche of 100,000 euros of the purchase price of the property”calculates Elodie Frémont. If you buy a home for 200,000 euros next year, it will cost you 1,000 euros in additional “notary fees”, compared to an acquisition made today.

“This represents a significant financial burden”regrets Elodie Frémont. His colleague Thibault Gallot Lavallée, notary in Neuilly-sur-Seine, agrees: “the increase in DMTO is a very bad signal economical for small budgets and a very bad psychological signal for larger budgets”. And to add in passing that “notaries will gain nothing more with this 0.5 point increase in DMTO”which will benefit the departments.

Already heavy “notary fees”

To those who object that 500 euros more per tranche of 100,000 euros is not a lot to drink, the real estate portal SeLoger retorts that “it would be a little hasty to forget that this sum will be added to the 20,175 euros that DMTOs already cost buyers, for a purchase of 250,000 euros”. The “notary fees” in fact represent 7 to 8% of the price of the property in old buildings, and 2 to 3% in new buildings.

Certainly, Michel Barnier’s cabinet has specified that the first-time buyerswho are purchasing real estate for the first time, will not be affected by this increase in “notary fees” and that all purchasers of a new housingsecondly as first-time buyers, will also be excluded from its scope. But this remains to be written in black and white in amendments to the finance bill for 2025, currently being examined by the Senate.