Real estate purchase: notary fees will increase but here are three tips to reduce them

The Prime Minister announced an upcoming increase in transfer taxes for valuable consideration. But here are some ways to still lower your “notary fees”.

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Notary fees will increase, announced Michel Barnier on November 15. Enough to perhaps once again slow down the real estate purchase plans of the French, while almost a quarter of households were considering taking the plunge of a real estate purchase by the end of the year, thanks to the drop credit rates, according to the barometer “The French and real estate” recently published by the Laforêt agency network. In fact, “notary” fees represent 2% to 3% of the sale price if you buy new property, and rise to 7% to 8% in old property. A note expected to increase in the coming months, the Prime Minister having announced that the departments which so wished could increase the transfer rights by 0.5 point for payment. Capital gives you some tips to reduce the bill.

Did you know that it is possible to negotiate notary fees ? Since 2021, notaries have in fact been authorized to grant their clients a discount of up to 20% on their fees, provided that the transaction amounts to at least 100,000 euros. However, don’t expect hundreds and thousands. Because what we commonly call “notary fees” are more precisely “acquisition” fees. Let’s take the example of a real estate purchase of 200,000 euros. Based on a rate of 8%, the acquisition costs amount to 16,000 euros. But this sum does not go entirely to the notary, far from it. The largest part is made up of registration fees – the famous transfer fees – paid to the departments, the State and the municipality where the purchased property is located. In our example, only around 3,000 euros will go into the notary’s pocket. Which will therefore be able to grant you a maximum discount of 600 euros, always a good idea.

Another way to save on notary fees, deduct the furniture from the sale price. Have you fallen in love with an apartment in which the sellers leave the fully equipped kitchen and the chandeliers? This is an opportunity for you, beyond the equipment costs that this saves you! Indeed, “everything that is movable can be deducted from the sale price to reduce notary fees, which are calculated only on the real estate value», underlines Eric Allouche, general manager of the Era real estate agency network. Range hood, oven, dishwasher, washing machine, refrigerators, bedding, tables,… LThe list of furniture deductible from notary fees is long. “If you buy a house and there are 50 cubic meters of firewood in the garden, do not hesitate to deduct it from the sale price”smiles Eric Allouche. Let’s imagine that the property in question is worth 500,000 euros. If the furniture it contains is valued at 30,000 euros (on the basis of invoices, not with a wet finger, otherwise beware of possible fines from the tax authorities!), the price of the apartment alone drops to 470,000 euros. You will therefore pay your 7% notary fees on 470,000 euros, and not on 500,000 euros. The result is a saving of 2,100 euros!

Finally, you can reduce your notary fees by taking the real estate agency fees at your expense. Granted, it’s counterintuitive. But, in the same way that the buyer does not pay notary fees on the furniture, he does not pay any on the agency’s fees either, these being not real estate strictly speaking. talk. So be interested in advertisements stating “188,000 euros net seller, agency fees 12,000 euros”, rather than those mentioning “200,000 euros agency fees included”. Certainly, in both cases you will pay 200,000 euros. But in the first case, the 12,000 euros of agency fees are your responsibility: the notary fees are therefore calculated on 188,000 euros. Based on an average of 7%, they amount to 13,160 euros. In the second case, the agency fees are the responsibility of the seller. Notary fees are therefore calculated on 200,000 euros and thus amount to 14,000 euros. In the first case, you therefore realize a saving of 840 euros, all the same!