Notaire's fees on older properties: how they break down

Notaire’s fees: the phrase is misleading, because it mostly covers taxes. On an older property, transfer duties, collected by the notaire on behalf of the State and local authorities and then passed on, dominate by far, well ahead of the notaire’s own fees and the disbursements. The buyer pays the lot, on the day of the signing, on top of the price agreed with the seller. None of these items is negotiable, but the calculation base can, in certain cases and on documentary evidence, be adjusted; a reliable order of magnitude can in any case be obtained early on, and we come back to this at the end of this guide.

This page is addressed to every buyer of an older home in France, whatever their nationality or residence: the composition of the fees does not depend on it. The purchase journey from abroad as a whole, financing, personal taxation, payment methods, on the other hand deserves to be put back in context: that is the purpose of the Journal’s country-by-country guides.

What does the phrase “notaire’s fees” actually cover?

Three components sit on top of one another inside what everyone calls notaire’s fees:

• Transfer duties, in the broad sense: registration duties and the land registration tax, due on the sale of an older property. This is by far the dominant share, and it does not go to the notaire: they collect it and pass it on.
• The notaire’s fees proper, the émoluments: their own remuneration, calculated on the sale price according to a regulated scale, identical for every notaire in France. Nothing is negotiable on this item, neither discount nor surcharge.
• Disbursements and formalities: the expenses advanced by the notaire on your behalf, cadastral documents, extracts, various diligences, re-invoiced at cost, together with the formalities provided for by the scale.

In other words, the notaire keeps only a limited share of what you pay: the bulk is tax, which is why people increasingly speak of “acquisition fees”, a fairer phrase. The detailed statement is handed to you and kept in the file: every line can be checked there, and you are well advised to read it.

Older or new: why does the composition change?

On a new property, the sale price in principle includes value added tax, and registration duties play a faded role there. On an older property, that tax is not added on top of the price, and transfer duties take centre stage. The practical consequence is direct: at a comparable asking price, acquisition fees do not have the same face depending on whether the property is new or old, and comparing the two at an identical total budget makes no sense.

Borders exist as well: a purchase with completion works, a recently renovated part, a property that is old and new in portions. On these cases, it is the notaire who qualifies the transaction and applies the corresponding regime, part by part where necessary. Hence the value of asking for the provisional statement as soon as the project takes shape: the qualification of the transaction is known before the signing, not after.

Who pays these fees, and when?

It is the buyer who bears the acquisition fees: they are added to the price agreed with the seller and settled on the day of the signing, into the notaire’s hands, at the same time as the balance of the price. The notaire draws up a statement recapping every line, hands it to you before the deed for the sums to be provided, and after the deed with the final supporting documents.

Two practical consequences for a buyer coming from abroad:

• The cash to be mobilised exceeds the asking price, and it must be available on the day itself, on an account in euros or easily convertible. Holding a non-resident bank account prepares that moment and avoids last-minute conversions.
• The calendar of transfers is prepared in advance: funds sometimes travel slowly between jurisdictions, and the notaire requires their actual presence on the day, not a promise of transfer.

Can these fees be reduced on an older property?

Neither the transfer duties nor the scale of the fees are negotiable: the room for manoeuvre is narrow, but it exists, and it runs through the base on which the duties are calculated.

The main avenue is furniture. A property is sometimes sold furnished or with equipment detachable from the building: the part of the price relating to that furniture can, under conditions, stay outside the base of the transfer duties. This requires the value to be real and documented: a contradictory inventory signed by the parties, invoices or, failing those, a valuation, and amounts that are credible against the total price. An artificial figure does not withstand the administration’s scrutiny: it knows this lever well and watches it closely.

Other levers, more modest, exist depending on the transaction: certain clauses or qualifications marginally affect the final statement. None of these avenues promises a quantified saving: they are judged file by file, with the notaire, and always within the rules.

Component	Nature	Flexible or not
Registration duties and land registration tax	Tax collected for the State and local authorities, dominant on older properties	Not the tax, but the base can be adjusted through a documented furniture inventory
Notaire’s fees	Remuneration calculated according to a regulated scale	No
Deed formalities	Ancillary remunerations provided for by the scale	No
Disbursements	Expenses advanced on your behalf, re-invoiced at cost	Barely
Value of the furniture	Part of the price relating to items detachable from the building	Yes, on convincing documents

How do you get an order of magnitude before committing?

The notaire draws up a provisional statement as the file progresses, but nothing stops you from building the budget upstream, from the search onwards. The acquisition fees simulator gives an order of magnitude according to the target price and the nature of the property, old, new or mixed: a few moments are enough to know whether a property is within reach at a given budget, fees included.

Two habits then lift the whole file. First, enter the acquisition fees in the financing plan from the outset: they are part of the real cost of the purchase, on the same footing as the price, and financing poorly calibrated on this point is paid for in cash-flow strain. Second, ask for the notaire’s provisional statement as soon as the transaction takes shape, and compare it with the simulation: a gap always has an explanation, and that explanation belongs to the decision.

In the same category

This page is part of the Journal’s financial guides for buyers and owners based abroad:

• Becoming a non-resident: the exit tax and what changes for your assets, for those preparing to leave France while keeping a property.
• All the articles in the Financing & tax category, from financing to resale.

A purchase in the older stock commits a budget that exceeds the asking price, and constraints specific to your situation as a foreign buyer. The personal study offered by French Realty pins down that budget from the outset and prepares each step, from financing to signing, with your dedicated contact.