Our rates

The notary is a public officer who ensures the equality of all citizens regarding legal acts which require his intervention (real estate transactions, marriage contracts, divorce, inheritance, etc.), therefore, the public authorities have defined a national rate which is imposed on notaries and their clients.

This rate was set by a decree dated March 8, 1978, which has been amended several times. Notably, it was largely revamped in 2016 in order to meet the objectives of the Macron law dated August 6, 2015, with the adoption of decree 230 of February 26, 2016.

The following should be distinguished:

  • Acts subject to the regulated rate giving rise to fixed or proportional fees,
  • And acts not subject to a regulated rate which give rise to fees that are set freely by the notary, subject to the express agreement of the client.

1. Charged procedures: single rate

Notarial activities are mostly subject to the regulated rate. In this case, the pricing of the service remains the same, regardless of the client, the notary, or the geographical area.

Everyone who wishes to do so is free to find out the current rate set by the State or ask their notary to draw up an estimate of the cost of the act for which they plan to call on them.

Once the act has been signed and the formalities are completed, the notary must give a detailed account of the operation to its client and return the amounts which were overpaid as part of the provision. As far as possible, this account balance is made one to two months after signing the last deed.

The intervention or participation of a second notary in the establishment of certain acts, representing the co-contracting party, does not increase the fees owed by the client. The cost remains the same for the client, it is the notaries who will share the fees.

The price can be:

  • Proportional to the capital object of the operation, i.e., to the value to which the act relates,
  • Fixed, meaning that the fees remunerate acts that do not concern a given value. The fee is taken only according to the type of act or formality concerned.

A. Proportional emoluments

Table V of Appendix 4-7 of the French Commercial Code lists the services for which the price is regulated.

The rates of proportional emoluments for each notarial act are set by the decree dated February 28, 2020. These rates are decreasing and apply according to different scales. A 20% VAT will apply to the result excluding tax.

Here are some examples:

  • Article A 444-91: The private sale or transfer of a building gives rise to the collection of a proportional fee, according to the following scale:
BAND (ACCORDING TO PRICE)RATE (EXCLUDING TAXES)
0 to 6 500 €3,870 %
6 500 € to 17 000 €1,596 %
17 000 to 60 000 €1,064 %
More than 60 000 €0,799 %
  • Article A 444-63: The establishment of the declaration of succession by the notary gives rise to the collection of a proportional fee, according to the following scale:
BAND (ACCORDING TO GROSS SUCCESSION ASSETS)RATE (EXCLUDING TAXES)
0 to 6 500 €1,548 %
6 500 € to 17 000 €0,851 %
17 000 to 30 000 €0,580 %
More than 30 000 €0,426 %

B. Fixed fees

This concerns certain specific acts for which there is no valued asset and therefore no calculation basis. This is the case of mandates for future protection, donations between spouses, Civil Solidarity Pact, marriage contracts, wills, acts of notoriety, etc.

The formal fees, which refer to the steps taken by the notary before and after the signing of the deed, are also fixed. These formalities may relate to administrative and tax procedures or relate to various procedures such as a paper copy or digital archiving of deeds.

2. Fees: free rate

More exceptionally, the notary will be required to freely set its remuneration, only for services that do not appear in the decree dated February 28, 2020. One then speaks of fees.

This generally concerns acts relating to companies (drafting of articles of association, transfer of shares, etc.), relating to the commercial field (transfer of goodwill, commercial leases) or specific consulting consultations detached from a specific deed.

The fixing of these fees must give rise to an agreement signed by the client. This agreement specifies the amount and/or method of determining the fees.

Rebates

In accordance with the provisions relating to the regulated tariffs of notaries (decree n° 2020-179 of February 28, 2020, and order of February 28, 2020), a notarial office can grant its clients a reduction in their fees even if this remains very regulated.

These discounts, freely decided by each notary, apply to the share of the remuneration due to him after sharing with the participating notary(ies). They are not negotiable on a case-by-case basis: if the notary decides to apply them, it must do so for all his clients.

Etude 352 proposes to reduce its fees on various operations as follows:

1. Acts relating to family law

  • Donation and donation-sharing,
  • Auctioning,
  • Sharing,
  • Liquidation without sharing,
  • Change of matrimonial regime,
  • Certificate of real estate ownership,
Discount baseDiscount rate
Beyond 10 000 000 €20 %
  • Declaration of inheritance
Discount baseDiscount rate
Beyond 20 000 000 €20 %

2. Operations relating to the transfer for consideration of real estate

  • Sale of real estate for residential use,
Discount baseDiscount rate
Beyond 10 000 000 €10 %
  • Sale of real estate for non-residential use or social residential.
Discount baseDiscount rate
Between 10 000 000 € and 30 000 000 €15 %
Between 30 000 000 € and 40 000 000 €30 %
Beyond 40 000 000 €40 %

3. Financing

  • Contribution of real estate to a company,
  • Merger-absorption, demerger, universal transfer of assets involving devolution of real estate,
  • Sale of goodwill or branch of activity if the sale also involves real estate.
Discount baseDiscount rate
Beyond 10 000 000 €10 %

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