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Real estate: can we negotiate notary fees?- Challenges

During a real estate purchase, the buyer will necessarily have to pay what are called notary fees.The greater the amount of the transaction, the more the sum requested by the notary will be raised.Note, however, that there is a big difference depending on whether you buy new or old accommodation.Indeed, as part of new accommodation, notary fees vary between 2 and 3% of the amount of the transaction, against a range of 7 to 8% for the old.Important precision, real estate is considered new if it is less than five years old.

To be completely precise regarding notary fees, it should be noted that these are divided into three parts.First of all, there are disbursements.These represent 10% of the costs and correspond to the amount paid by the notary to write and transmit the essential official documents (surveyor, conservation of mortgages, cadastre, etc.).Then come the transfer duties.This is the most important part since they represent 80% of the notary fees.Concretely, these are taxes that the notary will have to donate to the state and to the local communities concerned.Finally comes the proper remuneration of the notary, which therefore represents only 10% of the overall costs.

As indicated above, notary fees are mostly composed of taxes.Therefore, no negotiation or reduction is possible.The only possible negotiation is to ask the notary concerned to lower his remuneration.In this case it is a commercial act, but nothing obliges the notary to accept this approach, and in fact such a negotiation remains quite rare.Nothing nevertheless prevents us from trying this approach and perhaps put the notaries in competition to try to obtain the lowest price possible.An approach which, crowned or not of success, allows the buyer to calculate his budget fees included precisely.

Two tips for reducing notary fees

On the other hand, there are means to reduce these notary fees.The best known is to deduct the amount of furniture from the sale price of the property.If the property purchased is partially or fully furnished, it is indeed possible to carry out an estimate of this furniture and to deduct it from the sale price.The amount of the reduction cannot exceed 5% of the price at which the property is put up for sale.Thus, for an apartment sold 150.Euros, it is possible to deduct 7.500 euros, and notary fees will therefore be applied to the sum of 142.500 euros.

Immobilier: peut-on négocier les frais de notaire? - Challenges

Read also the truth about the Macron reform of notaries

Another tip to limit the financial impact of notary fees on a real estate transaction, the possibility of dissociating the agency fees set up upstream of the sale price.To do this, it is imperative to indicate in the sales mandate that this is the net seller price.It is on this price that notary fees will be calculated.As for agency fees, the buyer can pay directly to the agency which managed the sale of the property concerned and thus achieve some savings.

Macron law

So Minister of the Economy, Emmanuel Macron had a reform voted in 2016 relating in particular to notary fees.Regarding real estate transactions, this Macron reform offers professionals the possibility of granting a 10% reduction on their emoluments.Please note, this reduction only concerns emoluments, that is to say the remuneration of the notary, but absolutely not taxes and costs of disbursements.In addition, this reduction could only be applied to goods of value greater than 150.Euros, and only on the part of the price greater than these 150s.Euros.In summary, for the purchase of a property in the amount of 160.Euros, la réduction des émoluments du notaire ne porte que sur 10.Euros.

Since then, the law has evolved, and now the reduction can apply from 100.Euros et peut atteindre 20%.But beware, notaries have no obligation to reduce their emoluments.In addition, if they do it for a single customer, they must apply this measure to the whole of their customers and inform them by a display on their premises and on their website.Again, it is not a negotiation, but a possible reduction in notary fees.It can therefore be interesting to find out if some professionals in your sector have chosen to opt for this system which has made it possible to revise the fees of notary.

(By writing the HREF agency)

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