Legal fees when buying a French property
For several years, France has been a property market particularly different from others in Europe. A British buyer may not be used to the system and may therefore be somewhat puzzled if he is faced with it. That is why we recommend you look into legal fees.
Notaire fees, or ‘frais de notaire’, are in part fees paid to the notaire in return for their services. These are a compulsory element for any French property purchase. It is essential to take them into account when deciding how much you can afford to spend on your new home. Of course, as with all legal conventions, if there is anything you are struggling to understand over the course of your purchase, just ask!
The important thing with legal fees is that they are generally not included in the asking price featured in property adverts so must be taken into account when deciding how much you can afford to spend.
The notaire plays a significant role throughout the purchasing process, including:
– giving advice every step of the way
– answering queries on how to structure the transaction
– advise on inheritance laws and other related tax issues that you may want guidance on
It is their job to ensure due diligence – they are there to oversee the paperwork generated by a property purchase, and to ensure that all proceedings are in accordance with French law. As well as acting in property conveyancing, they also have a role to play in inheritance procedures, marriage contracts, wills, divorce settlements and the letting of property.
Notaires are not salaried by the French government, meaning they earn their income exclusively through the fees charged for their services. Legal fees however, are not paid exclusively to the notaire- the majority goes to the Treasury, or corresponds to professional fees owed to the land and building surveyors, amongst others. As a general rule, for a purchase without a mortgage, the percentage of legal fees that go to the notaire tends to be around 1%, although a scale system is in operation. This scale system means the higher the sale price of the property, the smaller the cut taken by the notaire.
For example, for a purchase between €17k and €30k, around 1.1% of the ‘frais de notaire’ goes directly to the notaire, while for a purchase above €30k, the notaire will only take around 0.825%.
The rates for legal fees are fixed by the French government and are determined in relation to the sale price of the property. While the percentage of the fee going to the notaire does not change whether the house in question is a new build or an older property, the age of the property is used to calculate the total fees due. Broadly speaking, they are usually between 6 and 8% for a resale property, and between 2 and 3% for a ‘new build’ property – i.e one that is less than five years old.
Here is a good calculator which will give you an estimation of the Notaire fee you need to pay: notaire fee calculator