Role of the Notary in Real Estate Purchase: Complete Guide

The notary is not just another intermediary in a property transaction: they are a public officer delegated with public authority, whose involvement is mandatory to transfer ownership of a property. This status explains both the extent of their checks, the authentic nature of the deed they draw up, and the fact that their fees are not negotiable. Understanding what they actually do between the preliminary agreement and the handover of keys avoids most misunderstandings about timelines.

What the notary checks before the deed

Most of the work takes place during the two to three months between the preliminary agreement and the authentic deed, and it is invisible to the buyer. Five checks structure this period:

• The chain of title, traced back thirty years, which establishes that the seller is indeed the owner and that the chain of transfers is regular.
• The mortgage status, which reveals the charges encumbering the property — ongoing loans, seizures, registered easements — and determines what must be cleared before the sale.
• Pre-emption rights, whether municipal or held by a sitting tenant, the exercise of which can cause the sale to fall through.
• Planning regulations, through a request for a certificate from the municipality: easements, building lines, public interest projects, and the regularity of existing constructions.
• The seller's situation: legal capacity, matrimonial regime, absence of insolvency proceedings.

These checks depend on third-party bodies whose response times are binding on the notary. This is why a file cannot be sped up beyond a certain point, regardless of the parties' goodwill.

The authentic deed and its force

A notarial deed differs from a private deed in three respects.

It constitutes proof of its content until a forgery claim is registered, a heavy procedure rarely undertaken. The facts recorded by the notary — presence of the parties, identity, date, payment of the price — benefit from this particular evidentiary force.

It has a certain date, enforceable against third parties without any further formality.

It is automatically enforceable: a copy bearing the enforcement clause allows recourse to compulsory enforcement without first having to obtain a court judgment. This is what makes the notarial deed so useful for loans and acknowledgements of debt.

The notary then carries out the land registration formalities, a step that makes the sale enforceable against third parties. Until it is completed, the buyer is the owner as between the parties but not yet with respect to everyone.

The so-called "notary fees"

The term is misleading, and the breakdown deserves to be known.

Fees generally amount to around seven to eight per cent of the price for existing properties, and two to three per cent for new-builds. They are made up as follows:

• The transfer duties, collected on behalf of the State and local authorities, which make up the bulk of the amount. They do not go to the notary.
• The disbursements, advanced by the notary on behalf of the client: planning documents, mortgage status, surveyor.
• The notary's fees, the only portion that actually remunerates them. They are set by decree and proportional to the price, which makes them identical from one firm to another.

A discount is possible on the portion of fees corresponding to the highest price brackets, within a limit set by regulation. It must then be applied to all clients under the same conditions.

Preliminary agreement or sale agreement: what the notary brings

A preliminary contract can be signed privately, between individuals or through a real estate agent. Having it drawn up by a notary changes two things.

First, the quality of the conditions precedent. The loan condition, the most common one, must specify the amount, term and maximum rate: if drafted too vaguely, it is either ineffective or too easy to invoke. The other conditions — planning, absence of easements, clearance of pre-emption rights — require knowledge of the checks that will follow.

Second, the escrow of the deposit, held in a dedicated account rather than by one of the parties, which avoids disputes over its return.

The ten-day cooling-off period available to the non-professional buyer runs from notification of the preliminary contract, and its starting point depends on the regularity of that notification. This is a point that electronic signature of a preliminary agreement secures, by establishing the delivery date beyond dispute.

Remote signing

The electronic authentic deed is permitted. The notary receives the parties, one of whom may be physically present while the other joins remotely by video conference via a dedicated system, and the deed is signed electronically and then stored in digital form.

For a buyer who is unable to attend, the traditional solution remains a power of attorney, which must then precisely specify the extent of the powers granted — a mandate worded in general terms does not permit either selling or buying. The applicable rules are set out in our article on electronic signature of a power of attorney.

Usage scenarios

First purchase. Choosing one's own notary is a right of the buyer, even when the seller already has one: the two firms then split the fees, at no extra cost. Many buyers are unaware of this.

Property with undeclared works. This is one of the points revealed by the planning check. It is better to anticipate it before the preliminary agreement than to discover it three weeks before the deed, where a choice must be made between regularisation and renegotiation.

Purchase in joint ownership or through a company. The drafting of the holding structure must be decided before signing the preliminary contract, not at the deed stage. The tax implications are covered in our article on property taxation.

Frequently asked questions

Is a notary mandatory? Yes, to transfer ownership of a property: the deed must be authentic and registered with the land registration office.

Can notary fees be negotiated? Not the transfer duties, which go to the State, nor the disbursements. A discount is possible on the portion of fees corresponding to the higher price brackets, within the limits set by regulation.

Can you choose your own notary? Yes, even when the seller already has one. The two notaries then split the fees, at no additional cost to the parties.

How long between the preliminary agreement and the deed? Generally two to three months, the timeline being dictated by third-party responses — planning, mortgage status, clearance of pre-emption rights — and by obtaining the loan.

What happens if a condition precedent is not fulfilled? The sale lapses and the deposit is returned, provided the buyer has carried out the required steps, in particular loan applications matching the stipulated terms.

Can the deed be signed remotely? Yes, the electronic authentic deed is permitted, with signing taking place via video conference through a dedicated system. A power of attorney remains the other option for a party unable to attend.

Key takeaways

The notary does three things that nothing else can replace: they verify that the seller can sell and that the property can be sold, they draw up a deed that constitutes proof and is enforceable without a court judgment, and they register the sale to make it enforceable against everyone. The two-to-three-month timeframe is not administrative slowness: it is the time required for these checks, which depend on third-party responses.

As for fees, the bulk is non-negotiable because it does not go to the notary. The only room for manoeuvre concerns a fraction of the fees, and the real lever lies elsewhere: choosing one's notary, involving them from the preliminary agreement stage, and anticipating the points their checks will bring to light. The rest of the process is detailed in our article on the legal and financial process of a property purchase.