Role of the Notary in Real Estate Purchase: Complete Guide

The notary is not just another intermediary in a real estate transaction: they are a public officer holding delegated public authority, whose involvement is mandatory to transfer ownership of a property. This status explains both the scope of their verifications, the authentic nature of the deed they draft, and the fact that their fees are not negotiable. Understanding what they actually do between the preliminary agreement and the handover of keys clears up most of the confusion 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/lien status, which reveals any registered encumbrances on the property — outstanding loans, seizures, recorded 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.
• Zoning and planning, through a certificate request filed with the municipality: easements, building lines, public interest projects, and the regularity of existing construction.
• The seller's status: legal capacity, marital property 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 legal force

A notarized deed differs from a private deed in three ways.

It serves as conclusive evidence of its content until challenged through a forgery proceeding, which is a heavy and rarely used procedure. The facts recorded by the notary — the presence of the parties, their identity, the date, and 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 for forced execution without first having to obtain a court judgment. This is what makes the notarized deed so useful for loans and acknowledgments of debt.

The notary then carries out the land registration formality, which makes the sale enforceable against third parties. Until this is completed, the buyer is the owner as between the parties but not yet with respect to everyone else.

So-called "notary fees"

The term is misleading, and it's worth understanding how the amount breaks down.

Fees generally represent around seven to eight percent of the price for existing properties, and two to three percent for new builds. They break down as follows:

• The transfer taxes, collected on behalf of the government 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 the client's behalf: zoning documents, mortgage/lien status, surveyor's fees.
• The notary's fees, the only portion that actually compensates them. They are set by decree and proportional to the price, which makes them identical from one office 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 sale agreement: what the notary brings to it

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

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

Second, the escrow of the earnest money 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 a non-professional buyer runs from the notification of the preliminary contract, and its starting point depends on the validity of that notification. This is a point that electronic signature of a preliminary sale 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 via videoconference through a dedicated system, and the deed is signed electronically and then stored in digital form.

For a buyer who cannot attend, the traditional solution remains a power of attorney, which must then precisely specify the scope of the powers granted — a mandate worded in general terms does not permit selling or acquiring. The applicable rules are covered in our article on the electronic signature of a power of attorney.

Usage scenarios

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

Property with undeclared work. This is one of the issues the zoning check can reveal. It's better to anticipate it before the preliminary agreement than to discover it three weeks before the deed, when the choice is between regularizing or renegotiating.

Purchase in joint ownership or through a company. How the ownership structure is drafted must be decided before signing the preliminary agreement, not at the deed stage. The tax implications are covered in our article on real estate taxation.

Frequently asked questions

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

Can notary fees be negotiated? Not the transfer taxes, which go to the government, 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, with the timeline dictated by third-party responses — zoning, mortgage/lien status, clearance of pre-emption rights — and by obtaining the loan.

What happens if a condition precedent is not met? The sale becomes void and the earnest money deposit is refunded, provided the buyer has carried out the required steps, in particular applying for financing matching the stipulated terms.

Can the deed be signed remotely? Yes, the electronic authentic deed is permitted, with the parties attending via videoconference through a dedicated system. A power of attorney remains the other option for a party who cannot attend.

Key takeaways

The notary does three things that nothing else can replace: they verify that the seller is entitled to sell and that the property can be sold, they draft a deed that serves as conclusive evidence and is enforceable without a court judgment, and they record the sale to make it enforceable against everyone. The two-to-three-month timeline is not administrative slowness: it is the time required for these checks, which depend on third-party responses.

As for fees, the bulk of the amount is not negotiable because it doesn't go to the notary. The only room for negotiation is on a portion of the fees, and the real leverage lies elsewhere: choosing your notary, involving them from the preliminary agreement stage, and anticipating the issues their checks are likely to surface. The rest of the process is detailed in our article on the legal and financial process of a real estate purchase.