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 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 the keys clears up 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 register, which reveals the entries encumbering the property — outstanding loans, seizures, registered easements — and determines what must be cleared before the sale.
• Pre-emption rights, held by the municipality or a sitting tenant, the exercise of which can cause the sale to fall through.
• Planning and land-use status, checked by requesting a certificate from the municipality: easements, building line, public interest projects, and the regularity of existing constructions.
• The seller's situation: legal capacity, matrimonial 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 notarial deed differs from a private deed in three respects.

It constitutes proof of its content until a claim of forgery is proven, 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 certified date, enforceable against third parties without any further formality.

It is automatically enforceable: a copy bearing the enforcement clause allows recourse to enforced execution without first obtaining a court judgment. This is what makes the notarial deed so useful for loans and acknowledgments of debt.

The notary then carries out the land registry filing, a formality 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 regard to everyone else.

So-called "notary fees"

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

Fees generally amount to around seven to eight percent of the price for existing properties, and two to three percent for new-build properties. Their composition is 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 register searches, surveyor fees.
• The notary's fees, the only portion that actually pays the notary. 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 as a private agreement, 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, the term and the maximum rate: if drafted too vaguely, it is either ineffective or too easy to invoke. The other conditions — planning status, absence of easements, clearance of pre-emption rights — require knowledge of the checks that will follow.

Then, 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 withdrawal period available to a 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 the electronic signature of a 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 attends remotely by videoconference via a dedicated system, and the deed is signed electronically then stored in digital form.

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

Usage scenarios

First-time purchase. Choosing one's own notary is a right of the buyer, even when the seller already has one: the two firms then share the fees, with 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, when a choice must be made between regularization and renegotiation.

Purchase in joint ownership or through a company. How the ownership structure is drafted must be decided before signing the preliminary contract, 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 registered with the land registry 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 share the fees, with no extra cost to the parties.

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

What happens if a condition precedent is not fulfilled? The sale becomes void 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 the signing session held by videoconference via 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 needed for these checks, which depend on third-party responses.

As for the fees, the bulk is not negotiable because it does not go to the notary. The only room for negotiation concerns a portion of the fees, and the real leverage lies elsewhere: choosing your 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.