Who pays for the notaire? Not the seller…

Many people mistakenly believe it is the seller who pays for the notaire but that’s not the case

As many of you will be aware, the process for buying and selling property in France is quite different from countries such as the UK or USA. Perhaps the biggest difference of all is the importance of the notaire – the public official who is responsible for overseeing the entire process – which you can read about in more detail here.

The low-down

In short, the notaire is a legal specialist who operates under the authority of the Minister of Justice (Ministère de la Justice) and is appointed by decree. As such, their fees are regulated by the government, according to the size of the property, so there is no scope for negotiation.

What many people don’t realise, however, is that it is actually the buyer who pays for the notaire, rather than the seller. So, if you are thinking about putting your Paris property on the market, you can rest safe in the knowledge that there won’t be any cost on that score.

Added benefit

Furthermore, if, as sometimes happens, there are two notaires – one for the buyer and one for the seller – it is still the buyer who pays. The fee remains the same but is simply divided into two. The upshot of this is that, if you are an English-speaking buyer and the seller is French, you could in theory have your own bilingual notaire (of which there are many) at no extra cost.

As always, if you choose to buy or sell with us here at VINGT Paris, we’ll be there to guide you through every step of the process, making sure that everything runs smoothly.

• For more on the role of notaires, visit their official website here