Notaires' fees rise by 7%
The change is mainly due to a rise in the 'value units' used to calculate the fees
NOTAIRES’ fees have gone up by seven per cent. The change is mainly due to a rise in the “value units” used to calculate the fees for some notaires’ procedures that have fixed rates. It is going up almost seven per cent from €3.65 to €3.90 (plus VAT at 19.6 per cent).
A given act costs a set number of value units. This means, eg. the cost of a pacs contract (including tax) has risen from €218 to €233, drawing up a notarised will or of making a formal gift between spouses (donation entre époux) has gone from €131 to €140, and the cost of a property sale is up €27 from €393 to €420. An acte de notoriété, a formality indicating who someone’s heirs are, forming part of the inheritance procedures, has risen from €65 to €70.
The changes have been made by the Ministry of Justice, which fixes notaires’ fees for certain official acts that have regulated charges. A spokeswoman for the Notaires de
France said: “It is nothing to be alarmed about. There was a slight increase in 2006, and this one is only to follow inflation; in fact, it is a little less.”
However changes have also been made to the costs of some notaires’ procedures, which are billed according to a percentage of the value of the transaction, eg. fees relating to property sales and inheritance.
Here the notaire’s fee is calculated accorded to rates applied to bands of value, similar to the way income tax is calculated. The percentages have not changed, but the bands have. The first and second remain the same: four per cent up to €6,500 and then 1.65 per cent up to 17,000.
The third band, at 1.1 per cent, formerly went to €30,000 and now goes to €60,000. The top band, at 0,825 per cent, therefore, now starts at €60,000 instead of €30,000.
This means that, for example, the fee for the sale of a home worth €200,000 would be €2,465.26, up almost €100 from €2,366.59.
