Legal Fees

The legal fees, known as Les frais de Notaire include the notaire's professional fees, stamp duty, land registry charges, local and regional taxes and TVA (VAT). The fees, paid for by the purchaser, amount to approximately 3-5% for a new property and approximately 7-10% for an older property (properties older than 5 years are subject to stamp duty whereas new properties are not).

The fees may also include any geometrist's costs that might have been incurred such as establishing or repositioning boundaries and preparing plans for the Acte de Vente. If a French mortgate is being used for the purchase of the property then a further cost of approximately 1% will be added by the notaire for registering the loan with the land registry.

These fees are called the Provision pour frais d'acte d'achat, which means provisional fees for the act of buying and are documented in the initial contract and include an estimate of the registration taxes which get paid to the government. The fees are paid to the notaire on the day of signing the Acte de Vente and are paid as an 'all encompassing' sum together with the balance of the purchase price.

Note: A few months after the property has been purchased and the sale of the french property has been lodged with the French government, the exact amount of registration tax will be calculated by the French tax authorities. Depending on the initial estimate (if it was over estimated or under estimated) this amount will depend on whether the purchaser will receive or have to pay a small additional payment.