Notaire fees for private cash buy

[zrx1100]

Hi,

We have been offered a property in the Charente Maritime (17) for a sum of 198,000 euros. We are cash buyers so no mortgage, and also it is a private sale so no agents fees, we are trying to work out if we can afford it and wondered if anyone would have a (as near as) figure for the notaires fees. I take it these would be our only purchase fees? The house is detatched with about 2000m2 of land if that makes any difference. Thanks in advance.

[Ron Avery]

[quote]Hi,We have been offered a property in the Charente Maritime (17) for a sum of 198,000 euros. We are cash buyers so no mortgage, and also it is a private sale so no agents fees, we are trying to work o...[/quote]

With Notaire's Fees, taxes and registrations etc, budget for around 10% of the purchase price

[Will]

If you search on the internet for 'calcul frais notaires' you will find several online calculators. They aren't 100%, but are pretty good. If anything they tend, like notaires themselves, to initially over-estimate the taxes etc (so you could get a small refund later on).

I tried one and, for a house 5 years old or more, in mainland France, bought with no mortgage for 198,000€ it came up with a total of 13,077€.

The only extras should be for a structural survey or independent legal advice (if you consider these necessary), a contribution to the cost of a land survey if the boundaries are not apparent on the ground. As you are not using an agent the notaire may require you to pay for a translator if he/she or any of his staff do not speak fluent English (few do). A deposit, commonly 10%, will be payable to the notaire at the compromis de vente stage.

[BJSLIV]

As the percentage declines as the cost increases, at around 200000 euros, you should expect to pay between 13000 and 13500 euros.

[Eslier]

By the time all the various fees / taxes etc., which the Notaire collects, have been added together you will need to allow around 8% for a private purchase with no mortgage.

[Gyn_Paul]

When we bought our current house I asked the agent the same question. She simply lifted the phone and rang the Notaire's office and they were able to give her the aprox. sum over the phone (it was out by just 106E45 in the final calculation!). Is your French good enough to go into a Notaire's and ask? It's a sliding scale so should be easy enough for them to work out.

p 

[Will]

Notaire fees are all on various government-controlled scales. Any good agent, or any notaire, will have copies of these scales (barêmes) so will be able to give you an estimate of the fee. However, you don't need to ask them as the online calculators I mentioned above use exactly the same data so are just as accurate. You just have to make sure that the particular calculator you use can handle the options, which are basically new or old house, buying with or without a mortgage. Oh, and also that it is a French site rather than a Belgian one.

[JackT]

As you are not using an agent the notaire may require you to pay for a translator if he/she or any of his staff do not speak fluent English (few do).

I'm sure I recently read somewhere that the notaire is legally obliged to provide a translator free of charge for foreigners?

JT

 

 

[Teamedup]

Jack T, I sincerely hope that that is NOT the case. That would mean that prices would go up for all of us others who don't need such a service as the notaires will cover this cost somehow.

It is not any one else's fault that someone wants to buy in France and does not speak french. So let the person who's buying pay. 

[Ron Avery]

[quote]As you are not using an agent the notaire may require you to pay for a translator if he/she or any of his staff do not speak fluent English (few do). I'm sure I recently read somewhere that the nota...[/quote]

Would be interested to know where this came from, I doubt it is true personally, up to now, in France anyway,  the onus has been on the vendor/buyer to ensure that they understand the proceedings and paperwork involved in a French house sale In any case, many decent Notaires have an English speaker on their staff anyway and will provide a translation of the  French documentation, even in deepest rural France.

It could have come from some lateral thinking from the premise that in some countries like the UK, the court has to provide an interpreter to ensure that any person appearing before a court or tribunal has an intepreter so that they understand what is going on and what is being asked of them.

But if you extend this to Notaires, they have to have a Russian speaker: German speaker etc available???? 

[Will]

My understanding is that it has always been a legal requirement for a notaire to:

a. Read aloud the Acte de Vente to those present at the signing;

b. If any of those present do not speak French, a translator should also be present (who must also sign the Acte de Vente).

Though, notaires being a law unto themselves, not all have always bothered with either or both of these requirements in full, and although most are happy with anybody as a translator some have insisted on an offically certified translator, which does of course add to the cost.

There has indeed been discussion on other forums about a supposedly very recent change in that law saying that the translation must be provided by the notaire without charge. However, people actively involved in property sales, as well as those who have recently bought houses, have posted on at least one of those forums to say that they have never heard of such a law. That doesn't mean it isn't true - more like if it is, then it hasn't filtered through to everywhere yet. Of course, if you buy through an agent, the agent will normally attend the signing and translate as part of the package, so the question of extra fees does not arise. It is only when buying direct or through a non-English speaking notaire that it becomes a possibility which the buyer must bear in mind. The question did ask about 'any possible extras', after all. Despite what Ron says, which is probably true where he is, I know of only one notaire in this part of rural France who speaks any English.

Ron raises another interesting point. If English translators must be provided free of charge, then notaires will also need access to fluent and officially-certified translators in German, Arabic, Dutch, Flemish, Polish and many other languages (probably including Breton). Given the way French law is written around preserving the French language to the exclusion of others, this whole thing begins to sound rather unlikely.

Anyway, I was thinking of numerous other things that need translations besides just the Acte de Vente.