The notary offers extra security while transferring ownership of real estate by intervening while carrying out the operation. Having a complete real estate database, supplied on a voluntary basis by all the notaries in France, the notary has precise knowledge on the market and the prices which apply. It is competent in determining the value of a property and carrying out a real estate appraisal.
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Notary, a real-estate negotiator
Due to their in-depth knowledge of the real estate market and its mechanisms, some notaries practice both real estate appraisal and real estate negotiation expertise, advising and assisting both the seller and the buyer in their research.
Since March 1, 2016, the trading activity is no longer subject to a national tariff.
Therefore, it is necessary to add to the negotiation fees received by the notaries, the charges related to the acquisition, needs to be paid in all cases and mainly includes duties and taxes due to the State but also the notary fees for drafting the authentic act of sale.
Regarding rental investments, the notary may also offer a real estate management service.
Assessment, advice, negotiation, drafting, publication, registration and management, the notary can offer its clients an "all inclusive" solution and therefore position itself as a single point of contact in terms of real estate.
Notary, your sole interlocutor
You can entrust your notary with your entire real estate project: right from the signature of the preliminary contract to the final act, administrative formalities (prior declarations, purging of pre-emption rights, etc.), including the calculation of the various taxes and their declaration to the administration. Moreover, your notary shall establish any declaration of real estate capital gain and pay tax to the Administration through withholding tax on the sale price.
Notary, guarantor of legal security
In France, all real estate sales take place through the notary. As a public officer, it ensures the proper carrying out of the contract and provides the required legal security, not to mention confidentiality.
It gathers the documents in advance and avoids any subsequent dispute as much as possible. There are more than a hundred legal and tax issues, to which the notary pays close attention while drafting the act of sale.
For example, the notary can
- look and ask for the identity of the parties of the contract, their marital status.
- check the seller's title to the property, mortgage situation of the property, the conventional easements, and the applicable town planning rules
- purge the pre-emption rights.
- make sure that the obligatory pre-sale diagnostics have been carried out before signing the preliminary contract.
Due to its expert legal knowledge not to mention expertise on the possible legislative modifications, it offers the best legal guarantee at the time of the preliminary contract (prior to the act of sale). This way, you’ll avoid unpleasant surprises.
Once the act has been signed, it goes through an important "land registration" formality. This concerns the registration with the Land Registry Office of the property’s legal situation.
The aim is to keep track of the property rights which exists in the building, and the mortgages that encumber these. Notaries, as public officers, have a monopoly when it comes to accessing this file. Last but not least, the notary guarantees the conservation of the title ownership, by keeping it for 75 years in his office. After this period, these are kept in the national archives, and soon in the computerized form.
Notaries also give legal and tax advice in sub-division, construction or renovation operations.
Last but not least, the investor shall receive the required skills for an efficient management of one’s real-estate assets from a notary which practices real-estate management.
The real-estate market analyzed by the Notaries of France
The economic outlook report of the France notaries analyzes the situation of the real estate market depending on the geographical zones of Ile de France or Province. It presents the analysis of the real estate market, and the maps of the median prices per m² of old apartments and the median selling prices of old houses..
Get access to the latest analysis of the rela-estate market