Taxes & Costs — France
Transfer taxes, notary fees, annual property taxes — with actual rates sourced from DGFiP and Notaires de France.
Updated February 2026
France
The term 'frais de notaire' is slightly misleading — it bundles several distinct costs:
DMTO — Droits de Mutation à Titre Onéreux (Transfer tax)
The biggest component. Set at the département level, typically 5.8% (the rate set by most French départements). A small number of départements retain 5.09% (the national minimum). This tax goes to the département, not the notary.
Notary emoluments (~1.5% of price)
The notary's actual fee, set by national decree on a degressive scale. On a €300,000 property, emoluments are approximately €4,500.
Miscellaneous taxes and disbursements (~1.2%)
Includes the contribution de sécurité immobilière (CSI), land registry fees, and administrative costs.
~7.5–8% of purchase price.
New-build exception
On properties less than 5 years old (biens neufs), DMTO is reduced to 0.7%, bringing total frais to approximately 2.5–3%. This is because VAT (TVA at 20%) is already embedded in the new-build price.
Are frais de notaire negotiable? The emoluments (the notary's fee component) can be discounted by up to 20% on transactions above €150,000 — but this is rarely significant given emoluments represent only part of the total.
Source
DGFiP, Service-Public.fr — rates verified Feb 2026.
Based on DGFiP (French tax authority) and Notaires de France
Last reviewed: Feb 2026