The 2014 Finance Act allows départements to temporarily increase the "notaire's fees" payable on the sale of an old property.
More specifically, this increase concerns the taxe de publicité foncière (land registration tax) or droit d'enregistrement (registration duty) set out in article 1594D of the Code général des impôts (General Tax Code). What are mistakenly referred to as "notaire's fees", which amount to around 7-8% and are borne by the purchaser, actually include various charges and taxes.
General councils may now increase the rate of land registration tax or registration duty above 3.80%, up to a maximum of 4.50%, for sales made between 1 March 2014 and 29 February 2016. A preliminary sales agreement (or promise) signed before 1 March 2014 will therefore be subject to the new system if it is reiterated in the form of a notarial deed on or after that date.
For sales for valuable consideration made on or after 1 March 2016, the rate of land registration tax or registration duty voted by the general councils that applied the increase will once again be 3.80%, unless expressly decided otherwise. However, other changes may occur between now and then, and this would not be the first time that a tax initially intended to be temporary has become permanent.
The reason for this increase in 'notary fees' is the desire to provide consistent funding for the departments' solidarity expenditure, which has been exacerbated by the current crisis.
By way of example, the sale of a property in a département that had decided to increase the taxe de publicité foncière or the droit d'enregistrement to 4.50% would incur additional costs of €2,100 for a sale price of €300,000.