Marks Real Estate
What buying really costs on the Riviera: notary fees and transfer taxes, worked through
What buying really costs on the Riviera: notary fees and transfer taxes, worked through
Anyone buying a villa or apartment in France will hear the phrase frais de notaire. It is usually translated as “notary fees”, and that translation is the first thing worth correcting. According to notaries, around 80% of the total in a typical purchase goes to the State and local authorities.
What remains covers the notary’s regulated remuneration and disbursements. This article takes the components one at a time, then works through a purchase at €4 million and €10 million.
“Frais de notaire” are mostly taxes
Service-public.gouv.fr defines the term broadly: all the sums a notary asks for the work carried out, made up of emoluments (the regulated fee), other fees, disbursements (débours) and duties and taxes. For a resale property, the largest part by far is the transfer duty, known as the droits de mutation à titre onéreux, or DMTO.
The transfer duty has three layers
For a resale (“ancien”), the DMTO is built from three parts:
- A departmental duty. The base rate in the Code général des impôts is 3.80%, and a department may set it up to 4.50%.
- An additional local tax of 1.20%.
- A State collection levy of 2.37%, charged on top of the departmental duty, not on the price.
Since 1 April 2025, a temporary derogation has allowed departments to go further, to 5.00%, for acts signed between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2028. The rate that applies follows the department where the property stands.
The Alpes-Maritimes stayed at 4.50%; the Var moved to 5.00%
The Direction générale des Finances publiques (DGFiP) publishes the rate for every department. As published by the DGFiP for 1 June 2026, the Alpes-Maritimes (06), where Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat sits, is at 4.50%, and the Var (83), where Saint-Tropez sits, is at 5.00%. Put through the three layers, that gives:
| Alpes-Maritimes (06) | Var (83) | |
|---|---|---|
| Departmental duty | 4.50% | 5.00% |
| Additional local tax (commune or departmental fund) | 1.20% | 1.20% |
| State levy (2.37% of the departmental duty) | 0.10665% | 0.1185% |
| Total DMTO, as a share of the price | 5.80665% | 6.3185% |
That is a difference of just over half a percentage point. In the Var, a buyer of a main residence who has owned no main residence in the previous two years pays the 4.50% departmental rate, but that rule applies only to a first main residence, so it does not reach second homes.
These are the rates in the DGFiP table for 1 June 2026. A department can change its rate, and a change notified between 16 April and 30 November 2026 would apply to deeds signed from 1 January 2027. The rate that counts is the one in force on the day the deed is signed, not on the day the compromis is signed.
The notary’s own fee is regulated and falls as the price rises
Notary emoluments for a sale follow a national scale, calculated in bands, with 20% VAT added. According to the scale published on service-public.gouv.fr, the rates are 3.870% on the first €6,500, 1.596% from €6,500 to €17,000, 1.064% from €17,000 to €60,000 and 0.799% on everything above €60,000. The tariff was re-set by orders dated 25 February 2026, for services from 1 March 2026 to 29 February 2028. Some older web pages still show an earlier scale, so check the date of any source you rely on.
Because the top band applies to nearly the whole price, the notary’s fee becomes a small part of the total on a high-value property. A notary may also offer a rebate on the higher bands, but that is the notary’s own choice, and the examples below do not assume one.
Two smaller items: the contribution de sécurité immobilière and disbursements
Two further items sit beside the duty and the emoluments. The first is the contribution de sécurité immobilière, which the Code général des impôts sets at 0.10% of the price, with a minimum of €15 per deed. The second is disbursements, the sums the notary advances and then bills on. They vary from one transaction to another, so the table leaves them out; the notary’s estimate will include them.
New build is taxed differently
A property completed within the last five years and sold with VAT by a VAT-registered seller is treated as new (“neuf”). The proportional DMTO does not apply. Instead, under the Code général des impôts, a fixed duty of 0.70% plus a levy of about 0.015% applies, 0.715% in all, and the price itself includes 20% VAT. Notaries put total costs on new property at around 2 to 3% of the price. A buyer comparing a new-build apartment with a resale villa should compare the VAT-inclusive prices and the notary’s estimate for each, not the headline rates.
Worked examples: €4 million and €10 million
The table shows a resale property, with the cost of each component at the Alpes-Maritimes and Var rates. The assumptions are: the taxable base equals the stated price, the notary’s emoluments follow the scale above with 20% VAT, the contribution de sécurité immobilière is 0.10%, and the figures exclude disbursements, any rebate and any agency fee. This is our own arithmetic, not an official calculation.
| € | 4m, 06 | 4m, 83 | 10m, 06 | 10m, 83 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DMTO | 232,266.00 | 252,740.00 | 580,665.00 | 631,850.00 |
| Emoluments (excl. VAT) | 32,357.25 | 32,357.25 | 80,297.25 | 80,297.25 |
| VAT on emoluments (20%) | 6,471.45 | 6,471.45 | 16,059.45 | 16,059.45 |
| Contribution de sécurité immobilière (0.10%) | 4,000.00 | 4,000.00 | 10,000.00 | 10,000.00 |
| Total before disbursements | 275,094.70 | 295,568.70 | 687,021.70 | 738,206.70 |
| Share of price | 6.88% | 7.39% | 6.87% | 7.38% |
Three things stand out. In the Alpes-Maritimes, the total before disbursements comes to a little under 7% of the price. You may see 7% to 8% quoted as a rule of thumb for resale property; because the notary’s scale falls as the price rises, the percentage at these price levels is slightly lower. In the Var, the higher departmental rate adds about €20,500 at €4 million and about €51,200 at €10 million; every other line in the table is the same. And in both cases, the DMTO and the contribution de sécurité immobilière together account for more than 85% of the total, which is why the label “notary fees” misleads.
The notary’s written estimate settles the figure
The notary’s written estimate is what counts. It will use the actual price, the nature of the property, any items sold with it and the notary’s own disbursements. Questions about how furniture sold with a villa, or fees paid to an agency, affect the taxable base are for the notary to answer.
A buyer and a seller may use the same notary or each have their own. When each has one, the fees are shared between the two notaries.
Agency fees are separate from all of the above. Our fees are set out on our fees page, at 5% of the selling price, VAT included, and French advertising rules require a sale advertisement to state who bears the agency fee. For the sequence of steps that leads to the deed, see our buying process guide. If you are considering a purchase, you can browse our current properties for sale in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and in Saint-Tropez.
This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules and rates are as of October 2026 and can change; the DGFiP rates cited are those published for 1 June 2026. Marks Real Estate works with a network of tax advisers and legal specialists, and the notary’s estimate for your own purchase is the figure to rely on.