Notaire Fees & DMTO in France 2026: Which Départements Raised the Duty to 5% (and the First-Time-Buyer Exemption)

Updated 2026-06-20 · The French Property Playbook

Last reviewed 20 June 2026; DMTO count and window re-verified 2 July 2026 against the impots.gouv.fr DMTO table (May 2026 edition) and LF 2025 art. 116. French transfer-tax rules changed materially across 2025–2026, and the DMTO surcharge is now geographic — it depends on which département you buy in. Treat the rates below as a moving target and confirm your specific département before you sign.

If you are buying property in France and someone quotes you "frais de notaire of around 7–8%," that number is mostly tax — not the notaire's pay. As of 2026 the picture has an extra wrinkle: most départements have used a 2025 reform to push the transfer-duty rate higher, while first-time buyers of a principal residence can be exempted from the increase. Whether you pay the higher rate now depends entirely on where the property sits.

This guide breaks down exactly what "frais de notaire" contains, who raised the duty and when, who escapes it, and how the regulated notaire scale actually works — with a worked example you can re-run yourself in our free Buying-Costs Calculator.

This article is part of our pillar guide to the total cost of buying property in France in 2026.

What "Frais de Notaire" Actually Contains — and Why ~80% Is Tax

"Frais de notaire" is a misleading name. The notaire collects a single lump sum at closing, but most of it is government tax that the notaire simply passes through to the State and the département. For a typical resale (ancien) purchase, the composition breaks down roughly as:

• Taxes (DMTO): ~80% of the total — the droits de mutation à titre onéreux, i.e. the transfer duty.
• Regulated émoluments (the notaire's actual fee): ~10–15% — a State-fixed scale, not a free-market price.
• Débours (disbursements): ~5% — third-party costs the notaire advances on your behalf (land-registry searches, documents, etc.).
• CSI (contribution de sécurité immobilière): 0.10% — the land-registry security contribution on the property value.

(Composition per Pretto barème 2026 and Notaires de France; "~80% tax" framing as of June 2026.)

The headline rules of thumb, as of June 2026:

• Ancien (existing property): ~7–8% of the price. Most of this is DMTO.
• Neuf / VEFA (new-build or off-plan): ~2–3% of the price. New-build carries a reduced transfer duty (~0.715% taxe de publicité foncière) because 20% VAT is already baked into the sale price.

(Order-of-magnitude ranges, Notaires de France / Pretto barème 2026; verify against your deed.) For the full new-vs-old comparison, see our pillar cost guide.

The practical takeaway: when you "negotiate the notaire's fees," you are arguing over the ~10–15% slice — not the ~80% that is tax. And it is that tax slice that the 2025 reform changed.

The 2025 DMTO Reform: 4.50% → Up to 5.00%

DMTO on an existing-property purchase is built from layers:

• Departmental taxe de publicité foncière: base rate 4.50% (CGI art. 1594 D).
• + 1.20% communal share.
• + 2.37% State collection fee on the departmental portion.

That has historically produced a global DMTO of roughly 5.81% on ancien.

The 2025 Loi de Finances (art. 116) introduced a dérogation: départements may raise their departmental share by +0.5 point — from 4.50% to a maximum of 5.00%. Applied across the layers, that lifts global DMTO from ~5.81% to roughly ~6.32% on ancien (department-specific; observed bands run ~5.09% / 5.81% / 6.32%).

(Source: service-public A18183; CGI 1594 D, LEGIARTI000030024636.)

Three things matter about the timing and scope:

• Window: 1 April 2025 – 31 March 2028. The surcharge is temporary by law: the statute (LF 2025 art. 116) covers acts through 31 March 2028, with reversion from 1 April 2028. (A service-public news page says "30 April 2028" — the statute prevails.) Votes taken after 15 April 2025 generally take effect from January 2026.
• Ancien only. New-build / VEFA is not affected — it runs on the reduced ~0.715% duty.
• It is geographic. Each département decides for itself, so the rate you pay depends on the property's location.

How Many Départements? The Count Keeps Climbing

At the 1 April 2025 start, only about a thirty (~27–30) départements applied the surcharge — the official wording was "une trentaine." (Be wary of early "~83 départements" claims circulating in 2025; those were unsupported at the time.)

In 2026, 88 départements (of 101) are at the 5.00% rate — 11 remain at 4.50%, and 2 sit at the reduced 3.8%.

(Source: the official impots.gouv.fr DMTO table, May 2026 edition — the authoritative per-département rate table; count re-verified 2 July 2026.)

That is the single most important number in this article. The notaire-cost percentage is no longer a national constant — it is now a geographic variable. Eleven départements still sit at the old 4.50% departmental rate (two at 3.8%); the other 88 are at 5.00%. The official table is updated periodically, so confirm your specific département against the current edition before you budget.

The Primo-Accédant (First-Time-Buyer) Exemption

There are two distinct first-time-buyer mechanisms — keep them separate.

1. Automatic exemption from the +0.5-point surcharge (LF 2025 art. 116). A primo-accédant — a buyer who has not owned their principal residence in the prior 2 years — is exempted from the new +0.5-point increase when buying a principal residence. So even in a 5.00% département, a qualifying first-time buyer pays DMTO as though the surcharge did not exist. (service-public A18183.)

2. Optional standing relief (CGI art. 1594 F septies, LEGIARTI000051177296). Separately, a département may (by its own deliberation) go further and exempt or reduce DMTO for a first principal-residence purchase, subject to a 5-year occupancy commitment. "Première propriété" follows CCH L31-10-3 (no principal-residence ownership in the prior 2 years). This relief is optional per département — not automatic and not nationwide.

In short: the surcharge exemption is built into the national reform for primo-accédants buying a home; the deeper standing relief exists only where a département has voted for it. If you are a first-time buyer, the surcharge likely does not apply to you — but you must still check whether your département offers anything beyond that.

US buyers should note a separate point entirely: buying property in France grants no residency right and no visa. See buying property in France as an American in 2026 for the full picture, including financing and tax-treaty mechanics.

The Regulated Émoluments Scale (the Notaire's Actual Fee)

The notaire's own fee is a State-fixed, degressive proportional scale — cumulative across brackets — and is non-negotiable on an individual basis. The brackets (HT, i.e. before VAT) are:

Add 20% VAT on top of each. A permitted uniform remise of up to 20% may be applied to the slice of the price at or above €100,000 — the only sanctioned discount on the émoluments.

This scale was renewed by the arrêté du 25 February 2026, with brackets unchanged, fixed through 29 February 2028. (Source: arrêté 25 Feb 2026; Code de commerce arrêté tarifaire; Pretto barème 2026.)

So while the tax component is rising in most départements, the notaire's fee component is stable and predictable through early 2028.

Worked Example: A €300,000 Resale Purchase

Let us run a €300,000 ancien purchase to show how the pieces fit. (Figures are illustrative and rounded; re-run your own in the calculator.)

Step 1 — Regulated émoluments (HT), cumulative by bracket:

• €6,500 × 3.870% = €251.55
• €10,500 × 1.596% = €167.58
• €43,000 × 1.064% = €457.52
• €240,000 × 0.799% = €1,917.60
• Subtotal HT = €2,794.25 → +20% VAT = ~€3,353 TTC.

Step 2 — DMTO (the big one), at the surcharged 5.00% département rate:

• At the post-reform global rate of ~6.32%: €300,000 × 6.32% ≈ ~€18,960.
• At the old ~5.81% (a non-surcharged département, or a primo-accédant exemption): €300,000 × 5.81% ≈ ~€17,430.
• The +0.5-point surcharge difference: roughly €1,500 on this purchase.

Step 3 — CSI (0.10%): €300,000 × 0.10% = €300.

Step 4 — Débours: typically a few hundred euros (~€400–€1,200, file-dependent).

Approximate total frais de notaire: in a surcharged département, roughly €23,000–€24,000 — about 7.7–8% of price. In a non-surcharged département (or for an exempt primo-accédant), closer to €21,500–€22,500. Notice how the émoluments (~€3,350) are dwarfed by the DMTO (~€18,000+): that is the ~80%-is-tax reality in numbers.

A €300,000 new-build would instead land near ~2–3% (~€6,000–€9,000) because of the reduced duty and embedded VAT.

Run your own figures in the free Buying-Costs Calculator → — enter your price, your département's DMTO rate, and your buyer status to get a tailored estimate.

Don't Forget What the DPE Does to the Price

Transfer costs are only half the picture. Since 1 January 2025, G-rated dwellings are legally indecent and cannot be let on new or renewed leases (F follows in 2028, E in 2034). That does not block the sale of a passoire thermique, but it hammers the price and your future rental income — and it interacts directly with how much DMTO you ultimately pay (a lower negotiated price means lower duty). If you are eyeing an older property, read the DPE 2026 rental ban in France before you commit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are notaire fees in France really 7–8%? For an existing property (ancien), yes — roughly 7–8% of the price as of June 2026, but only ~10–15% of that is the notaire's own regulated fee. The bulk (~80%) is DMTO transfer tax. New-build (neuf/VEFA) is far lower, ~2–3%, because of a reduced duty and VAT already inside the price. Always confirm against your specific deed and département.

Which départements raised DMTO to 5% in 2026? In 2026, 88 of 101 départements are at the 5.00% rate (departmental rate 4.50% → up to 5.00%) — 11 remain at 4.50% and 2 at the reduced 3.8%, per the official impots.gouv.fr DMTO table (May 2026 edition). Only ~27–30 applied it at the 1 April 2025 start. Verify your exact département against the current table — this is now a geographic variable, not a national flat rate. (impots.gouv.fr DMTO table; service-public A18183.)

How long does the DMTO surcharge last? By law the +0.5-point dérogation applies to deeds signed between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2028 (LF 2025 art. 116; reversion from 1 April 2028 — a service-public news page says "30 April", but the statute prevails). It is temporary, though départements can choose whether and when to apply it within that window.

Am I exempt as a first-time buyer? If you are a primo-accédant — no principal-residence ownership in the prior 2 years — buying a principal residence, you are exempted from the +0.5-point surcharge automatically under LF 2025 art. 116, even in a 5.00% département. Some départements offer additional standing relief (CGI 1594 F septies) with a 5-year occupancy commitment, but that is optional and varies by département.

Can I negotiate notaire fees? Only the regulated émoluments slice (~10–15% of the total), and only narrowly: a uniform remise of up to 20% is permitted on the portion of the price at or above €100,000. The DMTO tax (~80%) is fixed by law and cannot be negotiated. The émoluments scale itself is fixed through 29 February 2028 by the arrêté of 25 February 2026.

Budget It Before You Bid

The lesson of 2026 is that "frais de notaire" is no longer a single number you can memorise. The notaire's actual fee is stable and predictable; the tax that dominates it is now geographic, time-limited, and reduced for first-time buyers. Before you make an offer, pin down three things: your département's current DMTO rate, your buyer status, and whether the property is ancien or neuf.

Estimate your total buying costs with the free Buying-Costs Calculator →

Educational information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. French transfer-tax rules are a moving target — the figures here reflect the position as of 20 June 2026, with the DMTO count and window re-verified 2 July 2026. Confirm your specific département's rate, your eligibility for any exemption, and the current scale with your notaire before signing anything.