Notary Fees Calculator: Calculate Notary and Land Registry Costs Precisely

Every property purchase in Germany legally requires a notary (Notar) under § 311b of the German Civil Code (BGB). Without notarization, the purchase contract is invalid. The notary is not merely a certifying official but handles the entire legal process: they draft the purchase contract, read it aloud at the notarization, file applications with the land registry office (Grundbuchamt) and oversee payment of the purchase price.

Together, the costs for the notary and the land registry typically come to 1.5–2.0% of the purchase price. Unlike the agent commission, there is no room to negotiate notary fees. The fees are set uniformly nationwide in the German Court and Notary Fees Act (GNotKG).

Our calculator shows you the exact breakdown of every individual item, split into notary fees (incl. 19% VAT) and land registry fees (exempt from VAT). That way you know exactly what costs to expect before your notary appointment.

The legal basis for all notary fees is the German Court and Notary Fees Act (GNotKG), in force since August 2013. The GNotKG replaced the earlier fee regulation (Kostenordnung, KostO) and introduced a modernized fee schedule.

The basic principle is simple: all fees are based on the transaction value (Geschäftswert). From fee table B you read off the so-called 1.0 fee unit. This base value is then multiplied by various factors:

• Notarization: a 2.0 fee unit, the notary's main service
• Execution: a 0.5 fee unit for filing applications with authorities and obtaining approvals
• Supervision: a 0.5 fee unit for overseeing payment of the purchase price and the handling of the transaction
• Land charge registration (Grundschuld): a 1.0 fee unit on the loan amount (when financing)

All notary fees are subject to 19% VAT. Land registry fees, by contrast, are exempt from VAT, since the land registry office is a public authority.

Note: Fee table B was not changed by the KostBRÄG 2025 (in force since 01.06.2025). Only table A (court fees) was raised. The values used here have remained unchanged since the GNotKG was introduced in 2013.

Land registry costs are not charged by the notary but by the land registry office (Grundbuchamt), a department of the local court. The notary merely files the applications; the court bills the fees directly.

The most important items:

• Transfer of ownership: a 1.0 fee unit on the purchase price; the new owner is registered
• Priority notice (Auflassungsvormerkung): a 0.5 fee unit on the purchase price; it protects the buyer between notarization and the transfer of ownership
• Register land charge: a 1.0 fee unit on the loan amount (only when financing)
• Cancellation of the priority notice: a flat €25 (after the transfer of ownership has been completed)

Important: land registry fees are not subject to VAT. The land registry office is a state body, so the fees are net = gross.

In practice, the buyer almost always pays the notary fees. That is what is agreed in nearly every purchase contract. Legally, buyer and seller are jointly and severally liable to the notary (§ 29 GNotKG), but the contractual agreement clearly allocates who bears the costs.

Exception: the costs for cancelling the seller's existing land charges (e.g. from their own property loan) are borne by the seller. This item does not appear in our calculator, as it is not affected by the buyer's side.

For an owner-occupied property, notary fees are unfortunately not tax-deductible. They count as private incidental acquisition costs and can be claimed neither as income-related expenses nor as special expenses.

It is different for a rented property. Here, the notary and land registry costs for the land charge registration can be deducted in full immediately as income-related expenses. The costs for the purchase contract itself (notarization, execution, supervision), by contrast, count as incidental acquisition costs and are written off via depreciation (AfA, Absetzung für Abnutzung) over 50 years.

A concrete example: with a purchase price of €400,000 and a land charge of €300,000, the costs for the land charge registration (notary + land registry) of around €1,900 are immediately deductible. The rest of the notary and land registry costs (approx. €4,000) is written off via depreciation.

A land charge (Grundschuld) is a real security interest that the financing bank has registered in the land register. It serves as collateral for the property loan. Should the borrower become unable to pay, the bank has recourse to the property.

Without a land charge (a cash purchasewithout financing), all land charge items at the notary and land registry are dropped. The total costs typically fall from 1.5–2.0% to only around 1.0–1.2% of the purchase price.

In practice, a purchase without financing is rare. Most buyers take out a loan, and the land charge is standard. Use the “With land charge” switch in our calculator to see the difference directly.

At around 1.5–2.0%, notary and land registry costs are the smallest item among the closing costs (Kaufnebenkosten). By comparison:

• Property transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer): 3.5–6.5% depending on the federal state, the largest single item
• Agent commission: 2.38–3.57% (buyer's share), often avoidable with private sales
• Notary + land registry: 1.5–2.0%, set by law and not negotiable

In total, the full closing costs come to 8.5–15% of the purchase price, depending on the federal state and whether an agent is involved. On a purchase price of €400,000 that is €34,000–60,000 on top of the purchase price.

Tip: use our closing costs calculator to calculate all the extra costs by federal state in one go.