Notary day in the Netherlands: what you sign and what it costs

The notary is compulsory, and is on nobody's side

You do not become the owner of a Dutch home by paying for it. Ownership changes only when a notary draws up a deed of transfer and that deed is registered in the public registers kept by the Kadaster, the national land registry. There is no do-it-yourself route and no conveyancer acting for your side. The notary (notaris) holds a public office, and article 17 of the Notaries Act (Wet op het notarisambt) requires the notary to exercise it independently and to serve every party to the transaction impartially and with the greatest possible care.

So the notary checks the legal facts and explains what the deeds do, but will not negotiate for you or say the price is too high. The Kadaster describes three checks around a transfer: before drafting, to confirm the seller is the owner and to find mortgages or attachments; on the signing day, to confirm nothing has changed; and after registration, to confirm no other document slipped in between. The office also has anti-money-laundering duties, which is why it asks for identity documents and sometimes for the origin of your money.

The notary answers legal and procedural questions about the deeds. Whether a mortgage product suits you is a question for a mortgage advisor, and how a purchase affects your tax position is a question for a tax advisor.

Who picks the notary, and what the fees are

The buyer normally chooses the notary because the buyer pays for the deed of transfer. Existing Dutch homes are almost always sold "kosten koper" (k.k., costs for the buyer), which the government describes as the buyer paying the transfer tax and the cost of the transfer deed at the notary. Your choice goes into the contract: article 4.1 of the model purchase agreement for an existing single-family home (model 2023), drawn up jointly by NVM, VastgoedPRO, VBO and Vereniging Eigen Huis, has a blank line for the notary office. Decide before you sign, not after.

Notary fees are not regulated. The Dutch government states that notary tariffs are free and every notary sets their own rate, so quotes for identical work differ. As an order of magnitude, the consumer site of the Royal Dutch Association of Civil-law Notaries (KNB) puts the mortgage deed and the deed of transfer together at around 1,300 euros including VAT, while noting prices differ per office (checked August 2026). The Kadaster registration charge sits on top as a fixed public tariff: in 2026, 103.50 euros per deed through the electronic KIK channel, 181.00 euros electronically outside KIK, and 215.00 euros on paper. Those tariffs were held flat for 2026 while most other Kadaster tariffs rose 3.5 percent, and a mortgaged purchase produces two registrable deeds.

• Whether one office handles both deeds, which is usually cheaper than splitting them.
• How much research the title needs: leasehold (erfpacht), an apartment right and its owners' association, or municipal restrictions all add work.
• Which channel the deed is registered through, since the Kadaster tariff itself differs.
• Extras easy to miss in a quotation: a power of attorney, money held back in escrow, or an interpreter.

The notary also collects the transfer tax (overdrachtsbelasting) and pays it to the tax authority. In 2026 the rate is 2 percent for a home you will live in yourself as your main residence, 8 percent for residential property you will not, and 10.4 percent for other real estate. Buyers at least 18 and under 35 who will live in the home themselves and have not used the exemption before pay nothing if the property value does not exceed 555,000 euros in 2026. Neither the exemption nor the 2 percent rate is automatic: you sign a written declaration that you will live in the home yourself, and the notary must hold it before the transfer. The Belastingdienst has one form for the starter exemption and one for the 2 percent low rate.

Before the day: drafts, identification and cleared funds

Everything that can go wrong on notary day is easier to fix the week before. The office sends draft deeds and a draft settlement statement ahead of the appointment. Read them, and chase the office if nothing arrives: a name spelled differently from your passport is a correction in advance and a postponement on the day.

You will be identified in person. Under the Dutch anti-money-laundering act (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme, Wwft) a notary must carry out client due diligence and report unusual transactions to FIU-Nederland, and the same act requires every notary office to run a documented risk policy. Expect to show a valid passport or identity card and to answer questions about the origin of savings you contribute. These are duties of the office, not suspicion of you.

The money must reach the notary before the deed is passed. Article 3 of the model purchase agreement runs payment of the price, costs and taxes through the notary at the passing of the deed, and has the seller accept the notary holding the price until it is certain the property is delivered free of mortgages, attachments and their registrations. Those funds sit on the notary's third-party account (derdengeldenrekening) required by article 25 of the Notaries Act. Money there is separated from the notary's own assets, so the KNB confirms it would fall outside the bankruptcy if the office failed. A deposit or bank guarantee lodged earlier under article 5 is held there too.

The final inspection (eindinspectie)

The final inspection is a walk through the house shortly before you sign, and your last practical moment of leverage. It is not required by statute, but it is not merely custom either: article 6.5 of the model purchase agreement gives the buyer the right to inspect the property inside and outside immediately before the deed of transfer is passed. It usually happens on the morning of the transfer with buyer, seller and the estate agents present. You confirm the property matches what was agreed months earlier, that items sold with the house are still there and excluded items have gone, and you write down the gas, water and electricity meter readings.

What you are entitled to expect comes from the contract. Article 7.2 of the model purchase agreement obliges the seller to deliver the property free of claims to use, not requisitioned, and empty and cleared apart from movable goods sold with it. Article 11 gives a defaulting party eight days after a written notice of default, then a penalty of ten percent of the purchase price if the agreement is rescinded, or three per mille (3‰) of the price per day capped at ten percent where the other party demands performance instead. In practice the usual remedy is a depot: part of the price stays in the notary's account until the problem is fixed. That needs the seller's agreement, so raise it at the inspection.

What you sign: the deed of transfer and the mortgage deed

Two deeds are normally signed in one sitting. The deed of transfer (leveringsakte, also called the transportakte) moves ownership from seller to buyer. It names the parties, describes the property by its cadastral identification, records the price, and carries across what runs with the title: easements, any leasehold and its conditions, apartment rights and the rules of the owners' association, and the guarantees the seller gave in the purchase agreement. The notary goes through it before it is signed by everyone present, the notary included.

The mortgage deed (hypotheekakte) exists only if you are borrowing, and runs in favour of your lender rather than the seller. It creates a right of mortgage over the property as security for the loan and is registered at the Kadaster like the transfer deed, which is why the registration fee is charged for each. Buying without a mortgage means one deed and a smaller fee.

• A valid passport or national identity card for every buyer, the same document the office already copied.
• Documents about your marital or partnership status if the office asked for them, since these affect who owns what.
• A written power of attorney if a buyer cannot attend, arranged with the office in advance.
• The signed main-residence declaration for the transfer tax, whether you are claiming the starter exemption or the 2 percent rate.

The settlement statement (nota van afrekening)

The nota van afrekening is the notary's arithmetic for the transaction: what must sit in the third-party account before the deed can be passed, and where every euro goes afterwards. You get a draft in advance. Check it closely, because it is the only place where price, taxes, fees, mortgage proceeds and the running costs of the house all meet.

• The purchase price, less any deposit or bank guarantee already lodged with the notary.
• Transfer tax at the rate that applies to you, or nothing if the starter exemption applies.
• The notary's fee for the deed of transfer and, separately, for the mortgage deed, including VAT.
• The Kadaster registration charge for each deed.
• The mortgage amount arriving from your lender, and any costs the lender deducts from it.
• A credit or a debit for prorated charges on the property.
• Any amount agreed to be held back in a depot.

Prorating surprises most first-time buyers, because it usually means paying the seller back. Article 8 of the model purchase agreement passes the benefits, charges, taxes, levies and any leasehold canon to the buyer from an agreed date, settles the ones already running in proportion to time, and requires that settlement at the same moment as payment of the purchase price. A seller who has already paid a full year of owner charges is reimbursed for the part of the year that belongs to you, as a line you owe. The same article states that levies imposed on the use of the property are not settled between the parties at all. Which charges count as owner charges follows the rules of the municipality and the water authority.

Query anything on the draft statement you do not recognise, before transfer day. Correcting an amount while the money is still in the notary's account is trivial. Recovering it from a seller afterwards is not.

If you do not speak Dutch: interpreters and the Rbtv

A Dutch notarial deed is written in Dutch unless you ask for another language and the notary understands it well enough. That is article 42 of the Notaries Act: the deed is executed in Dutch, but at the parties' request it may be drawn up in a foreign language or in Frisian provided the notary sufficiently understands that language, unless the law says otherwise. Many offices will pass a deed in English or supply an English version of a Dutch deed as a courtesy. Where the deed itself is in Dutch, the Dutch text is what you sign and what governs.

Where a party does not sufficiently understand the language of the deed, an interpreter is not optional. Article 42 requires that an interpreter also appears, one who is a sworn translator if possible, that the interpreter translates the substantive content of the deed and co-signs it, and that the assistance is recorded in the closing of the deed. The KNB stresses that the notary cannot delegate the underlying duty of being satisfied that you understand what you are committing to.

The register behind that rule is the Rbtv, the Register beëdigde tolken en vertalers, created by the Wet beëdigde tolken en vertalers and kept by Bureau Wbtv, part of the Raad voor Rechtsbijstand, for the Ministry of Justice and Security. Anyone can search it publicly by language and by name. KNB guidance adds three practical points: where no registered interpreter exists for the language an unregistered one may be used provided a certificate of conduct is produced, the cost of the interpreter is for the client, and a family member should not interpret unless registered and uninvolved in the transaction.

After signing: registration, payment and keys

Signing is not the finish line, and the seller is not paid at the table. The notary submits the deed for registration, usually electronically. The Kadaster states that it decides within 24 hours on working days whether a document can be registered, and that full processing into the Basisregistratie Kadaster follows within six working days. Once the notary has proof of registration, the final check confirms no competing document was registered in the meantime, and only then is the purchase price paid to the seller.

Keys are handed over by convention at the office once the deed is signed, which is why the final inspection is scheduled first. The tail afterwards is short: pass the meter readings to the energy and water suppliers, arrange building insurance from the transfer date, tell the municipality you have moved, and file the deed and the settlement statement somewhere findable.

Common questions

Do I have to be there in person to sign?

The notary must establish the identity of every party, so someone has to appear and be identified. If a buyer genuinely cannot attend, ask the office in advance whether it will work with a written power of attorney and how it wants that drawn up, since it cannot be improvised on the day. Couples buying together normally both attend.

Can the deed be in English?

Yes, if you request it and the notary sufficiently understands English, which article 42 of the Dutch Notaries Act permits. Otherwise the deed is executed in Dutch and, if you do not sufficiently understand Dutch, an interpreter must appear with you, be a sworn translator where possible, and co-sign the deed. Ask the office which route it uses, since it affects both cost and planning.

How much should I budget for the notary?

Notary tariffs in the Netherlands are free, so each office sets its own price and quotes vary widely for identical work. The KNB consumer site puts the transfer deed and the mortgage deed together at around 1,300 euros including VAT, and the Kadaster adds a registration charge per deed of 103.50 euros through its electronic KIK channel in 2026. Get written quotations from a few offices and compare what each includes.

When do I legally own the home?

Ownership passes on the deed of transfer being signed before the notary and registered in the public registers at the Kadaster, not on the day your bid was accepted. The Kadaster decides within 24 hours on working days whether a document can be registered, and the seller is paid only after the notary has proof of registration and has confirmed nothing else was registered in the meantime.

What if the house is not empty or something is broken at the final inspection?

The model purchase agreement requires the seller to deliver the property empty and cleared apart from goods sold with it, and article 11 sets a penalty of ten percent of the purchase price on rescission, or three per mille per day capped at ten percent where performance is demanded, after eight days from a written notice of default. In practice the parties usually agree to leave part of the price in the notary's account as a depot until the issue is resolved. The seller has to consent, so raise it during the inspection.

Who pays for the interpreter?

The KNB states that the cost of the interpreter is for the account of the client, so as the buyer you should expect it on top of the notary fee. Booking a sworn interpreter from the Rbtv register takes lead time, particularly for less common languages. Tell the notary office which language you need as soon as it is instructed, not in the final week.