House purchases in France are now more expensive for many, as several departments increased ‘notaire fees’ on April 1 – and more are set to follow in the coming months.
Departments across France have signed off on the increase at the earliest opportunity, in a bid to boost local revenues.
An aspect of these costs known as ‘transfer fees’ (droits de mutation à titre onéreux or DMTO) are collected by local authorities and used as a source of local funding.
The 2025 budget authorised departments to increase DMTO rates to 5%, up from a current ceiling of 4.5%. This will be the new maximum limit until January 2028, where they will be revised again.
In real terms, an increase from 4.5% to 5% relates to roughly €500 in extra DMTO fees for every €100,000 spent on a property – although several factors can affect the price, such as the type of property, as new builds see lower fees.
An official simulator for notaire fees can be found here.
It is worth noting that first-time buyers are exempt from increases, provided fulfil certain conditions including living in the property for at least 5 years.
27 departments already increased rates
Dozens of departments scrambled to have the new fees in place by April 1.
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The 27 to have the new fees imposed are: Ariège, Charente-Maritime, Corrèze, Côte-d’Or, Dordogne, Eure-et-Loir, Haute-Garonne, Hérault, Ille-et-Vilaine, Loir-et-Cher, Loire, Loire-Atlantique, Loiret, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Puy-de-Dôme, Rhône (hors métropole de Lyon), Haute-Savoie, Paris, Seine-et-Marne, Tarn, Vosges, Yonne, Essonne, Hauts-de-Seine and Seine-Saint-Denis.
On May 1, more departments will follow – Val-de-Marne, Val-d’Oise and Yvelines ln in the Île-de-France region as well as Aisne, Calvados, Creuse, Finistère, and Pyrénées-Orientales elsewhere.
June 1 will see Morbihan increase its rate, however it will increase from 3.8% to 4.5%.
It was one of only two departments that did not have the previous maximum rate in place – Indre will remain the only department to retain the 3.8% rate.
Will further increases be announced?
Departmental councils have to approve the changes via a vote, and those who have not yet voted on the issue have until mid-April to increase them during the 2025 calendar year.
From this date on, any votes to increase the rates will not come into force until January 2026.
It is worth nothing that in four departments, councils voted to reject an increase to 5% and keep current rates in place. These are Alpes-Maritimes, Oise, Hautes-Pyrénées and Lozère.
