What happens at the notary appointment? We also asked ourselves this question, because the average person doesn’t attend such an appointment very often. In any case, there are a few things worth knowing before the notary appointment takes place.

First of all, notary fees are regulated uniformly in Germany, which means that the notary collects the same amount at Jungfernstieg in Hamburg as in the Brandenburg province. The fees also depend on the purchase price. So if you just buy an undeveloped plot of land instead of an apartment or a finished house, you get off cheaper. We don’t pay any notary fees on the work contract at Viebrock, because it’s something that doesn’t have to be officially notarized.

That adds up to a few thousand euros.

What does the notary do for his money?

The purchase contract is usually ready in the drawer as a standard, and even to us the fees for adapting a Word document with the correct names of buyer and seller, checking the personal data and reading out the entire contract from front to back in the appointment seem high. By the way, for the land register entry itself, one also pays a service fee again at the city..

However, you do not have to accept the standard contract. The notary is also there to include individual agreements in the contract and above all: to explain incomprehensible to the layman. Also in the appointment, shortly before you make the signature! Since then all parties sit at the same table anyway, it can still be negotiated. Of course, you should not keep any dealbreakers until the appointment, but clarify really important things beforehand. But the wording can be adjusted up to the last minute.

Wording can be adjusted even at the notary appointment

That’s how it was with us. Specifically, it was about the exact size of the property. We didn‘t know exactly, because the official result of the survey for the division was not yet available (our future neighbors sold a part of their backyard to us). Therefore, we had reserved the right to reduce the purchase price if the actual size fell below a certain value. According to the notary, this is one of the small things that can be agreed upon and still be adjusted “live” when you are about to sign.

If you have questions: ask!

As always, especially with legal transactions like this, which are really, really important: If something is unclear, ask! It’s not easy to get to grips with legalese as laypeople, and even though we’ve already done a lot of research and reading up, some of the wording was unclear right up to the end. That’s what the appointment is for: the notary takes the time to explain – and in our case even proactively asked whether the passage he had just read out was comprehensible to everyone.

By the way, there is also a free choice of notary. Since everyone takes the same fees anyway, we followed the realtor’s suggestion to get the notary appointment over the line. With commercial sellers who sell more often, I assume that the contract drafting will tend to favor the seller within the legal framework. Therefore, it is best to read with an extra portion of attention!