Notaries and their fees, under the magnifying glass of public opinion. How much we pay for a real estate contract

The rates charged by notaries have caused widespread reactions on social networks, with some netizens accusing them of being too high compared to the value of the documents concluded.

Some notaries charge high fees for signing contracts. Photo by Shutterstock

One user asked on Reddit “why does the notary cost so much to make a bitter (ante) contract of sale purchase?“. “I was recently asked for 4,500 lei for such a contract. What are we paying this money for?he asked.

And the answers did not take long to appear.

“There is an Order of the Minister of Justice that establishes the minimum fees (there is no maximum), it can be easily found on the Internet, the last version is from 2024. According to this order, the fee for the pre-contract is 1% of the advance paid + 25 lei for archiving + VAT. If you make the sale at the same notary where you made the preliminary contract, the fee paid now is deducted from the fee from the sale. For the sales contract fee, I recommend the correct calculation formula from the order, not the famous tax calculators on the net that often have nothing to do with reality. Of course, the best verification is directly at a notary office. If you have doubts about taxes, look for notaries and make an informed choice, you are not tied to a specific one. Success!”, a netizen replied.

Intrigued, an internet user said that he does not understand such an order and does not understand what a notary can do in the account of such large sums: “And if I choose to make the sale-purchase contract at another notary, do I pay another 1%?? I don't understand this order. The notary said that this increase came after the Nordis case. But what does the notary offer us for this money?”

“Your sole guarantee that what's in there is legal. If he makes a mistake, make a mistake”, another panelist replied.

What Internet users think notaries do

Dissatisfaction with notarial activity, in some cases, and with some notaries was further shown by internet users.

“Notaries don't really take on anything. They just check that the data is correct. Sometimes not even that. The notary is just a fact finder of the transaction, and nothing more. The man is kind of right when he says it costs too much. However, from what I understand, most of the money goes to the state“, wrote a participant in the discussion.

“We pay this money because notaries, like magistrates, are a privileged caste and their income is regulated by the state”, replied another.

“Notaries are another caste of Romanian drones and charlatans. They don't do anything, but 30 years ago, through some trickery with the help of the politician, the notary was mandatory with exorbitant prices. blah”another netizen noted.

“To spare me with their “years of study”. That they are not the only ones who have studied in this life. It's abuse. What service do they provide for that money?”, another netizen expressed his frustration.

“It is wickedness to take a percentage of the value of an asset”

Returning to the value of the notary fees, an Internet user categorized as villainy the fact that the providers of such services are allowed to collect a percentage of the value of the property.

“The fact that notaries take a fee of % (+ other amount) from the value of an asset is wickedness… as if the value of the asset is directly proportional to the notary's work. Shit laws made for the privileged castes and not for the common man. That's how they vote political tricks into power and make anti-population legislation“, he wrote.

Responding to him, another participant in the discussion wrote that most of the notary's earnings go back to the state.

“The interest of the state is that the notary fees are as high as possible, at the limit of bearability, the reason is simple, 40% of the receipts made by a notary go back to the state through taxes and income taxes. The notary also collects taxes from the state, such as the tax for the transfer of property to individuals of 1 or 3%. In practice, the notary must be seen as a state bureaucrat but self-employedhe said.

“Many notaries contributed to fraud”

However, another netizen wrote, “there were hundreds of cases where notaries contributed to fraud (e.g. Ioana Băsescu) and suffered nothing”. “So what is the role of the notary who has a monopoly and there are a limited number of positions, not like lawyers? Why is the number of notaries limited if they have a monopoly on the mandatory services offered?”, another netizen added.

“In the year 2025 it has become an outdated profession and I consider it more of a protection fee paid by society for a group of crooks, at least the real estate part. I recently paid 15,000 lei in notary fees for a copy paste contract in which he changed the name of the buyer and the address of the property, and I can find absolutely no logical explanation for the cost. 70-80% of the transactions are simple cases where the notary only checks the situation of the entries in the land register and the identity of the seller, and further changes the max. 500 words in a template… an operation that is often done by an assistant. I believe that they should normally be remunerated in direct proportion to the effort put in not by a percentage of the transaction value,” one netizen added.