Notaries in Belgium
What is a civil law notary?
One of the main tasks of a Belgian notary, as laid down by law, is to advise citizens who wish to conclude agreements in important areas of their lives, and give authenticity to those agreements. The Belgian notary is a civil law notary, meaning he or she informs and advises clients about their rights and duties, and the legal, financial and tax-related consequences of their commitment. For some of these agreements, the notary’s involvement is obligatory as he guarantees their lawfulness and so provides legal certainty to the parties.
The civil law notary’s remit covers three main areas of law in Belgium: real estate law, family law and business law. The notary often intervenes in these three areas because the law requires certain types of agreements to be established in a special written form. Such written documents are called “authentic acts”. The notary makes inquiries among the different administrations to obtain all the necessary information before establishing the act, and makes sure the act cannot be challenged, regarding either its content or its form. The notary also ensures the follow-up, such as registration in the public registers and payment of taxes.
The Belgian notary is independent. To safeguard that independence, the notary is subject to a fixed scale of fees for most activities, determined by law, from which he cannot deviate. The notary must also remain impartial: he informs and advises all parties to the act, and does not privilege one above the other. Even if appointed by only one of the parties, the notary must remain completely neutral. Furthermore, the notary is bound by professional secrecy; notaries may not reveal to third parties what was confided to them.
Characteristics of the notarial profession
The notary in Belgium is a public officer who is appointed by the King, and receives a delegation of power from the State. One can become a notary after 5 years of general legal studies, followed by a specialisation year in notarial law. This has to be followed by a 3-year training in a notarial office, after which a final comparative examination takes place. The applicant then becomes a candidate-notary.
There are 1,788 notaries in Belgium, who are active in 1,098 notarial offices, where they conduct their tasks with the help of approximately 8,000 staff members.
Citizens are free to choose their notary, and all notaries are able to assist the citizens in whatever notarial request they may have. This is why, when several parties intervene in an act, each of them may choose their own notary. To respect that choice, it was decided that when two notaries intervene (for example for the buyer and seller of a house) the costs of the transaction is split between the two notaries. After an authentic act is signed, the notary keeps it on file.
What does a civil law notary do ?
In Belgium, the notary is guided by the National Chamber of Notaries (Chambre nationale des notaires/Nationale Kamer van Notarissen), the Royal Federation of Belgian notaries and the Provincial Chambers of Notaries.
The main objectives of the National Chamber are to represent the notaries of Belgium in dealings with the authorities when it comes to the status of their profession, to establish rules of professional conduct and to make recommendations to Provincial Chambers of notaries to help them in maintaining professional discipline. This latter aspect is the main task of the Provincial Chambers, which – together with the courts – are the profession’s disciplinary bodies: they ensure that the rules of professional conduct are observed and settle professional disputes (among other things, they handle complaints).
The Royal Federation of Belgian Notaries is a professional association that assists notaries in their daily work by providing tailored services in the areas of competence of the notary. They also represent the profession in a variety of cases.
Furthermore, the citizen can rely on an Ombudsman L'Ombudsman pour le notariat est un service auquel vous pouvez adresser vos plaintes formelles éventuelles. Son rôle principal est de protéger le citoyen et d'assurer le bon fonctionnement du notariat. Il vous suffit d'envoyer votre plainte par courrier, par email ou online sur le site www.ombudsnotaire.be. in case they have a complaint about their notary. This service has been available since 2015. More information can be found on www.ombudsnotaire.be (in French).
Family Law
The Belgian notary advises citizens, and drafts authentic acts in many aspects that relate to their family life, which include:
- Marriage contracts
- Factual or legal cohabitation
- Divorce
- Care mandates and declarations of preference
Business
When starting a business in Belgium, some company forms require constitution via a notarial act, and the notary advises the client on all the relevant aspects of entrepreneurship, which include:
- Which company form to choose
- The fiscal consequences
- The consequences concerning personal liability
Succession law
Also in the field of inheritance, the Belgian notary plays an important role. The notary is the competent authority in Belgium to handle the
succession
Transmission du patrimoine d'une personne défunte ou masse du patrimoine ainsi transmis.
of those who have their habitual residence in Belgium when they pass away. The notary advises the citizens when it comes to succession matters relating to:
- Last wills
- Declaration of succession
- An agreement as to succession
- Donations
- Acceptance or refusal of the inheritance
- Distribution of the estate
Real estate
The Belgian notary is the main advisor for those seeking to buy a house, as the purchase act and registration of the transfer of property are obligatorily done by the notary. The notary plays a pivotal role in:
- The signing of the preliminary purchase agreement
- Obtaining all necessary documents
- Rental agreements
- Obtaining a mortgage
- Rights of way and leases
Mediation
Some notaries are also approved mediators, thereby helping parties to resolve conflicts they may have without the involvement of a court. When a settlement arising from mediation is enacted in the authentic form, it becomes an enforceable title without involvement of a court.
The costs of the civil law notary in Belgium
Taxes will comprise the main payment a client has to make to the notarial office. The notary receives the amounts due and makes sure they are transferred to the competent authorities in name of the client. They include registration fees, mortgage fees, the duty on written documents, VAT, etc.
Furthermore, the client pays certain other administrative costs, depending on the type of act and the searches performed by the notary. These are also due to authorities such as local administrations. These differ from municipality to municipality. The notary advances these costs for the buyer in order to execute the act.
In addition, the client pays a statutory fee. This fee is the remuneration that is due to the notary; it is determined by law. The notary fee includes the remuneration for all intellectual transactions necessary before and after signing of the authentic act, including: meetings with the parties, advice, drafting the act, communication with the parties and third parties, registration of the act and keeping the minutes. The employees of the notarial office involved in these tasks are also remunerated with this fee.
Finding a Belgian notary
If you are looking for a notary, you can consult the directory available on the websites www.notaris.be (NL) or www.notaire.be (FR), or you can consult the European Directory of Notaries that contains information on more than 45,000 civil law notaries in the European Union.
Civil law notaries in the European Union
The civil law notaries in 22 member states of the European Union are represented by the Council of Notariats of the European Union (the CNUE). The CNUE represents the notariats of the following member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. Its office is situated in Brussels.
Legal information websites
For more information on the Belgian judicial system or specific information on Belgian law relating to for example family matters or property acquisition, information websites are available for all citizens:
