In Switzerland, no property sale exists without a notary: the law requires a notarial deed, and in Geneva the notary who draws it up is a public officer whose fees are set by the Council of State. Here is what they do, when they step in, what it costs — in figures — and who pays.
What the notary actually does
The notary is nobody’s lawyer: they are a neutral adviser, entrusted with a public function, guaranteeing the legality of the transaction for both parties. Their work covers reviewing the file, checking land registry entries — easements, liens, third-party rights —, drafting the notarial deed, executing it, then registering the transfer of ownership.
It is also the notary who collects and forwards the taxes linked to the sale: the registration duty passes through their office before reaching the State.
When the notary steps in
As soon as an agreement takes shape, not only on the day of signing. The notary drafts the preliminary sale agreement when the parties conclude one, prepares the final deed, arranges the signing, then requests registration at the land registry — it is this registration, not the signing, that makes the buyer the owner. The details of the contract and the sale deed are covered in a dedicated article.
Who chooses the notary, and who pays
In Geneva, custom has it that the buyer chooses the notary — and pays the fees. The parties may agree on a different split, particularly in family sales, but this remains the exception. For the seller, the notarial service in principle costs nothing.
Notary fees in Geneva, in figures
What are called “notary fees” actually cover four very unequal items — and the notary’s own remuneration is not the main one. All of them are set by public texts, which the calculator below applies to the franc. Enter your purchase price and, if you are borrowing, the amount of the mortgage certificate to be created.
| Item | Paid to | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Registration duty on the purchase | To the State | CHF 30’000.- |
| Land registry registration | To the State | CHF 2’100.- |
| Notary fees for the deed of sale, VAT included | To the notary | CHF 5’621.- |
| Registration duty on the mortgage certificate, approx. | To the State | CHF 10’920.- |
| Mortgage certificate registration at the land registry | To the State | CHF 680.- |
| Notary fees for the mortgage certificate, VAT included | To the notary | CHF 3’351.- |
| Total costs 5.3 % of the price | CHF 52’672.- |
Sources: Geneva registration duties act (art. 8A and 33), land registry fees regulation (art. 3 and 4), notary fees regulation (art. 10 and 16), VAT 8.1%. Duty on the mortgage certificate: overall rate published by the Geneva Chamber of Notaries. Notary disbursements not included, a few hundred francs. Your notary's statement is authoritative.
For a property worth one million bought without a loan, the bill comes to CHF 37’721, or 3.8% of the price: CHF 30’000 in registration duty (3%), CHF 2’100 for land registry registration (0.21%) and CHF 5’621 in notary fees, VAT included. The notary keeps only a small share of what are called notary fees: the rest goes to the State.
The “4%” figure quoted everywhere only covers the deed of sale. As soon as the bank requires a mortgage certificate, a second deed is added: for a certificate of CHF 800’000, about CHF 14’951 more, and the total then reaches 5.3% of the price. That is the amount to plan for in your own funds, not 4%.
For a main residence, the Casatax scheme lightens the bill: in 2026, CHF 20’924 less in duty on the purchase and mortgage certificate duty halved, provided the price does not exceed CHF 1’394’928. One franc above, and the reduction disappears entirely: tick the box in the calculator to see the difference.
The mortgage certificate also goes through the notary
If you finance the purchase with a mortgage, the bank requires a mortgage certificate — the lien title recorded at the land registry. Setting it up is a separate notarial deed, and it costs more than people think: registration duty of about 1.4% of the amount, land registry registration (0.085%), and notary fees on a degressive scale, from 0.5% up to CHF 200’000 down to 0.1% above CHF 5 million.
A point that buyers often overlook: an existing certificate can be taken over and reused instead of being set up again. On a property already mortgaged, asking to take over the seller’s certificate saves most of this cost.
For the seller: the notary holds back your tax
The least well-known part of their mandate, and the one that concerns the seller most directly. In Geneva, the notary has a legal obligation to hold back the portion of the price corresponding to the tax on real estate profits and gains: the money is not paid to you on the day of signing, it stays blocked with the notary until the tax authority has issued the assessment.
Two practical consequences follow. First: your sale proceeds do not arrive as a single sum, and if you were counting on them to finance a new purchase, the timeline must allow for this. Second: the amount held back is calculated on an estimate, not on your tax return — hence the value of gathering, before signing, the invoices for value-adding works, the brokerage fee and the registration duty paid on the original purchase, the three items deducted from the gain. The net seller simulator calculates what will be left to you, and reinvestment can defer the tax if you buy a new main residence.
The notary notifies the sale when the plot is subject to pre-emption
Another purely Geneva-specific task: if the property is in a development zone, or on a plot affected by a change to zone boundaries, the State and the municipalities hold a right of pre-emption (general housing law, art. 3). It is the notary, and no one else, who then notifies the sale to the authority.
A period of sixty days from the filing of the deed at the land registry then opens, during which the authority may waive its right, buy on the agreed terms, or propose its own price; if the municipality waives its right, the Council of State keeps a further thirty days. Neither the seller nor the buyer can do anything about this — but both have an interest in knowing about it before signing, because it adds two to three months to the timeline. Ask your notary about this at the first meeting; it is part of the plot due diligence.
What the notary does not do
They do not visit the property, do not check its condition, do not value it and do not negotiate anything. Their neutrality, which protects both parties, is also their limit: they guarantee that the deed is legal and the transfer is clean, not that the price is fair or that the roof holds up. Technical surveys, valuation and negotiation are other professions’ work — which is exactly why the two roles do not replace each other.
In practice, for your project
Notary fees are acquisition costs: they are added to the price and are not covered by the mortgage — they come out of your own funds. Our mortgage simulator factors them into the calculation of your purchasing capacity.
On the seller’s side, the notary is not your cost item — your concern is the price and the tax on the gain. A valuation based on recorded transactions sets the former, and our selling with Rousseau 5 page describes the method. The terms used in this article — notarial deed, mortgage certificate, transfer duty — are defined in the glossary.