When signing a mortgage loan secured by a mortgage, the notary’s invoice often reserves a line that few buyers have anticipated. However, mortgage fees represent a real item in the acquisition budget, and their amount varies depending on the type of property, the nature of the loan, and the expenses specific to each notary’s office.
Before detailing each component, you can learn everything about mortgage fees to lay the groundwork for the mechanism and understand who pays the bill at the time of signing.
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Property advertising tax and real estate security contribution: the fixed items
The bulk of the cost of a mortgage does not go into the notary’s pocket. The property advertising tax constitutes the heaviest part of the bill. It is calculated on the amount of the loan plus accessories (usually a flat-rate increase intended to cover potential interest). This tax is collected by the notary and then paid to the public treasury.
In addition, there is the real estate security contribution, paid to the property advertising service for the registration of the real right on the property. These two items are non-negotiable: no negotiation is possible, regardless of the chosen notary.
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The point that traps many buyers concerns the difference in taxation between new and old housing. The tax rates differ depending on whether the property is new or old, which significantly alters the final bill. On an identical loan, the cost of the mortgage guarantee can therefore vary from simple to double depending on the nature of the financed property.
Mortgage release fees: the hidden cost of early resale
One rarely thinks about the exit when entering into a loan. The release of the mortgage is the procedure that frees the property from the guarantee before its natural term. It mainly occurs in two cases: the resale of the property before the end of the loan, or the early repayment of the outstanding capital.
The conventional mortgage legally lasts throughout the loan period, plus one additional year. If you wait for this deadline, the registration falls off automatically without any cost. However, any early release requires a separate notarial act, with its own fees, registration rights, and formalities.
- The release requires an authentic act drawn up by the notary, whose fees are proportional to the initial amount of the loan.
- Fixed registration rights are added, as well as the real estate security contribution for the cancellation of the registration.
- The expenses (costs advanced by the notary for administrative formalities) vary from one office to another, with no single scale.
Question No. 6820 posed to the National Assembly in 2025 reminds us that the coverage of release fees during early repayment remains a concrete issue for borrowers. In practice, it is always the borrower who pays, unless a contrary clause is negotiated with the bank (which remains rare).
Mortgage or bank guarantee: compare before signing the mortgage loan
The choice of guarantee is not always free. Some banks impose a mortgage, while others systematically direct towards a guarantee organization. When you have a choice, the comparison deserves attention.
The bank guarantee (offered by mutual organizations or bank subsidiaries) works differently. The guarantee avoids the notary fees for taking and releasing a mortgage. A portion of the amount paid upfront can even be refunded at the end of the loan, depending on the conditions of the organization. There is no registration with the property advertising service, so there is no associated tax.
The mortgage retains an advantage in certain specific cases: when the guarantee organization refuses the file (atypical profile, secondary residence, complex rental investment), or when the loan amount exceeds the limits accepted by the guarantee. For new properties in VEFA, the mortgage sometimes remains the only guarantee accepted by the lender.
Feedback varies on this point according to the institutions: some brokers report that the guarantee is systematically cheaper, while others indicate cases where the overall cost balances out, especially when there is no early resale (and thus no release to pay).
Anticipating mortgage fees in the financing plan
On the ground, the problem is not so much the amount of the fees as the moment when they are discovered. The notary communicates the detailed statement a few days before the signing, sometimes too late to adjust one’s contribution or renegotiate the loan conditions.
To avoid this gap, one can request a simulation of the guarantee fees as soon as the loan offer is made. The notary or the broker can provide an estimate based on the amount borrowed and the type of property. This estimate includes:
- The notary’s fees, calculated according to a regulated proportional scale.
- The property advertising tax, proportional to the guaranteed amount.
- The real estate security contribution and administrative expenses.
The guarantee fees must be included in the total cost of the mortgage loan, just like interest and borrower insurance. Ignoring them skews the comparison between two loan offers.
When buying an old property with a medium-term resale project, the potential extra cost of the release weighs in the decision-making. A property held until the end of the loan generates no cancellation fees. A property sold after a few years incurs a release, with an additional bill at the notary’s office. Integrating this assumption from the start allows for choosing the guarantee best suited to one’s holding horizon.
The most useful reflex remains to compare the two scenarios (mortgage with or without early resale, guarantee with partial refund) on a spreadsheet or with the help of a broker before committing. The choice of guarantee is made before signing the loan, not after.