If you are buying a flat in Paris, inheriting a house in Provence or signing a mortgage in France, you will meet a notaire. The word looks like « notary », and English speakers naturally assume it means the person who stamps a signature at the bank or the UPS store. It does not.
A French notaire is a highly trained legal professional and a public officer appointed by the Minister of Justice. He is not an avocat: the two professions are separate in France, and unlike an attorney or a solicitor, the notaire acts impartially, with powers delegated by the State. He drafts or receives the deed, checks that the transaction is lawful, explains it to the parties, collects the taxes, registers the property and keeps the original for the State. In most common law countries, no single professional does all of that: the job is split between three or four people. Knowing who does what at home is the fastest way to understand what the notaire does in France, and what he does not do for you.
| Country | Closest professional to the French notaire |
|---|---|
| United States | Real estate attorney, with a title or escrow company |
| England and Wales | Solicitor or licensed conveyancer |
| Australia | Solicitor or licensed conveyancer |
| Quebec | Notary (civil law, same model as France) |
| British Columbia | Notary public or lawyer, within statutory limits |
| Switzerland | Cantonal notary |
| Germany | Notar |
Is a French notaire the same as a notary public? The short answer
No, a French notaire is not the equivalent of an American notary public: a notary public only verifies the identity of the person signing, not « the truthfulness, accuracy, or validity » of the document (California Civil Code, s. 1189). A French notaire must hold a master’s degree in law and a notarial diploma (decree n° 73-609 of 5 July 1973, art. 3), and his deed is conclusive evidence of what he personally witnessed until set aside by a special forgery procedure (French Civil Code, art. 1371). A French sale can be binding as soon as the parties agree on the property and the price (French Civil Code, art. 1583), but it can only be registered at the land registry if it is recorded in a deed received by a notaire practising in France (French Civil Code, art. 710-1).
What does a French notaire actually do?
A French notaire is a public officer appointed by the Minister of Justice, with a monopoly over the deeds the law requires to be authentic. In practice, he combines four functions that common law systems keep apart:
- legal adviser and deed drafter: he drafts or reviews the deed and must advise both parties on its consequences;
- public officer: his deed has evidential force and is directly enforceable, without a court judgment, when it records a liquidated debt (French Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures, art. L. 111-3, 4°, and L. 111-2);
- land registry agent: he files the deed with the land registry and collects the transfer taxes on behalf of the State;
- archivist: he keeps the original deed, the minute, and issues certified copies.
Most of his fees on a sale or an estate are set by a statutory tariff (French Commercial Code, art. L. 444-1); discounts are allowed only within regulated limits, above a threshold (art. L. 444-2), and services outside the tariff are billed at agreed rates. The bulk of what buyers call « notaire’s fees » is in fact taxes collected for the State.
A French notaire is not a notary who also gives advice; he is a legal professional to whom the State has lent its seal.
Who does the notaire’s job in the United States?
In the United States, the French notaire’s job is shared between a title company, an attorney and a notary public. None of them is a public officer whose deed is conclusive evidence.
The notary public certifies signatures. He can be commissioned without any law degree: in California, after a six-hour course and an exam (California Government Code, s. 8201); in Texas, since 1 January 2026, after a course of no more than two hours (Texas Government Code, s. 406.006).
The title company searches the land records, issues title insurance and often runs the closing through escrow. Where the French system relies on the notaire’s checks before the deed is registered, many American transactions also rely on an insurance policy against specified defects of title; what is covered depends on the policy and its exclusions.
The attorney gives legal advice and drafts the documents. In some states, such as New York, Massachusetts or Georgia, an attorney is customarily or legally involved in the closing; elsewhere, title companies close without one. The rules and local practice vary from state to state.
Louisiana, whose civil law derives from the French tradition, has its own notaries with broader powers. Florida also appoints « civil-law notaries », who must be members of the Florida Bar with at least five years of practice and can issue authentic acts kept in a protocol (Florida Statutes, s. 118.10).
Who does the notaire’s job in England and Wales?
Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own property law; this section covers England and Wales only.
In England and Wales, property transactions are handled by solicitors or licensed conveyancers, and the security of title comes from the State-run Land Registry. Wills and estates go through solicitors and the Probate Registry.
The English notary public is closer to a French notaire than his American namesake. He is a qualified legal professional, appointed and regulated by the Master of the Faculties through the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, after a two-year Notarial Practice Course. His main role, however, is to authenticate documents for use abroad: very few English notaries do conveyancing or probate in their notarial capacity.
An English buyer in France will therefore find that the notaire does, in one office, what his solicitor and the Land Registry do at home.
Who does the notaire’s job in Australia?
In Australia, conveyancing is done by solicitors or licensed conveyancers, under State law. The guarantee of title comes from the Torrens system: registration in the State register gives the owner an indefeasible title, backed by the State (in New South Wales, Real Property Act 1900).
Australian notaries public are lawyers. In New South Wales, a notary must be a lawyer with at least five years of practice, appointed by the Supreme Court after a notarial practice course (Public Notaries Act 1997). Like English notaries, they mainly certify documents for use overseas.
Who does the notaire’s job in Canada?
Canada has both systems side by side. Quebec, whose private law is a civil law of French origin, has notaries who are legal professionals and public officers, on the same model as French notaires, and a separate profession from advocates (Notaries Act, CQLR, c. N-3). The other provinces follow the common law model: lawyers handle conveyancing, and notaries public certify documents.
British Columbia is a hybrid. Its notaries public are a separate regulated profession, not lawyers, but they may handle residential conveyancing, powers of attorney and certain wills within the limits of the provincial Notaries Act. The courts police those limits: in Law Society of British Columbia v. MacDonald, 2013 BCSC 1204, the Supreme Court of British Columbia held that a notary had exceeded her statutory authority by drafting wills creating life interests, and enjoined her from estate work the Act did not authorise.
Who does the notaire’s job in Switzerland and Germany?
Switzerland and Germany have notaries in the French sense, because they belong to the same civil law family.
In Switzerland, a contract to transfer land must be made by public deed (Swiss Civil Code, art. 657), and each canton organises its own notarial profession. The French-speaking cantons, such as Geneva and Vaud, have independent « Latin » notaries very close to the French model. Zurich and Schaffhausen use State-employed notaries; other cantons mix both systems.
In Germany, a contract to buy or sell land must be recorded by a Notar (German Civil Code, BGB, s. 311b). The German Notar, like the French notaire, must read the deed aloud to the parties (Beurkundungsgesetz, s. 13) and explain it.
A Swiss or German buyer in France will therefore recognise the notaire immediately; an American, British or Australian buyer will not.
What the comparison means for you in France
The comparison explains the three surprises English-speaking clients most often have in France.
The notaire is not your lawyer. He is a neutral public officer who must act for the transaction, not for one side. In many sales, a single notaire acts for both buyer and seller. You may appoint your own notaire alongside the seller’s: the regulated fees are then shared between the two, without increasing the total cost of the purchase.
The notaire cannot be bypassed, but you may be bound before you meet him. Because only a deed received by a notaire can be registered (French Civil Code, art. 710-1), you cannot complete a French property purchase with a lawyer or a conveyancer alone. Yet the preliminary contract (compromis or promesse de vente) may already bind you, since a sale is formed by agreement on the property and the price (French Civil Code, art. 1583).
A signature certified at home may not be enough. A power of attorney signed before a notary public and apostilled is not a French authentic deed. When French law requires the authentic form, for example to grant a mortgage (French Civil Code, art. 2409), the French Supreme Court has upheld the cancellation of a bank’s foreclosure. The power of attorney had been signed before an Australian notary public who, in that case, had merely witnessed the signature without reading or explaining the deed, so that the form followed was not equivalent to French law in protecting the mortgagor (Cass. 1re civ., 14 April 2016, n° 15-18.157). The ruling does not invalidate every foreign power of attorney: it applies where French law requires the authentic form. The safe route is a power of attorney drawn up by the French notaire himself, which he can now receive by video link (decree n° 71-941 of 26 November 1971, art. 20-1).
French Forced Heirship: What Foreign Property Owners Must Know
When do you need a French lawyer as well?
The notaire must act impartially, even when you appointed him; an avocat advises and defends your own interests. Independent advice is most useful before you sign the preliminary contract, especially when the transaction involves a power of attorney signed abroad, disputed ownership, an estate or unusual terms.
After signing, the question becomes one of litigation: a defect appears after completion, an estate turns into a dispute between heirs, or a bank enforces a mortgage on the strength of a power of attorney signed abroad. That is the moment when the facts of your case matter as much as the rules, and when you need an avocat on your side.
Valentin Simonnet is an avocat at the Paris Bar. He practises commercial litigation and white-collar criminal defence, and advises English-speaking clients before French courts.
