Buying
Purchase costs
On top of the purchase price come transfer tax, the notary, the land registry and usually an agent. Together that is roughly 6 to 15 per cent, depending on the federal state — money no bank will lend you and that you must have in cash.
Purchase costs in total
—- Transfer tax
- —
- Notary
- —incl. 19 % VAT
- Land registry
- —no VAT
- Agent
- —
What this means for you
What the total is made of
Every item separately
| Item | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Total | — | |
Where the fee rates come from
The notary and the land registry both bill from the same schedule of value-based fees — table B in annex 2 to the Court and Notary Costs Act (Gerichts- und Notarkostengesetz). The transaction value gives a 1.0 fee, and each act is billed as a multiple of it.
- Notarising the purchase contract: 2.0 on the price
- Execution: 0.5 on the price
- Supervising completion: 0.5 on the price
- Notarising the land charge: 1.0 on the loan amount
- Priority notice of conveyance: 0.5 on the price
- Transfer of title: 1.0 on the price
- Registration of the land charge: 1.0 on the loan amount
VAT is added to the notary's fees but not to the land registry's court fees. Which items actually arise depends on the contract, so the real invoice can differ.
The same purchase in the other federal states
Only the transfer tax changes.
Which of these you can actually influence
Almost none of it. Transfer tax is set by the state in which the property lies and ranges from 3.5 per cent in Bavaria and Saxony to 6.5 per cent in several others. It depends on where the property is, not on where you live. Notary and land registry fees come from a statutory schedule; a notary who charged less would be committing a professional offence. Shopping around is pointless.
That leaves the agent and the movable items. The commission is negotiable and, since December 2020, capped: a private buyer of a flat or house cannot be made to pay more than the seller. And anything genuinely movable — a fitted kitchen, a sauna, a garden shed — is not land and therefore not subject to transfer tax, provided it is listed separately in the contract at a defensible value. The tax office will strike out fantasy figures, but a realistic ten thousand euros of kitchen saves several hundred in tax.
Why the bank will not lend you this money
Purchase costs buy nothing that can be resold. If the bank has to enforce its security, the transfer tax it lent you is gone. That is why almost every German lender expects the buyer to cover the incidental costs from their own funds, and why the practical minimum deposit is not zero but roughly ten to fifteen per cent of the price.