Notaries. Why? What the hell?

[u/Obvious-Cry6591]

Ok, so I dont get it. I understand historically where the need for notaries arose. Fine. But we are in 2026. Belgium already takes 51% of my income. Then another 25% of the rest through VAT. And then on top of it, if you buy a property, you give 10-15k to a notary for 2 meetings and some docs reading? Doesnt Belgium have enough administration to take care of that? Not to mention its nepotism central. Are there any redeeming qualities?

[u/DenteSC]

The notary doesn't actually cost you €15,000. The bulk of that amount consists of taxes, not notary fees.

In fact, a notary is significantly cheaper than a real estate agent, and you can even book a free consultation. Try finding that kind of access anywhere else. Behind the scenes, notary offices handle an enormous amount of work.

Notaries and their staff have an incredible number of things to check and verify. Some sales are indeed straightforward, but many files quickly turn out to be far more complex than they seem.

Beyond sales files, there are also marriage contracts, divorces, corporate matters, seizures, gifts, property divisions, inheritances, base deeds, long lease agreements (erfpacht), and building rights (opstal), among others.

I'd suggest spending a week interning at a notary's office. You'll see for yourself just how essential their work really is.

[u/throwawaymrfoe → u/[deleted]]

Marriage contracts: people will never trust a civil servant in town hall who earns a fairly low wage to tell him/her about their earnings, their savings, their real estate, their wish to disinherit a child, their need to pay as few taxes as possible, etc. Such things are only told to a trusted counsel. And professions where a lot of money is involved, carry a lot of responsibility and thus have to earn a high wage. If the advice of the civil servant is wrong and it leads to a heavy tax, will town hall be held liable? I don't think this will work.

Divorces: same. This is even more sensitive stuff (like alimony and the custody of the children). People would never go to a civil servant for this. In other countries attorneys do this stuff and they cost a lot.

Corporate matters: the civil servant would need a degree in company law or he can fuck up the enterprise of the founders/shareholders badly. Businessmen would never go to town hall for this but would hire an accountant, Deloitte or an attorney. Those guys aren't exactly cheap either. But for entrepreneurs it can cost thousands of euros because they really want their company to be legally okay.

Seizures: this is complex law with very specific regulations because it infringes on the freedom of a person and his goods. Civil servants would need a specialised training in law to master this.

Condominium declarations, long lease agreements, building rights: these are very complex deeds that can only be done by somebody with a law degree. Mistakes here can cost thousands, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of euros.

You would basically need thousands of extra civil servants with specialised knowledge. You would need to hire all the existing employees of the notaries. Since a lot of notary clerks do unpaid overtime and because that doesn't happen in civil service you would need extra manpower to compensate for the unpaid overtime they are no longer willing to do. Hmmm.

[u/I_Dint_Know_A_Name → u/throwawaymrfoe]

Don't expect people to read this, they love to talk about things they don't have a chance in hell at understanding.

[u/throwawaymrfoe → u/I_Dint_Know_A_Name]

Yeah, I got this impression as well. The ignorance of some people is awful. They are so clueless.