How Belgian “notary fees” are built
What Belgians call frais de notaire is mostly tax. The largest line is the registration duty (droits d'enregistrement / registratierechten), a regional tax on the purchase price: 12.5 % in Brussels and Wallonia, 12 % in Flanders — reduced to 3 % in Wallonia and 2 % in Flanders for a sole, owner-occupied home, and cut by an abatement of €200,000 in Brussels under conditions. A new build sold by a developer is subject to 21 % VAT instead.
The notary's fee itself is set by Royal Decree on a sliding scale and is identical at every notary in the country; it carries 21 % VAT. Administrative costs and disbursements (searches, certificates, land-registry transcription) are flat amounts.
If you borrow, a second deed — the mortgage loan deed — adds its own registration duty (1 % of the secured amount), a mortgage duty (0.30 %), a registry fee, and a smaller notary's fee. The calculator handles the “105 %” case where the loan also finances these costs, which is why the amount borrowed is solved by iteration.
Scales in force on 1 January 2026, checked against the notaries' official simulators (notaire.be). Indicative only: the final statement is drawn up by your notary.