The role of the notary in a Vaud property sale

The question comes up at every first meeting, as soon as the conversation turns to the deed: "And the notary — do you choose them, or do I?" In a Vaud property sale, the notary is not simply one service provider among others. They are the authority who gives the transaction its legal form, its certain date, and its effect against the rest of the world. Understanding what the notary does — and what they do not do — allows you to approach the signing without unwelcome surprises.

In French-speaking Switzerland, and in the canton of Vaud in particular, the transfer of ownership of a property cannot be carried out by private agreement alone. Federal law — the Civil Code (CC) — requires the authentic form: a deed received by an authorised public officer, in this case a Vaud notary. Without that, the sale has no legal existence, even if seller and buyer have signed a memorandum of understanding and money has changed hands.

What the notary actually does

A Vaud notary in a property transaction fulfils several distinct roles, which it is worth not confusing.

They draft the deed of sale. On the basis of information provided by both parties — title of ownership, civil status, mortgage situation, agreed price — they prepare a draft deed, which they send to the parties before the day of signing. This draft deserves careful reading: it contains the price, any conditions precedent, the key handover date, and the charges and easements encumbering the property.

They authenticate the transaction. On the day of signing, the notary reads the deed aloud — or summarises its content if the parties consent — verifies identities, collects signatures, and affixes their own. It is this act that gives the sale its legal force.

They register the transfer in the land register. After signing, the notary submits the registration request to the land register (registre foncier) of the district. It is this registration that makes the transfer of ownership effective against third parties: until it is recorded, the buyer is bound by the deed, but is not yet the owner as far as the land register is concerned.

They guarantee payment of the property gains tax. In the canton of Vaud, property gains tax (impôt sur les gains immobiliers) is owed by the seller. The cantonal tax authority determines the amount; the notary, for their part, ensures that this tax will indeed be paid: they may retain a portion of the purchase price in an escrow account until the final tax assessment. The notary does not calculate the tax themselves — that is the role of the tax authority — but they act as its practical guarantor.

Who chooses the notary, and who pays

In the canton of Vaud, it is the buyer who chooses the notary, by longstanding custom. The logic is straightforward: it is the buyer and their bank who bear the deed fees, the property transfer duties (droits de mutation), and the land register fee. This total is often summarised as "a few per cent of the price"; in practice, a Vaud buyer generally budgets between 4% and 5% of the purchase price for all acquisition costs, on top of their equity.

The seller, for their part, has no notary fees as such — but they settle the property gains tax and, if they have signed a mandate, their broker's commission.

Nothing prevents the parties from agreeing on a notary by mutual consent. What matters is that the notary chosen is registered on the roll of the Vaud notarial chamber and has territorial jurisdiction. A Vaud deed is received by a Vaud notary — this may seem obvious, but the question does arise when buyer and seller come from different cantons.

Notary and broker: two distinct roles

A confusion recurs frequently: the seller sometimes assumes that the notary "handles everything" and that the broker is redundant. The two professions do not overlap.

The notary enters the process at the end: they receive a price that has already been negotiated, conditions that have already been settled, and parties who have already said yes. Their work is of absolute rigour, but they are not engaged to find a buyer, defend the seller's price, assess a candidate's creditworthiness, or organise viewings. They represent neither party — they are the public officer who gives legal form to the parties' agreement.

The broker, by contrast, acts earlier in the process. At Affinités Immobilier, the broker is engaged by the seller and defends the seller's interests — never simultaneously those of the buyer in the same transaction. This is a fundamental rule: a serious advisor chooses a side. To understand what this means in practice within the sale mandate, the selling with the agency page sets it out in detail.

What happens before the deed

Between the seller's handshake and the signing at the notary's office, several weeks generally pass. This period deserves attention.

• The memorandum of understanding has no prescribed form, but it is morally — and sometimes legally — binding depending on how it is worded. Before signing it, both seller and buyer would do well to have it reviewed by their respective advisors.
• The financing condition precedent is common: the sale is only final if the buyer obtains their mortgage. The duration of this condition and its terms appear in the deed or in the prior memorandum.
• Discharging existing mortgages: if the property carries a mortgage charge, the notary coordinates the repayment of the seller's existing loan and the establishment of the buyer's new financing on the day of signing, often to the minute.
• The Buyer Passport: a buyer whose financing has been verified against documents before the viewing allows this period to be shortened and avoids memoranda that come to nothing.

Three values the notary mentions

The notarised deed sometimes refers to values that surprise those unfamiliar with them. It is worth not confusing them:

The ECA insurance value also serves as a floor for banks in certain guarantees: they do not generally lend beyond a certain ratio relative to this value. But it is the market value — the figure that a market valuation seeks to establish — that determines the sale price. To understand how it is constructed, the La Juste Mesure page explains the method: comparable sales line by line, a confidence range, and no comfortable rounding.

The notary gives the sale its legal and definitive form; they replace neither the broker who defended the price nor the advisor who verified the financing — they arrive when everything else is ready.

What varies from one situation to another is often the complexity of the title: an old easement, a PPE (condominium ownership) in Pully with an outdated set of rules, an open estate, a mortgage to be discharged in a foreign currency — all cases where the weeks before signing merit close attention. If your situation involves any of these particularities, the Advisor can help you identify the points to clarify before even instructing a notary.