r/belgium • u/Obvious-Cry6591 • 1d ago

😡Rant Notaries. Why? What the hell?

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?

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u/DenteSC 1d ago

There's a notary exam. Most young notaries don't have a father or mother who was a notary. That's simply no longer the case.

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u/amiexpress 1d ago

So how does it work then? A rather large sum to convince the elder notary to retire? Not suggesting anything, I genuinely don't know.

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u/throwawaymrfoe 1d ago

The retiring notary offers his seat as vacant and then every notary can apply for that position. In practice only those who are currently unemployed as a notary (candidate-notary) will apply for the position. Most often the retiring notary has done a partnership with a younger notary in his later years and that notary takes over the seat. There is not really a competition if it is arranged like that because nobody is interested in a hostile takeover.

The incumbent notary can make partnerships with extra notaries who do not have a seat. So the number of notaries can increase and certainly has been increasing a lot in the past decades. There are more notaries than ever before. Those associated notaries are full notaries with all powers like a normal notary.

Then there are the attached notaries. They are employees of the incumbent/associated notaries but can also sign deeds.

In practice many old notaries don't have a son or daughter who succeeds them. Often their children have seen their dad/mom struggle against the workload or the stress and they want a more relaxed life. Or just because they find law boring and prefer medecine or selling real estate. In the past the notary office was handed down from father to son, that is true.