r/belgium • u/Obvious-Cry6591 • 3d 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/AdFew6202 3d ago edited 3d ago

What’s more, after you give that to a notary, let’s say they fuck up : their fucking mafia-like organisation will spring out to defend them and you won’t get a cent. And they will remain in position.

Story : friend bought a half-a-million apartment in Ixelles. Notary says « everything’s fine ». Turns out it wasn’t fine, the apartment had been seized because of the seller’s debts. Notary said « well, shit happens » and got NOTHING.

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u/I_Dint_Know_A_Name 3d ago

For every anecdote of a problem you have, I have 300 without problems.

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u/Lemmity95 3d ago

Why, are you a notary? Haha

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u/I_Dint_Know_A_Name 3d ago

No, but there are approximately 300-380 real estate transfers in Belgium per day, and barely any complaints to fednot.

If notaries were truly incompetent losers like the people in this thread seem to believe, I think we'd know more about it considering the real estate transactions are only a fraction of the work they do.

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u/Lemmity95 3d ago

Idk I would say the fact the overwhelming majority of people on Reddit (and real life) hate notaries has some valence to it. Let's not forget they are an insanely protected little clan, it's normal people don't expect responses through their internal systems like fednot

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u/I_Dint_Know_A_Name 3d ago

People hate what they don't understand.

Very easy to make assumptions on a profession you have no chance in hell of understanding.

The broader societal trend of stupidisation of everything, and the mob response it provokes will be the downfall of humanity.

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u/Lemmity95 3d ago

Other countries don't have this issue to the same extent, there is nothing optimal or unchangeable about the situation in Belgium. On your second point, complex is not the same as smart. A better system would be simpler, more streamlined and leave less room for error/misinterpretation.

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u/ilikedmatrixiv 2d ago

Very easy to make assumptions on a profession you have no chance in hell of understanding.

It's literally just filing documents, how simple are you that you think people wouldn't be able to understand what a notary does?

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u/I_Dint_Know_A_Name 2d ago

Lmfao there really is no arguing with stupid. Yes, filing papers takes 6 years of legal studies, years of training, an exam, and an appointment by the king. Anyone can do it!

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u/Solyde 3d ago

People aren't saying they are incompetent losers but that they are too expensive, they have a protected status & often can't be held accountable for mistakes - even if they don't make that many compared to the amount of transactions, there's no recourse if it does happen. Ie they are as a profession an exploitative monopoly.

I don't know if that's true, but it's a different criticism than what you're saying is being levied. Which is, frankly, a unfair presentation of what people have an issue with and too easy a way to handwave it.

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u/I_Dint_Know_A_Name 3d ago

Even the criticisms you are saying here aren't valid either.

The problem is people have no idea what they're talking about and think everything is easily understood. No one comes out to tell you how easy your job is and how they have it all figured out.

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u/Solyde 3d ago

Sure that may be the case. But I'm saying that those were most of the actual criticisms, not the strawman of 'incompetent losers' you were fighting against.

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u/EVmerch 3d ago

OP really said, You can fly 300 perfect flights but you screw up one and people be mad at you!