In recent years, the Supreme Court has issued numerous rulings on the distribution of the costs of establishing a mortgage. More specifically, it deals with notary fees, registration fees, gestor fees and related taxes.
In 2018, the Supreme Court established the abuse of unilateral clauses imposed by banks to allocate all costs arising from the arrangement of a mortgage to the consumer. The Supreme Court ruled that there must be an agreement or at least it must give rise to individual negotiations in each case.
When aranging a mortgage, property transfer taxes and documented legal acts are exempt due to the nature of the transaction. Therefore, we will not discuss the distribution of the said taxes in this article. What is interesting to know is the distribution of notary, registration and gestor fees.
To fully understand the distribution of costs, it is necessary to consider who is the beneficiary of each transaction. First of all, notary fees are paid by the bank as long as it is the main deed; that is, the authorised deed issued for registration. It is the bank that has an interest in the creation of the deed, so the costs are borne by the bank.
If one of the parties then asks for a copy of the deed, that party has to pay the cost. Notary offices provide a digitised copy free of charge, so you can avoid additional costs by requesting the simple copy digitally and not on paper.
The registration fee is borne by the bank as it is the interested party in registering it. When requesting a copy of the register, a note simple, the cost of this copy is borne by the interested party.
Finally, the bank also bears the gestor costs as it is the interested party in carrying out the registration procedures. Usually, it is the bank’s own gestor who takes care of the registration.
Taking this distribution of fees into account, it is important to make sure when requesting funds from the bank for the purchase and when processing the mortgage that the bank does not include costs that the bank would bear itself. If these costs are included in the mortgage, the bank should be reminded that it is responsible for its costs and that you, the consumer, do not have to pay these costs unless otherwise agreed.
Selena Escandell Beutick