The Role of the Romanian Public Notary in a Real Estate Transaction: What They Check, What They Don't, and What It Costs

1What is the role of the public notary in a real estate transaction in Romania?

In Romania, a transaction that transfers ownership of real estate is signed in authentic form, before a public notary. The notary holds a public office: they draft the sale contract, make sure the transaction is lawful, collect the taxes that the law requires them to collect and send the document for registration in the land book (Cartea Funciară). The notary serves both parties together and remains neutral.

It is important for Israelis to understand the difference. In Israel, a notary mainly authenticates signatures, copies and translations, while the sale contract is drafted by the parties' lawyers. In Romania, as in most civil-law countries, the notary is the one who drafts the document and is responsible for its legal soundness. On the other hand, the notary does not represent the buyer and does not negotiate on the buyer's behalf. Neutrality means the notary is not supposed to make sure the terms are good for you.

2What documents does the notary require before signing?

The list of documents is largely fixed, but different notary offices sometimes ask for additional documents. It is worth obtaining the list from the notary a few days in advance. When buying an apartment in a condominium building, the following are usually required:

• Valid identity cards or passports of all parties.
• The seller's title document: a previous sale contract, a gift agreement, a handover protocol, a court judgment or an inheritance certificate. A property received by inheritance can be sold only after the succession has been settled.
• Cadastral documents: the property must be registered in the cadastre and in the land book (intabulat). Without this, it cannot be sold.
• Tax certificates (certificat fiscal): a certificate from the local authority confirming there are no outstanding property tax debts. The notary can request it directly. The buyer must also present a tax certificate from the local authority of their place of residence or, for a company, of its registered office.
• The energy performance certificate (certificat de performanță energetică) of the apartment, issued by an authorized energy auditor.
• A certificate from the homeowners' association (asociația de proprietari), signed in the original by the chairman and the administrator. If there is a debt to the association, the apartment can be sold only after the debt has been settled.
• Recent utility bills and payment receipts, to show that there are no arrears.
• When the seller or the buyer is a company: a tax certificate from the tax authority (ANAF), a current extract from the companies register and a shareholders' resolution approving the transaction, if one is required.

3What does the notary actually check?

The notary mainly checks the legal status of the property and of the parties, as it appears in the documents and registers. The main checks are:

1. Identity and capacity: that the parties are who they say they are, that they are entitled to sign, and that a company representative or attorney-in-fact is authorized to sign.
2. Land book extract for authentication (extras de carte funciară pentru autentificare): the notary requests it directly. The extract is valid for 10 working days, during which the property's page in the land book is blocked for other operations. If the transaction is not signed in time, the block expires. If the parties abandon the transaction, the notary asks for the block to be lifted immediately.
3. Entries in the land book: who the registered owner is, how the property is described, and whether there are mortgages, prohibitions on transfer, legal proceedings, notations of preliminary agreements or other encumbrances. Any entry that could impair the sale must be resolved before signing.
4. Debts: the tax certificates from the local authority and the certificate from the homeowners' association.
5. Value for tax and fee purposes: the declared price is compared with the minimum price in the notarial price grid (grila notarială). If the price is lower than the grid, the fee and the tax are calculated according to the grid.
6. The seller's tax: the notary calculates and collects the income tax of a seller who is a private individual, and transfers it to the authorities.
7. Registration: after signing, the notary sends the transaction to the land registrar so that ownership is registered in the buyer's name.

4What does the notary not check?

As regards the property itself, its surroundings and its viability, the notary's responsibility is limited. These are the checks that remain the responsibility of the buyer and their advisers:

• The physical condition of the property: hidden defects, damp, and the condition of the structure and systems.
• The legality of the construction in practice: whether an enclosed balcony, an attic extension or a merger of apartments received a permit. The extract describes what was registered, not what was actually built.
• Planning and construction: what may be built in the vicinity, plans under preparation and heritage restrictions.
• Market value: the notarial grid sets only a minimum for the calculation of tax and fees. It is not a valuation.
• The developer's solvency in a transaction with a development company, and the guarantees protecting your funds.
• Suitability for your intended use: for example, whether the building permits short-term rental.
• Commercial terms: payment schedules, penalties and delivery dates.
• Taxation in Israel: reporting, the holding structure and the tax treaty.

5How much does a notary cost in Romania?

The notary's fee for a real estate sale contract is calculated according to value tiers set out in the norms for the minimum notary fees (Order of the Minister of Justice 177/C/2024, published in the Official Gazette no. 70 on 26 January 2024). These are minimum fees, and a notary may charge more. The value used for the calculation is the price declared by the parties, or the minimum price in the notarial grid if it is higher. VAT is added to the fee, at 21% as of October 2026.

For a bilateral promise of sale (preliminary agreement) in which part of the price is paid, the fee is 1% of the amount paid and not less than 230 lei. Where no money is paid, the fee is a fixed 230 lei.

6What other costs are paid in the transaction?

Alongside the notary's fee there are several other payments, most of which the notary collects at the signing. The split between buyer and seller in the table is the customary practice, and the parties can agree on a different allocation.

Example (minimum calculation): for an apartment with a declared price of 500,000 lei, the minimum notary fee is about 5,505 lei, and with 21% VAT about 6,661 lei. The registration fee is about 750 lei for a private buyer and about 2,500 lei for a company buyer. In a transaction of 1,000,000 lei, the minimum fee is about 8,805 lei before VAT and about 10,654 lei after it. The seller's tax is not imposed on the buyer, but it affects the negotiation, particularly when the seller held the property for less than three years.

7How do you sign before a Romanian notary from Israel?

You do not have to travel to Romania. The usual method is a special notarial power of attorney (procură specială) that authorizes an attorney-in-fact to sign on your behalf. There are two ways to prepare it:

• At the Romanian consulate: the power of attorney is drawn up in Romanian and is accepted in Romania without further certifications.
• Before a notary in Israel: an apostille must be added (Israel and Romania are parties to the Hague Convention), and the document must then be translated into Romanian by a certified translation.

The power of attorney must be detailed: identification of the property by cadastral number and land book number, the price or price range, and the authority to pay, to sign a preliminary contract and a final contract, to request registration and to receive documents. If a party who does not speak Romanian signs in person before the notary, a certified interpreter must be arranged in advance. This leaves no doubt that the party understood what they signed.

8What common mistakes are worth avoiding?

• Seeing the draft only on the day of signing: request the draft contract several working days in advance and have it reviewed.
• Declaring a price lower than the real price: this does not save tax when the notarial grid is higher, and it exposes both parties to legal and tax risk.
• Transferring money before signing without a protection mechanism: the balance of the price should be paid at the signing, or through an escrow account that is released upon registration.
• Assuming the extract is enough: a clean extract does not mean the property was built in accordance with the permit, and does not mean there are no unregistered debts.
• Not checking that ownership was registered: after signing, make sure ownership has actually been registered in your name, and request an updated extract.

9Before you sign: how we accompany the notarial stage

We check the land book and the ownership before starting, go over the notary's draft contract and request changes to it, and make sure all the debt certificates have been received. We also prepare a power of attorney tailored for remote signing. Because we work in both Romanian and Hebrew, there is no gap between what is signed in Bucharest and what the client understood in Israel. After signing, we follow up on the registration until an extract in the buyer's name is received.

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The information in this guide is general in nature and does not constitute legal or tax advice on any specific transaction. Every transaction is assessed on its own facts.