The Deed of Transfer: Legal Document or Legal Theatre?

As real estate agents, we are often present at the notary’s office for the transfer of ownership of a property. Very often, in fact. In most cases, there are happy buyers and happy sellers sitting at the table. The notary checks everyone’s ID, offers a cup of coffee or tea, and then we can begin.

What happens next is that the notary goes through the so-called deed of transfer with the parties. This deed is also known as the (new) proof of ownership.

The deed states who the buyers and sellers are, which property is involved, which additional parts (such as a storage unit or parking space) are included in the sale, and which rights and obligations come with the property.

By law, the notary is required to go through the deed of transfer with the parties present. However, the notary is allowed to read the deed only in summary, which is what most notaries usually do.

Secretly, part of the notary’s role is also to add a sense of ceremony to this special moment and to build up — with a bit of drumroll — to the climax: the signing of the documents.

And that is all perfectly fine.

But sometimes you encounter a notary who takes it a step too far. I experienced this just last week. An apartment was being sold, and both the buyer (a single man) and the seller (also a single man) made it very clear, both verbally and non-verbally, that they just wanted to sign as quickly as possible and move on. Full speed ahead.

The notary, however, ignored all of this. He literally stopped at every single sentence in the deed of transfer and gave a separate lecture on what it did or did not mean. This was completely irrelevant to the parties involved. It felt more like he thought he was teaching a two-hour lecture to first-year law students.

Afterwards, I found myself quite irritated, for the following reasons:

• All agreements between buyer and seller are already laid down in the purchase agreement, and these agreements always remain valid.
• The deed of transfer merely executes those agreements when it comes to the transfer of ownership and payment.
• A buyer or seller has no real choice and no input when it comes to the deed of transfer. He or she must sign it. If a party refuses to sign, they will be held in default by the other party, with all financial consequences that entails.
• If there happens to be an error in the deed of transfer, this is usually not a major issue. The notary has the right of rectification and can amend the deed at any time, without further involvement of the buyer or seller.

I don’t want to ruin the romantic moment for anyone, but bluntly put: reviewing the deed of transfer at the notary’s office is often just a bit of a show.

As a buyer or seller, you don’t even have to be present yourself. You can grant a notarial power of attorney, after which an employee of the notary’s office signs on your behalf. That saves you another round of ceremonial theatre.

And that bit of theatre can certainly be done in a pleasant way, making the moment feel extra special for the parties involved. But a truly good notary also pays attention to their guests. They show adaptability, speed up or shorten the explanation when needed, and read the body language at the table. On top of that, a notary can simply invite their guests to interrupt if they have questions or feel the explanation is going too fast — or too slow.