The True Cost of Buying Property in Monaco

Why the published figures disagree

Research the cost of buying in Monaco and you will be told 4.5% or 4.75%; 6.25% or 6.5%; and anything from 7.5% to 11.5% for a company purchase. The contradictions are less a matter of carelessness than of chronology.

Law no. 1.548 of 6 July 2023, published in the Journal de Monaco on 14 July 2023, revised the duties payable on transfers of Monegasque property. Under its article 30, the new provisions apply to deeds presented for registration from 1 October 2023. Guides written before that date, and summaries that have not been revised since, still reproduce the previous rates. A number of them look authoritative.

The second source of confusion is that three different costs are routinely merged into one percentage. Registration duty is a tax collected by the State. Notarial fees are regulated professional emoluments fixed by sovereign ordinance. Agency commission is a commercial matter between the parties and their agent. They are calculated differently, they are owed to different people, and only the first two are set by law.

What you pay depends on who is buying

Monaco does not levy an annual tax on the ownership of residential property. It taxes the transfer, and the rate turns on the transparency of the purchaser rather than on the character of the property.

The reduced rate is reserved by article 12 of Law no. 580 of 29 July 1953 for acquisitions made by a natural person, or by a société civile registered in Monaco, other than one in the form of a public limited or limited partnership company, whose partners are exclusively natural persons acting on their own behalf and whose identity is known to the Tax Services Department. Article 13 bis sets the general rate for property transfers. Article 16, as amended in 2023, reserves the highest rate for entities whose ultimate beneficial owners are neither natural persons acting on their own behalf nor legal persons whose ownership documents have been brought to the Department’s attention by an approved agent.

The notary’s fee is fixed, not negotiated

Every transfer of Monegasque property passes through one of the Principality’s notarial offices, and the notary’s remuneration is set by Sovereign Ordinance no. 15.252 of 13 February 2002. Under the heading for private-treaty sales of real property, the tariff is 3% on the first €1,500, 2.30% between €1,500 and €3,000, and 1.50% above that. At Monaco values only the upper band has any practical effect, which is why 1.5% is the figure quoted in the market.

To that is added a fixed transcription duty of €10 where the deed is subject to proportional registration duty, together with the notary’s disbursements. An individual buying a resale apartment therefore budgets in the region of 6.25% of the price in duty and notarial emoluments, before agency commission.

New-build and off-plan follow a different logic

Where a sale falls within the scope of value added tax, which is typically the case for new construction and for property completed or substantially reworked within the preceding five years, the transaction is not taxed on the ordinary transfer-duty basis. Historically such deeds were entirely exempt from registration duty. That is no longer so. Law no. 842 of 1 March 1968, as replaced in 2023, now provides for an exemption of one half of the registration duties applicable to operations subject to VAT.

Transcription is also treated differently: where the deed is subject to VAT, the land-registry formality carries a proportional duty of 1% rather than the €10 fixed fee.

Buyers acquiring building land, or property treated as such, take on a further obligation. The partial exemption is conditional on the deed containing an undertaking to carry out the works within four years, and on the purchaser producing a certificate from the public works department within three months of that period expiring. If those conditions are not met, the deed is reassessed to ordinary registration duty together with an additional duty of 6%, against which VAT already paid may be credited up to the amount of the duties.

If you are borrowing

Financing adds two distinct charges. The inscription of a mortgage claim at the Mortgage Registry carries a proportional duty of 0.65%, and the notary’s drafting of the inscription schedule is tariffed at 0.27%. Together these account for the figure of roughly 0.92% that circulates in market commentary, which is frequently reproduced without explanation of what it comprises. The deed of obligation with mortgage charge is itself tariffed at 1.50% above €3,000.

Ownership through a company carries an annual cost

Where Monegasque property is held by a legal entity, Law no. 1.381 of 29 June 2011 imposes a continuing obligation that is easy to overlook at the point of purchase. The entity must file an annual declaration with the Tax Services Department, between 1 July and 30 September, stating whether the beneficial ownership has changed.

Where nothing has changed, a fixed duty of €50 is payable. Where a beneficial owner has changed, a proportional duty of 4.75% falls due on the entire market value of the Monegasque property, not merely on the proportion transferred. The law exempts certain changes, including those arising from a gift or legal succession in favour of a spouse, ascendants or descendants in the direct line. Failure to appoint an approved agent triggers a duty of 1.5% on market value, payable annually until the position is regularised, and late payment attracts an indemnity of 0.8% per month.

Monegasque societes civiles whose partners are exclusively identified natural persons sit outside the declaration requirement altogether. That, rather than any saving on the headline rate, is often the practical attraction of the structure.

The figures above describe Monegasque law as it stands in August 2026. The duty applicable to a particular acquisition depends on the structure used and on the facts of the transaction, and the definitive calculation is produced by the appointed Monaco notary. This article is general information and is not individual legal or tax advice.