Parliament plans to raise notary fees as rural services face risk

Six MPs have initiated a bill to raise notary fees, which has been debated in the legislative process for nearly two years. The bill is led by the head of the legal affairs committee and former justice minister Madis Timpson. The change is intended to ensure the availability of notary services in smaller counties where notaries are closing their offices.

MPs have initiated a bill that would raise notary fees to prevent notary services from disappearing in smaller counties. The bill has been drafted by six parliamentarians from both the coalition and opposition, with legal affairs committee chair and former justice minister Madis Timpson of the Reform Party leading the effort.

A plan two years in the making

The idea of raising notary fees is not new. In July 2024, then-justice minister Timpson sent a draft bill to the coordination round that would have increased the price of fixed-rate notary transactions by an average of 74 percent. The fee for drafting a will would have increased from €32 to €55, and the cost of an inheritance certificate from €102 to €174. During Liisa Pakosta's tenure, the plan has repeatedly reached the government's desk, but has not been approved. Now MPs are taking a similar bill directly to Parliament.

Timpson justified the need by noting that notary fees were last raised 15 years ago. "It should be in Estonia's interest that quality notary services are available across the country. Personally, I wouldn't want to live in a state where I have to travel to Tallinn or Tartu to use a notary service," he said.

Only one notary left on Saaremaa

The situation in rural areas has become critical. On the island of Saaremaa, only one notary remains, and in May a notary closed her office in Kuressaare and moved to work in Tallinn. The notary explained that the Chamber of Notaries has estimated a reasonable monthly turnover at around €30,000, which would be comparable to a judge's salary. "Currently, the average monthly turnover of notaries working outside Tallinn and Tartu is €18,000, which is well below that," she said.

She added that the new bill has been drafted so that proportionally greater benefit would go precisely to notaries in rural areas, with increases to the fees for smaller transactions, such as inheritance matters, wills and power of attorney documents, but not for transactions with higher transaction values.

Criticism: money also goes to Tallinn notaries

Legal affairs committee member Varro Vooglaid acknowledges that the problem of notaries leaving rural areas is real, but doubts the targeting of the proposed solution. "While this solution does help notaries working in the regions, at the same time it brings huge additional income to those notaries who are already doing very well, so I'm not sure this is a solution worth supporting," he said.

Vooglaid believes that well-earning notaries in Tallinn and Tartu should contribute more to a common fund from which smaller regions' offices could be financed. Timpson responded that notaries already pay five percent of their turnover to a common fund, and notaries in smaller areas receive benefits from the Chamber of Notaries in maintaining information systems.

A rise in notary fees directly affects ordinary citizens, as notaries cannot be bypassed when buying a home or registering an inheritance.