Attorney Fees – Attorney Fees and Costs of a Property Sale and Purchase Agreement in 2026

Below, we explore the questions surrounding the attorney fees for a sale and purchase agreement. In this article, we not only take a close look at attorney fees for property transactions, but also cover the other costs that arise in connection with a sale and purchase agreement.

How Our Firm Prices Property Attorney Fees

In our view, the best approach is to set the attorney fees for a property sale and purchase agreement according to the complexity of the transaction and the work involved, with the value of the property taken into account only as a correction factor.

This approach leads to the following:

• There is a minimum fee that applies to every contract, however low the value of the property. At our Firm, this amount is currently HUF 140,000.
• Where the value of the property is extremely high, the fee is determined primarily by the complexity of the work. The fee is thus entirely detached from the commonly used percentage-based pricing.

At our Firm, the attorney fee for buying a typical residential property in Budapest is around 0.3% of its market value. For a specific property you have chosen, however, it is best to contact our Firm directly. After a short assessment call, which includes free advice, we give our clients a fee quote for the exact amount for the given transaction, together with an indication of the costs that will arise.

Property Attorney Fee Calculator

For a simple sale and purchase agreement, you can expect the following net attorney fees at our Firm:

• Purchase price: HUF 50 million   Attorney fee: HUF 150,000
• Purchase price: HUF 60 million   Attorney fee: HUF 180,000
• Purchase price: HUF 70 million   Attorney fee: HUF 210,000
• Purchase price: HUF 80 million   Attorney fee: HUF 240,000
• Purchase price: HUF 90 million   Attorney fee: HUF 260,000
• Purchase price: HUF 110 million  Attorney fee: HUF 290,000

Attorney fee calculator

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Attorney fee:

The fee covers full legal representation

Kapcsolat

Many circumstances can complicate a transaction, which may also affect the attorney fee. Examples of such circumstances include the following.

• preliminary contract
• minor seller or buyer
• enforcement lien registered on the title deed (property sheet)
• acquisition of ownership by a non-EU citizen
• holding funds in escrow and drafting an escrow agreement
• a large number of holders of a right of first refusal

What Do the Attorney Fees for Buying a Home Include?

To make the services offered by attorneys comparable, the first step is to clarify what range of services the quoting attorney understands under the umbrella term “sale and purchase agreement”.

At our Firm, the attorney fee covers the following tasks. The list of tasks summarised below can be regarded as the basic service, which we provide when no unusual tasks arise in connection with the contract.

• Clients usually make first contact by telephone. During this call, we provide the buyer with strategic advice on the cornerstones of the contract (payment schedule, transfer of possession, discharge of encumbrances, borrowing, etc.). We draw our clients’ attention to the most important considerations, highlighting the most common pitfalls. We also summarise the key points of this advice in writing for our clients.
• Before we begin preparing the contract, we obtain the title deed, and, where necessary, a map copy. In every case, we request the data from the register of listed monuments and archaeological sites to make sure that the property is not subject to any restriction in this respect.
• We draft the sale and purchase agreement and send it to our clients by email for prior review and comments.
• Once the wording of the contract has been agreed, the contract is signed, usually at our office, at an agreed time.
• The attorney fee for buying a home includes preparing the registration consent, taking it into escrow and holding it, and submitting it to the land registry office;
• We prepare the NAV (tax authority) data sheet, which serves as the basis for assessing the property transfer duty, and after the contract is signed we submit it to the land registry office together with the sale and purchase agreement.
• After the sale and purchase agreement has been signed, we submit all other relevant documents to the land registry office.
• We represent the contracting parties in the land registry proceedings relating to the sale and purchase agreement until the buyer’s ownership is registered. This also includes representation in connection with any request to remedy deficiencies or any rejecting decision.
• Still within the basic fee – within reasonable limits – we provide advice and information on request regarding questions that arise in connection with performance of the contract after it has been signed.
• We scan the decision received on the registration of ownership and send it to our clients by email.

What Is Not Included in the Attorney Fees for a Property Sale?

The most typical activities listed below fall outside the basic-fee service. We can handle the areas listed if our clients expressly ask us to do so. Naturally, this may affect the amount of the fee to a greater or lesser extent.

• Handling matters relating to the right of first refusal, and preparing the related documentation, is not included in the basic-fee service. One reason for this is that we are usually instructed by the buyer. However, only the seller is entitled to act in respect of the right of first refusal, since only the seller can communicate the purchase offer with legal effect to the holders of the right of first refusal.
• Where the seller is a minor or under guardianship, the proceedings before the guardianship authority are not included in the basic fee. The seller’s legal representative can instruct us to conduct these proceedings.
• Obtaining the permit from the government office required for a foreign national from outside the European Union to acquire property is subject to a separate agreement.

When Is the Attorney Fee Payable?

Our Firm’s practice for property sale and purchase agreements is that our service is free of charge until all the terms of the sale and purchase agreement have been settled between the parties. We consider it very important that, while the terms of the contract are being negotiated, the buyer is not under any financial pressure that could distort their decision. In plain terms: the buyer should not conclude a sale and purchase agreement that may not fully serve their interests merely because they have already paid an attorney fee that would otherwise be wasted.

We only charge a fee once all the details have been clarified and we have already prepared the complete documentation for the transaction.

Attorney Fees for a Property Sale and Purchase Agreement in Budapest in 2026

Nationwide, attorney fees for buying a home vary enormously. Anything within a range of 0.3% to 1.5% of the purchase price can occur. In extreme cases, you may even receive quotes for drafting the contract outside this range. In Budapest, where property prices are typically higher, you can get an attorney fee quote of around 0.3% of the value. As the work involved in the contract is no less outside the capital, lower-value properties naturally result in higher percentages. A fee of around 0.5% to 1% can be entirely realistic there.

1% – 1.5%

An attorney fee for a property sale in the 1–1.5% range can safely be regarded as unreasonable. Such a fee is not competitive even for a transaction worth HUF 20 million, let alone for a HUF 100 million purchase, where the attorney fee alone would be one and a half million forints. Fees of this magnitude are usually found at firms whose main focus is not property sale and purchase agreements, so this high amount reflects the cost of the extra effort involved in occasional work.

0.5% – 1%

Many quotes fall within the range of 0.5% to 1%. These fees can also be considered high among today’s Budapest attorney fees, but they are not unrealistic. Especially if, for this amount, the attorney provides a comprehensive “one-stop-shop” service and is prepared to meet any extra requests from clients at no additional charge (escrow of funds, contract amendments, attending the bank in person, etc.). General experience, however, suggests that clients receive attorney fee quotes in this range when the attorney is recommended to the buyer by the estate agent brokering the property. In such cases, the extra fee is not a surcharge for extra services but the estate agent’s “commission”. There is nothing sinister about this; it is just good to be aware of it.

0.3% – 0.5%

In Budapest today, the property attorney fees of firms that specialise in property transactions and handle sale and purchase agreements on a daily basis range between 0.3% and 0.5%. Within this range, there is hardly any difference between the fees. The spread indicated here arises rather from the fact that, as mentioned above, the attorney fee is expressed as a percentage of the property’s value. Accordingly, for low-value properties the figure will tend towards 0.5%, while for higher-value properties 0.3% is also realistic.

The value range in which percentage-based property attorney fees apply

As an important addition, it should be noted that these percentages can only be regarded as a guide in relation to the value of the most common residential properties in Budapest, which today ranges from roughly HUF 50 million to HUF 150 million. Naturally, the percentages presented will not apply to transactions outside this value range.

So, for example, if someone receives an attorney fee quote of HUF 50,000 for the purchase of a plot with a purchase price of HUF 500,000, the attorney fee amounts to 10% of the purchase price. That is a lot in percentage terms, but very modest considering the work to be done.

Let us also look at an example from the other end of the spectrum. For the purchase of an industrial hall worth one billion forints, the attorney fee may be “only” HUF 2 million, i.e. 0.2% of the property’s value. Despite the low percentage, however, this fee represents a very fair hourly rate compared with the low-value plot purchase – assuming, that is, that the contract is a dead simple one.

Who Brings the Attorney in a Property Sale?

Buying a second-hand flat or family house

Before answering this specific question, it is worth understanding the dynamics between the contracting parties. In a classic sale, the purchase price is usually paid in instalments. By contrast, handing over possession of the property to the buyer or relinquishing ownership cannot be done in instalments. These acts therefore take place after the full purchase price has been paid.

This starting position is unbalanced to the buyer’s detriment. This is probably why Hungarian custom has developed such that it is usually the buyer who engages the attorney to draft the property sale and purchase agreement.

So, in the vast majority of classic purchases of second-hand property, it is the buyer who brings the attorney.

Buying a newly built property

In new-build condominium projects and new-build semi-detached house contracts, it is typical that the buyer has no choice as to the legal representative, and all the sale and purchase agreements are drafted by the attorney engaged by the seller to handle the legal side of the entire project.

The reason is that, to draft the sale and purchase agreement professionally, the acting attorney needs to know the content of the sale and purchase agreements for the other flats sold in the same building. In addition, the attorney must be aware of the stage of construction and must handle the pending registration of the condominium, the recording of the building, and the deletion of encumbrances relating to the project loan. Only an attorney who handles all of these elements together can properly oversee and carry out these tasks.

So, in sale and purchase agreements for newly built properties, it is usually the seller who brings the attorney. However, it does not necessarily follow that the seller also pays the attorney. The seller/developer often passes the attorney fee on to the buyer, and the buyer pays the attorney appointed by the seller.

This is a particularly bizarre situation, because in new-build developments it is common for the seller’s legal representative to draft an extremely one-sided sale and purchase agreement to the buyer’s detriment – and the buyer even pays for it. This is by no means a healthy arrangement.

In such transactions, it is in any case fully justified for the buyer to bring their own attorney as well. The buyer will, of course, pay this attorney’s fee. As a result, in new-build projects the buyer is often forced to pay the fees of two attorneys. In such cases, we always advise our clients to refuse to pay the fee of the attorney representing the seller’s interests.

The attorney represents both parties

In neither situation should it be forgotten that the property attorney’s task is by no means to act on behalf of the buyer or the seller and unilaterally enforce one party’s interests against the other. The attorney acting in property transactions represents both parties equally. This is not an empty phrase. For attorneys committed to their profession, it is no problem to reflect the parties’ interests in a balanced way in the contract. This challenge is perhaps a little easier to meet for an attorney engaged by the buyer and acting in an individual case.

This principle may be compromised in representation provided on the seller’s instructions in a new-build project, since the acting attorney has much less room for tailoring the contracts and taking the buyer’s considerations into account. In the latter case, it may be justified for the buyer to engage an additional attorney, independent of the seller, to review the contract.

Who Pays the Fee for a Property Sale and Purchase Agreement?

Buying a second-hand flat or family house

It is important to note that no legislation specifies who pays the attorney fee for a property sale and purchase agreement; this is a matter for free agreement between the parties.

In practice, the acting attorney’s fee is usually paid by the party who engages the attorney to handle the matter. Since in an average residential transaction the attorney is brought by the buyer, the fee for the property sale and purchase agreement is generally also borne by the buyer when buying a second-hand flat.

Buying a newly built property

As explained in the previous section, in sale and purchase agreements for newly built properties it is usually the seller who brings the attorney. However, it does not necessarily follow that the seller also pays the attorney. The seller/developer often passes the attorney fee on to the buyer, and the buyer pays the attorney appointed by the seller.

This is a particularly bizarre situation, because in new-build developments it is common for the seller’s legal representative to draft an extremely one-sided sale and purchase agreement to the buyer’s detriment – and the buyer even pays the attorney for it. This is by no means a healthy arrangement.

In such transactions, it is in any case fully justified for the buyer to bring their own attorney as well. The buyer will, of course, pay this attorney’s fee. As a result, in new-build projects the buyer is often forced to pay the fees of two attorneys. In such cases, we always advise our clients to refuse to pay the fee of the property attorney representing the seller’s interests.

A Cheap Attorney or a Good Attorney?

There is a well-known saying about getting work done:

“Our company works CHEAP, GOOD and FAST. You can pick any two!”

When it comes to legal services, which two should they be? General Hungarian consumer habits also show up in the field of legal services. Cheapness reigns supreme, and unfortunately this works both ways. Putting a low attorney fee first, without regard to anything else, drives price competition in the market. And as fees fall, beyond a certain point the quality of service inevitably declines. Providers with less infrastructure, fewer resources and less expertise may gain a competitive advantage.

Sample Calculation of a Cheap Attorney’s and a Good Attorney’s Fees

We reach an interesting result if we examine how large the price advantage is for which clients are willing to sacrifice quality. A Budapest buyer looking for a modest home requests quotes for the purchase of a property worth HUF 40 million. If there are no complications, the quotes will range between HUF 100,000 and HUF 300,000. So if the buyer chooses the cheapest over the most expensive, they can save HUF 200,000. Measured against the HUF 40 million purchase price, this amounts to 0.5% of the total value of the transaction. I can state with complete certainty that in Hungary today, 90% of buyers would light-heartedly put their HUF 40 million investment at risk for this 0.5% difference. That investment, moreover, is many times their total assets, since most often the greater part of the amount comes from a loan.

The real situation, however, is if anything even worse. In contrast to the theoretical figures above, in reality quality service would be available for as little as HUF 40,000–50,000 extra, i.e. 0.1% of the total value of the transaction, yet many people would rather sacrifice security for this small saving. This is an interesting psychological phenomenon. The buyer would obviously not hesitate for a minute if the seller said they would not sell the property for HUF 40 million, only for HUF 40,040,000. In figures, this looks like this: HUF 40,000,000 vs HUF 40,040,000. Yet it feels like a huge success to negotiate a discount of a few tens of thousands of forints on the attorney fee – even though this may require the provider to give up as much as 20% of their fee. Of course, an expensive service is not necessarily the same as quality. Due care in choosing the right attorney is essential, but treating a low fee as the absolute priority definitely needs to be reconsidered.

Attorney or Notary? How Much Is the Notary’s Fee?

A sale and purchase agreement does not have to be countersigned by an attorney. A sale and purchase agreement drawn up as a notarial deed is also suitable for registration in the land register.

The notary’s fee is not shaped by market competition. The amount of the notary’s fee is based on Decree 22/2018 (VIII. 23.) IM of the Minister of Justice on notarial fees. Under the Decree, the notary’s fee broadly consists of the following elements:

• a basic fee of HUF 86,200;
• plus 0.25% of the transaction value above HUF 10,000,000;
• as well as the notarial flat-rate expense allowance, which is 40% of the basic fee;
• and a transcription fee of HUF 150 per page.

In concrete figures, this means that for a property worth HUF 50 million, the notary’s fee is around HUF 300,000.

Other Costs of a Sale and Purchase Agreement

In addition to the attorney fee for buying a home, a home purchase may involve a number of further costs. Our detailed article on this topic is available here. Below, I list only the costs that arise directly when concluding the contract.

• Title deed: Private individuals can obtain a title deed free of charge twice a year via the Client Gateway (ügyfélkapu), in principle only for property they own. Once the free requests have been used up, each request costs HUF 4,800.  Request a title deed via the Client Gateway here.
• Map copy: When buying a family house or a plot, in addition to the title deed you also need to obtain a map copy showing the outlines of the plot and  the building on it to scale. The fee for this is HUF 5,000. Map copies are also available via the Client Gateway.
• Land registry procedural fee: In the land registry proceedings, an administrative service fee must be paid for conducting the procedure for registering ownership. The amount is HUF 10,600. The procedure can be expedited by applying for priority processing.
• Priority processing fee: In land registry proceedings, you can request priority processing, which reduces the procedural deadline from 60 days to 30 days. The priority processing fee is HUF 16,000, payable in addition to the HUF 10,600 administrative service fee.
• Property transfer duty: The buyer pays a 4% property transfer duty on the market value of the acquired property. Put another way, this means a cost of HUF 40,000 for every million forints of the purchase price. The amount can be reduced if the buyer is entitled to a duty reduction or exemption.