A Dutch notaris is not a witness who stamps a page.
Their signature is what makes a house sale, a will or a company real in law, and you will meet one whether you want to or not.
Notary offices in Amsterdam
The ratings below will not tell you which office is best, because every one of them rests on a few dozen reviews and several sit in the threes.
Choose instead on the two things that are checkable: where the office is, since you have to turn up in person to sign, and how long its working day runs.
Berger Notariaat
Keizersgracht 620 puts this practice on the canal belt near the Amstel, where it has worked since 2016.
Its eight-to-six weekday is the longest working day of any office here, which is the difference between taking an afternoon off and not.
Schut|van Os Notarissen
De Lairessestraat in Oud-Zuid, the Concertgebouw end, on a plain nine-to-five weekday.
It carries the best average on this page at 4.3, though 18 reviews is far too thin a base to choose on.
KB notarissen
Twelve floors up on Nachtwachtlaan in Amsterdam-West, working nine until half past five rather than stopping at five.
Ring +31 20 540 7070 to see how fast they answer, because the 30 reviews behind its 4.1 will not tell you.
Lubbers en Dijk Notaries
Koningslaan runs along the southern edge of the Vondelpark, and this office keeps the awkward hours of 8.45 to 5.15 instead of a round nine to five.
Little else is on record beyond 28 reviews at 3.6, so put your questions to +31 20 573 6311 before booking anything.
Albers en van Tienen
Out on Wolbrantskerkweg in Nieuw-West, this one describes itself as the practical alternative to the bigger firms and takes work well beyond the city.
Weekday nine to five, and with 27 reviews behind a 3.5 there is nothing in the numbers to judge, so judge the first phone call instead.
Sterel Notarissen
Zekeringstraat sits in the Sloterdijk business strip rather than anywhere you would walk past, so going there is a deliberate trip.
It also holds the largest review count of any notary here, 61, and the lowest average at 3.1, with fewer than half of those reviews five-star.
What a notaris actually does
A notaris is a public officeholder appointed by royal decree, and certain documents simply are not valid in the Netherlands without one.
The role is deliberately neutral.
The same office serves both sides of a transaction and cannot be instructed to favour either, which is the opposite of how a lawyer works for you.
That neutrality is why property transfers and changes to company ownership must pass through a notarial deed by law, rather than because somebody recommended it.
For anything adversarial you still want one of the city’s lawyers and attorneys, who can take your side in a way the notary is forbidden to.
Buying a home
On completion day the notary draws two deeds: the leveringsakte that transfers the property, and, if you are borrowing, the hypotheekakte that registers your lender’s charge over it.
Both are filed with the Kadaster, the national land register, and the purchase money moves through the notary’s third-party account rather than directly between buyer and seller.
Dutch sales are almost always kosten koper, costs for the buyer, which is why the buyer pays the notary and the buyer therefore picks the office.
Transfer tax is settled through the same account: 2 per cent of the price in 2026 on a home you will live in yourself, and 8 per cent on one you will not.
Buyers aged 18 to 34 who have never used it before pay no transfer tax at all on a home worth up to €555,000, but the exemption is claimed on a declaration signed before the deed, not reclaimed afterwards.
Your mortgage broker and the notary exchange documents heavily in the last fortnight, so give each the other’s details early.
Wills, gifts and cross-border families
A Dutch will is drawn by a notary and its existence is recorded in the central wills register, so an executor can always find out whether one exists and which office holds it.
Prenuptial agreements, partnership agreements and cohabitation contracts all need a notarial deed to bind anyone.
The part that catches internationals is inheritance.
Under the EU succession rules, the law that applies is that of the country where you habitually live unless you actively choose the law of your nationality in your will.
That choice has to be made in writing while you are alive, and it is the single question worth raising at a first appointment if you hold another passport.
Setting up a BV
A Dutch private limited company, the besloten vennootschap, comes into existence through a notarial deed of incorporation and not before.
The notary drafts the articles of association, checks the founders, and passes the company to the Chamber of Commerce register so it can start trading.
Since the flex-BV reforms there is no meaningful minimum share capital, so the notary’s fee is usually the largest single cost of incorporating.
Later share transfers need a deed too, which is worth knowing before you promise equity to anyone.
Choosing an office
Ask for a written quote that separates the notary’s own fee from the disbursements, because the land registry charges and searches are fixed while the fee is not.
Ask in what language the deed will be read.
If you do not understand Dutch well enough, the office must arrange a translation or an interpreter, and that has to be organised in advance rather than discovered at the table.
Ask how soon they can schedule a signing, since a completion date agreed with a seller is not a date the notary has necessarily reserved.
Bring valid identity documents for everyone signing; a notary who has not verified an identity cannot proceed, and that is the usual reason appointments collapse.
Browse the full range of Amsterdam notaries to shortlist an office near you.
