Not always useful
This is how much it costs to write off a mortgage
Updated 11/26/2025 – 08:05Reading time: 3 minutes
It’s easier to sell a house if the mortgage has been cancelled. But it costs money. You must take these costs into account.
If you, as a homeowner, have paid off the loan on your property and land, you can apply to the bank to obtain a so-called write-off permit in accordance with Section 1144 of the German Civil Code (BGB) to have the land charges registered in the land register written off at the land registry office.
Both you and your creditor, namely the bank, sign the document. Typically, banks have appropriate write-off authorization forms. The notary must certify these documents. You or a notary then submit the removal permit to the land registry office, which will examine your application and ultimately remove the mortgage.
Once you and the bank agree, the mortgage will be removed from the land register. The property is then considered debt-free. However, a fee is charged for this process. Find out here how much it costs to write off a mortgage and why you can save on it.
First of all, banks are not allowed to charge you any fees for authorizing a write-off. If all requirements have been met, the bank is legally obliged to issue a write-off permit so that the mortgage can be removed.
New costs arise if the mortgage rights are completely removed by the land registration office. Notaries and land registration offices can each charge a write-off fee of 0.2 percent of the mortgage value. The amount of the fee is regulated in Article 34 GNotKG (Court and Notarial Deeds) in conjunction with the fee schedule KV14140 (“Removal of a deed”).
For example, with a mortgage of 500,000 euros, the write-off costs will add up to 2,000 euros (1,000 euros for the notary plus 1,000 euros for the land registry office).
Important to know: Usually a mortgage cannot be removed without a notary. Notary certification is mandatory. Usually, the notary forwards the deletion permit to the land registration office.
Additional fees may also apply: For example, the bank reserves the right to charge a notary fee for drawing up the deed. The notary may also charge a fee if he takes over the correspondence between you, the bank and the land registry office. There may also be additional charges for copies and postage.
If you don’t want your mortgage written off, there’s usually no risk. The bank automatically assigns a mortgage to you as the owner as soon as you pay off your loan debt to them. The land cost is then converted into the owner’s land cost and the bank loses its rights to the land cost.
