Hello everyone,
I work at a notary office in NRW (as a notary clerk) and I feel like contributing something here as an "insider."
First of all: Every notary office has its own procedures when it comes to preparing a purchase contract deed. Since many of you have already had experience with one or more notary offices, your impressions (both good and bad) are certainly all somehow correct in many places.
One thing that almost all notary offices do: They send contract drafts to the seller and buyer (possibly the broker) before the notarization appointment. The purpose is that we often have not yet received all relevant information from the parties in advance. The drafts are still sent immediately. The missing information is then marked in the draft with asterisks or blanks so that the parties recognize that information still needs to be provided here. Of course, information can still be added and discussed during the appointment itself, but since the schedule must be kept, this has to remain manageable. And something else about the "draft in advance": A notary must – as already mentioned here – naturally remain impartial. However, this does not prevent him from answering all questions about the draft for each party. An extra lawyer is almost always unnecessary here (perhaps with the exception of complicated inheritance communities or similar parties). This can either happen in a consultation appointment beforehand (if notarization takes place later, this does not cost any more(!), not even a second, third, or fourth consultation), but many questions can actually also be clarified by phone with us clerks. We notary clerks – in all modesty – are very well trained for this; after all, we are usually the ones who create the drafts completely.
That a notary has an easy (professional) life is – from my personal point of view – partly true. A good 80% of all deeds are professionally “standard,” where the deed is drafted by the clerk and simply read out to the parties at the appointment (or signatures are certified). What is important here: If something goes wrong afterwards, the notary is liable! Therefore, I claim that most notaries carefully check all drafted documents at least for the individual specifics before they are sent out. After that, you can then sit back and relax.
And one more thing about the 14-day period: As soon as there are indications that one of the parties is acting as an entrepreneur, the notary office will inquire/investigate more thoroughly whether this is the case. At this point, all(!) notaries are sensitive because if a notary disregards the rights of a (legally protected) consumer within the meaning of § 13 of the Building Code by overrunning the 14-day period, he risks losing his office in the worst case.
Best regards from NRW and have a nice evening everyone.