Notar charges on a house bought before it's built

We were having a discussion with our neighbours last night who have recently agreed to buy a house from one of the developers in our area. Building will commence late 2008. What I find very surprising is when they said that they would have to pay the notar fees on the total cost of the house (including any additions/improvements) instead of the land only. I would have thought that they would buy the land from the developer and pay the required notar and other charges on that, and then enter into a contract with the builder to build the house. So what is correct? Do you pay fees on the total cost of house and land even though it has not yet been built or only on the land?

Found this which confirms your neighbours opinion:

>>>Bei einem Grundstückspreis in Höhe von 80.000 € beträgt das Honorar des Notars also 1.200 €. Kaufen Sie jedoch von einem Bauträger z.B. ein Doppelhaus oder ein Reihenhaus, so bezahlen Sie die Notargebühren nicht nur auf den Grundstücksanteil sondern auf die komplette Summe des Kaufpreises der im Notarvertrag steht. Sie bezahlen also Notargebühren auf den Hausanteil, auf die Hausanschlusskosten, auf die Nebenkosten und evtl. auf die Aussenanlagen, sofern diese Vertragsbestandteil sind.<<<<

I guess the legal reason is because the whole deal will be notarized, thus the price of the house and all costs become the base of the notarization process. In German law the house is always fully connected with the land and can not be dealt with seperately. However, if you buy the land and build a house yourself you would only have to pay for the land of course. Thus, if you make a simple purchase contract of building material (pre-built units and the likes) and assemble them yourself, you would safe the notary costs for the house. But within the Bauträger-deal you buy both, land and house...

Cheerio