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The Most Profitable Public Service in the Country Generates Billions a Year, Resists Digitalization, and Maintains Monopolies That Create Private Fortunes in the Full Technological Era.
The Brazilian Notaries generated R$ 27.1 billion in 2024, a sum that exceeds the budget of 22 federal ministries. While much of the country faces fiscal crises and unemployment, the sector maintains a model that ensures million-dollar profits for a few owners. Only the ninth real estate registry office in Rio de Janeiro collected R$ 158 million in the last year, placing it ahead of 95% of the companies operating in Brazil.
With only 268 employees, this notary office generates an average revenue of R$ 591,000 per employee, surpassing productivity rates of large publicly traded companies. Brazilian notaries have become a billion-dollar machinery sustained by territorial monopolies and lack of competition, a phenomenon that escapes technological advancement and maintains roots in the colonial system.
The Structure That Challenges Economic Logic
In the current model, each notary holds the monopoly over a specific region.
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This means that if you buy a property in Barra da Tijuca, you are required to register the deed at the ninth office in Rio de Janeiro — there is no choice or competition.
The lack of competition allows for extraordinary profits without any incentives for modernization.
The result is a rare combination: state monopoly with private profit.
While the citizen bears high costs, the owners accumulate earnings that exceed R$ 2 million per month in some cases.
The average salary of notary holders is R$ 144,000 per month, according to the Federal Revenue, placing them among the highest-paid professions in the country.
The System That Stopped in Time
Even with technological advancements and attempts at digitalization, Brazilian notaries continue to operate in an archaic manner, with slow systems and outdated websites.
The resistance to change is reinforced by a powerful lobby that has already blocked modernization measures such as the Digitalization MP in 2022.
The contrast is striking when compared to other countries.
In Portugal, the territorial monopoly was abolished in 2004, and the real estate registration deadlines dropped from 83 to 10 days.
In the United States, the equivalent service is performed by notary publics, certified professionals, but without exclusivity.
And in Estonia, all registrations can be done online, at a cost 98% lower than in Brazil.
While the world simplifies, Brazil maintains an expensive and inefficient system, which increases property prices by up to 12%, according to the Brazilian Chamber of Construction Industry.
The Colonial Origin of a Modern Fortune
The history of Brazilian notaries dates back to the 16th century when the first office was created alongside the founding of Rio de Janeiro.
Since then, the model has perpetuated as an extractive institution — a term used by economists to define systems that concentrate wealth without generating productivity.
The structure survives because it benefits a legal and political elite.
Brazilian notaries symbolize a colonial heritage that has traversed centuries, transforming bureaucracy into privilege and documents into a source of income.
The Power of Lobby and the Cost to the Country
In Brazilian states, the protection of the sector is such that even deficit-ridden notaries receive public subsidies, with minimum incomes reaching R$ 26,000 per month.
This is the only private segment that combines guaranteed profit and state support in case of loss.
In a country where starting a business requires dozens of steps and registering a property can take weeks, the notary system is one of the main barriers to competitiveness.
The World Bank ranks Brazil 133rd globally in terms of speed to register properties, a direct reflection of this bureaucracy.
The persistence of this model is explained by one of the most powerful lobbies in the country.
While other sectors open up to innovation, the world of notaries remains protected by its own powerful and practically untouchable legislation.
Brazilian notaries show that, in the 21st century, the country still lives under rules created in colonial Brazil.
And you, do you think Brazilian notaries should finally make way for competition and total digitalization of services?
Matéria tendenciosa, mal feita e escrita por quem não entende nada do assunto; nunca mais leio nada dessa fonte!
Os serviços de cartorios são feitos por profissionais do Direito. É necessário um imenso conhecimento jurídico. A concorrência é feita através dos concursos públicos. No concurso atual de MG há mais de 10 mil candidatos (bacharéis em Direito) na disputa. Necessário ressaltar que juízes, promotores e desembargadores também disputam esses concursos. É um concurso disputadissimo que chega a demorar ate 05 anos para a sua conclusao.
É democrático porque qualquer um bacharel em Direito pode disputar um bom cartorio. Obviamente, poucos são os melhores que conseguem ser aprovados para bons cartorios.
Os serviços de cartorios são feitos por profissionais do Direito. É necessário um imenso conhecimento jurídico. A concorrência é feita através dos concursos públicos. No concurso atual de MG há mais de 10 candidatos (bacharéis em Direito) na disputa. Necessário ressaltar que juízes, promotores e desembargadores também disputam esses concursos. É um concurso disputadissimo que chega a demorar ate 05 anos para a sua conclusao.
É democrático porque qualquer um bacharel em Direito pode disputar um bom cartorio. Obviamente, poucos são os melhores que conseguem ser aprovados para bons cartorios.
*”no concurso atual de MG há mais de 10 mil candidatos”…