A French estate agent works for the seller, not for you. He holds the selling mandate, and his commission of roughly 4 to 8 per cent is usually already inside the asking price. There is no UK-style buying agent as standard, and nothing that resembles a RICS survey. Buying without an agent is common and perfectly legal, though a notaire is always compulsory. Here is what to know before you ring the first agency.
What is different from a UK or Irish purchase
The agent acting for the seller will feel familiar. Almost everything around it will not.
- One notaire can act for both sides. There is no solicitor on each side doing the conveyancing. You are entitled to appoint your own notaire and it costs you nothing extra, because the two share the same fee.
- There is no survey. What you get is the dossier de diagnostic technique, a set of compulsory reports on energy, asbestos, lead, electrics and drainage. Nobody looks at the roof or the foundations unless you pay someone to.
- There is no chain and very little gazumping. Once the compromis de vente is signed and your ten-day cooling-off period has passed, the sale is binding on both of you.
- There is no single property portal. Listings are scattered across agency sites and portals, which is why the same house can appear three times at three prices.
What a French estate agent does and does not do
The agent immobilier is given a mandate by the seller. He represents the seller. He is not obliged to point out anything that might put you off making an offer.
What he does: market the house, arrange viewings, pass on offers, draw up or arrange the compromis, and walk the file through to the notaire. What he does not do: negotiate on your behalf, assess the condition of the building, or advise you on how to structure the purchase.
There is an obligation to inform, though. The agent must hand you the diagnostic pack and may not conceal defects he knows about. That is not the same as thinking along with you. He will not check off his own bat whether you are allowed to extend, whether that barn conversion was ever signed off, or what the PLU, the local planning map, has in mind for the field next door.
Rule of thumb: anything you want certainty about, you investigate before the compromis or you have it written in as a condition. Afterwards is too late.
The carte professionnelle: ask for it
Property agency work falls under the loi Hoguet. Anyone practising needs a carte professionnelle, known as the carte T for transactions. It is issued by the chamber of commerce, must be renewed every three years, and requires professional indemnity insurance and a financial guarantee.
The number belongs in the listing and on the correspondence. Ask if you cannot see it. Many of the people you meet are an agent commercial, self-employed and working under an agency’s card. That is entirely normal, but it tells you where the liability sits.
What does an estate agent cost in France?
Commission runs at roughly 4 to 8 per cent of the sale price, usually on a sliding scale so the percentage falls as the price rises. On cheaper houses agencies often apply a flat minimum, so on a house at 80,000 euros you can easily end up at 8 to 10 per cent. Fees are unregulated, so they differ from agency to agency.
More important than the percentage is who pays it. That is set in the mandate and it belongs in the listing:
- FAI (frais d’agence inclus): the commission sits inside the asking price. This is the most common. Formally the seller pays; in practice it is in the price you pay.
- Charge acquéreur: the commission sits on top of the asking price and you pay it separately. It looks more expensive, and it carries an advantage almost nobody knows about: transfer tax is calculated on the price excluding that commission, so your purchase costs come out slightly lower.
- Charge vendeur: the seller pays, separately from the price.
Run the difference through the buying costs calculator. On a house at 200,000 euros it is worth about a thousand euros.
Why the same house carries two different prices
French sellers often give the house to several agencies at once. This is a mandat simple, the equivalent of multiple agency. Each agency adds its own commission to the seller’s net price. If you see the same house with a ten thousand euro gap, you are usually not looking at room for negotiation but at two different fee structures. Under a mandat exclusif, sole agency, one office holds it, normally for a fixed three months that cannot be ended early.
It also explains why you are not given the address. Under a mandat simple the agent is afraid you will go round him straight to the seller, or walk into the agency down the road that has the same house at a lower price. You get the commune, and the exact location at the viewing. Awkward when you are searching from abroad, but it is not obstruction.
How we did it ourselves
We bought our house in Sainte-Marie-la-Mer through the seller’s agent, with a Dutch-speaking adviser in the background. It went like this.
From home we had picked out twelve houses online. We rang the agencies, made appointments, and ended up going round with six agents. The house we bought was not on the internet. It came out of an agency’s own book. That is exactly why you walk through the door: there is stock that has not been listed yet, or that deliberately never will be.
What it gave us: access to that stock, someone to arrange the appointments, and a file that arrived complete at the notaire. What we had to add ourselves: attention. The agent kept us properly informed, but he was negotiating for the seller. Our own adviser looked over our shoulder, except we had to pull him in every time. Proactive he was not.
Looking back, for a first house in a price bracket where the buying costs stay manageable, we would do it the same way again. Our French is a great deal better now and we know the process from the inside, so next time we would be more likely to sit down with a seller directly.
One warning from that period. There is a lot of commerce around this subject, and your own searching quickly puts you in a bubble where the process is made to look either far too complicated or far too simple. Ask your questions in places where nobody needs to earn anything from you as well. What we learned buying in the Pyrénées-Orientales.
Can you buy in France without an agent?
Yes, and plenty of people do. Roughly a third of French homes change hands without an agency involved. You will find that stock on PAP.fr, on Leboncoin and on the notaires’ own site, where notaires list houses in their own town.
What you save is the commission. What you lose is someone making the appointments, getting the file complete and holding the seller to his obligations. The notaire picks up part of that, since he is compulsory anyway and checks the legal side. But the notaire is not your adviser: he serves the transaction.
Buying without an agent means arranging yourself what otherwise happens by default: a complete diagnostic pack, the right conditions written into the compromis, and your own quotes for any work you want done. The full guide walks through the process step by step.
Is there a British-style buying agent in France?
Not in the form you know. There is no standard buyer’s agent and no professional body set up around buyers’ interests. What does exist:
- English-speaking agents immobiliers. In the regions where British, Irish and Dutch buyers cluster, plenty of agents speak good English, often having moved there themselves. They still work on a selling mandate, so the language changes nothing about whose interests they serve. What it does change: you understand exactly what the compromis says, and that is worth a great deal.
- Chasseur immobilier. This is the closest thing to a buying agent: someone who searches, views and negotiates on your behalf. He needs a carte T as well and typically charges 2 to 5 per cent or a fixed fee. In the tourist regions some of them work in English.
- An independent adviser on the ground. Not an agent, but someone who comes with you to viewings and to the notaire. Works well if you are searching yourself but do not know the language or the customs.
Five questions to ask
- Ask for the carte professionnelle and which agency he works under.
- Ask how many transactions he completed in your département last year. Local knowledge beats a handsome website.
- Ask explicitly whose client he is on the houses he is showing you.
- Ask whether the commission is inside the asking price, and how much it is in euros.
- Do not be talked into using the agent’s notaire. You are entitled to your own and it costs you nothing extra.
How do you approach a French agency?
Ring them. Do not email.
A French agency runs on the telephone. A contact form on a portal can sit unread for a long time, particularly in high season. Ring, and you have an answer straight away and know within a minute whether the house is still available.
- Ring the agency itself, not the portal’s general number.
- Say immediately who you are, when you are in the area and which reference you mean.
- Follow up with a short email setting out your brief: town and radius, budget, type of house, number of bedrooms, and whether you are a cash buyer or need finance. That keeps you in mind for whatever comes in next.
- If you do not speak French, say so at once and ask whether anyone in the office speaks English. It saves an awkward conversation.
- Cannot get hold of anyone? Ring between nine and half past ten in the morning. Offices close over lunch.
Rather not ring ten agencies? Fill in your brief once in the Search Helper. You get your search links for the French sites in your inbox, and you can tick whether an agent in your département may contact you.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an estate agent to buy in France?
No. A notaire is compulsory, an agent is not.
Who pays the estate agent?
Usually the seller, but the commission is then inside the asking price. If the listing says charge acquéreur, you pay it separately on top.
What is a mandat exclusif?
Sole agency: one office has the exclusive right to sell, normally for three months. It is an arrangement between the seller and the agency; for you as a buyer it mainly means you will not come across the house anywhere else.
Why am I not given the address of the house?
Because the same house is usually with several agencies and the agent does not want to be cut out. You get the commune, and the exact location at the viewing.
Can a UK estate agent handle this for me?
Accompanying and advising is fine. Acting as an intermediary in the transaction itself requires a French carte professionnelle, or working under a French agency’s card.
Why does the same house appear at different prices?
Because each agency adds its own commission to the seller’s net price. There is no central database in France, so the comparing is down to you.
Further reading
There is no French Rightmove: here is how to search instead. Also worth reading: the French property survey pack, what buying actually costs and the complete guide to buying a house in France.