The Hoguet Law governs the activity conditions of real estate agencies since the early 1970s (Law No. 70-9 of January 2, 1970).
Several options are available to you when you decide to sell your real estate property. You can conduct the sale by yourself, although it is strongly advised to approach your real estate agent.
If you opt for the second alternative, three solutions are available to you: the simple mandate, the semi-exclusive mandate, and the exclusive mandate:
- The simple mandate: you have the possibility to approach other real estate agencies or sell the property by yourself.
- The semi-exclusive mandate: although exclusively with a real estate agency, this option allows you to approach buyers.
- The exclusive mandate: the real estate agency will have the exclusivity of the sale.
In the case of simple mandates, it is not uncommon for a property to be for sale in several real estate agencies.
By enlisting the services of a real estate advisor, both the buyer and seller will benefit from the professionalism of a specialist.
While the seller signs a mandate with the real estate agency that binds them until the sale if it is conducted by them, the buyer signs a visit slip that has no contractual value.
They are free to turn to another real estate agent to continue their search without spending a single Euro for each visit.
Although a mandated real estate agent has shown your property to a potential buyer, it happens that the buyer enlists the services of another agency to finalize the sale.
Beyond the ethical question, no mandate binds the buyer to a real estate agency, and if the story has been presented to the Court of Cassation many times, the Court deems that the commission is due to the agency that finalizes the operation, without there being any fault on the part of the buyer.
