Real estate sales: what are the obligations of the real estate agent towards its clients?

Before putting a property up for sale, the real estate agent must mandate written, signed by the seller, valid. The scope of its mission is specified in the mandate.

Only a real estate agent holding the card "Transactions on real estate and business" ‘T’ card may sign a warrant. It must provide an employee certificate to its employees. It authorizes them to act on its behalf.

The sales mandate shall include the following particulars:

• Purpose and term of office (usually 3 months)
• Designation of owner(s) in case ofundivided
• Contact details of the agent and his professional card number
• Fees (agency fees), as well as a statement of who will be responsible for them
• Conditions for handling funds and reporting
• Means implemented by the agent to carry out the sale
• Registration number of the mandate in the agency's mandate register.

It exists several types of mandate :

• The mandate simple allows the owner to entrust the sale to several agencies and sell his property himself.
• The mandate semi-exclusive is signed with a single agency and the owner can sell his property himself.
• The mandate exclusive is signed with an agency, the only one able to sell the property.

All mandates must be recorded in chronological order on a mandate register kept by the real estate agent.

The real estate agent must inform his client of the end of his mission (described in the mandate), at the latest within 8 days of the operation.

In all places where he receives his clients, the real estate agent must display the following elements:

• Number of his professional card issued by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI)
• Amount of its financial guarantee
• Name and address of the guarantor.

If it receives funds from real estate transactions, the poster displays the following information:

• Bank and account number where payments and remittances are to be made
• Mandatory methods of payment.

The real estate agent must display the price of the property and its fees TTC: titleContent in a legible and visible manner in these different places:

• At the entrance of establishments receiving customers
• On the window (if there is one) perfectly visible from the outside, in the same format and in the same location as the ads
• On each advertising window located outside the establishment intended for the sales advertisements of the real estate agent
• On the website of the professional. The prices are also given on the other sites or are referred to the website of the professional.

The real estate agent's fees are not regulated. They are set freely by the professional who displays the maximum prices of its services TTC: titleContent. The customer who wishes to can negotiate the price of the services downwards.

If fees vary by price bracket, it must specify whether the tranches are cumulative.

For each of his services, the agent indicates who is responsible for paying the fees.

The real estate agent must meet the following conditions to be entitled to a commission (the fees):

• Hold a business card
• Have a mandate written signed before connecting the seller and the buyer (intermediary)
• Have fulfilled its mission (announcement, visit, meeting).

If the seller has signed mandates simple with several real estate agencies, only the agent through whom the transaction was concluded receives a commission.

The fees are paid after the signing of the final contract before the notary.

In the'real estate listing, the trader shall provide the following information:

• Selling price of the property sold and amount of fees TTC: titleContent when they are paid by the buyer
• Different diagnostics (energy performance diagnosis, information on natural and technological risks)
• Information on the condominium if the sale is for a condominium property.

The real estate agent has a duty of information and advice. It must ensure the regularity of the transaction and ensure the accuracy of the information it transmits. In particular, it shall verify the following:

• Title of the seller (he must ask the consent of the 2 spouses in case of sale of a common property or in case of of indivision)
• Capacity parties to sell or buy parts
• Statutes and minutes of the general meeting authorizing the sale, for a ICS: titleContent
• Solvency of the purchaser by asking him, for example, for his personal contribution.

It shall transmit to the purchaser the necessary technical information such as:

• Characteristics of the goods provided by the seller (surface, existence of possible easements, mandatory real estate diagnostics,...)
• Information on the apparent defects of the property.