Administrative documents

1 -   Contract (Mandat) to sell:

Obligation to secure a mandate:

The estate agent cannot negotiate or engage in any transactions without issuing (this rule also applies to management activities).  

It will not be possible to collect the commission if there is any flaw in the mandate and the agent will expose himself to penal sanctions if the mandate has not been correctly issued.

The mandate is based on the conditions and terms decreed in Houget's law.

The possibility of a double mandate:

The estate agent can find a scenario whereby both the vendor and purchaser have signed mandates which is realised at the time of sale of the property or business.

There is a Supreme Court ruling upholding the validity a double mandate and the intermediary will receive double remuneration in this case.

Obligation to issue mandates in a specific order:

All mandates must be issued in a chronological order and recorded in a register of mandates in a set order  (Arr. 15 Sept. 1972 summer (Arr. 15 Sept. 1972, ann. II: JO, 28 Sept., rect. 17 Nov.)

This is necessary in order for the agent to receive numeration.

The number of the mandate is recorded and a duplicate is retained by the agency and filed in the agency's register in sequence along with all the other mandates issued by the agency. This register must be kept for 10 years.

2 -   Agency-Purchaser Agreement:

This document is designed by the profession to prove the agents involvement in a transaction. It is indispensable for agents when confronted with dishonest purchasers who try to disregard the agent’s role in a sale. This document proves that the purchaser is viewing the property through the agency and will conform to the terms set out in the document.

The Agency-Purchaser Agreement must include three vital pieces of information:

• The identity of the purchaser or persons visiting a property;
• The address of the property to be viewed and a brief description;
• The number of the mandate signed by the vendor of the property being visited.

3 - Making an Offer:

Making an offer occurs when the purchaser offers a price to the vendor for the property that the vendor either accepts or refuses. It is not a formal offer but a proposition to buy the property

4 - Securing a sale:

 When the vendor and purchaser have reached agreement on the conditions of sale and a price has been agreed the following must be signed:

 - If the building is old or already constructed, the compromis de vente has to be arranged, this blocks further offers and allows time for the notaire to collect all the documents necessary for the final signing.

The compromis de vente is usually facilitated through a notaire, but this is not obligatory

5 - Cooling off period:

 Since the 1st June 2001, if you buy a new or old property, you are entitled to a cooling off period of 7 days to reflect on the decision to buy:

• The cooling off period begins when after the compromis de vente or promesse unilatérale is concluded under the sous seing; during this time the purchaser can exercise his right to retract an offer without any consequence or and receive back any deposits already paid.

This cooling off period applies equally to signing a compromis de vente through a Notaire and has to take place before the final signing.