Sales Mandate

Hi i have a question about a sales Mandate for a house .

Rémunération du Mandataire.

  1. Vendeur un forfait de la somme de xx,xxx euros.

Or version 2

  1. Vendeur un forfait de la somme de xx,xxx euros ou 5%percent du prix négocié.

The commission discussed was 5% commission on sale.
They gave me version one to sign which i refused.
So now have received version two but it seems contradictoire .
The figures represented by x are the same in both instances.

Has a price been negotiated yet?
If not, then if the price negotiated is less than the price being asked, then the commission would be correspondingly lower.
That is how I read it.

Thats what i thought to.
However i signed an English mandate which i thought was clear and now they are asking me to sign a French one which is diferent.
I know the correct response is talk to the agent . I did and she Saïd if i didnt like it sell it myself !!
So in fact the English version appears to have no validity and i havnt yet signed a French one but will if it’ says 5% percent of final selling Price.
Its been handled badly from the start and Its an extremly négative expérience !

Maybe Simon Oliver could advise please ?
Hes a member and i think works as an immobilier.?

Usually the percentage is a sliding scale of the value of the sale negotiated. Take care that the amount due is the lower of the two choices.

If not happy, walk away and find another.

surely it needs to be xxx or 5% of the selling price, whichever is the greater… ???

Stella no i want to pay thé smallest Amou t not thé greatest.

Oh… didn’t realize… sorry

Stella i understood and thank you.

Do you even want to continue with this agent?

English is still an official EU language so I rather suspect the English one you’ve signed is enforceable if it came to it.

I think I’d want to be very clear on the reasons for being asked to sign a new agreement. I might even delay for a while while I think about it

@SimonOliver any chance you could hop into this thread and advise @loupblanc ??

or message her privately perhaps… ??? :+1:

My experience as an estate agent in France suggests that an ‘English-language’ version of a mandat de vente is purely informative. It has no legal value and only the French version (which should be signed concurrently or later) will be considered as valid.

In this particular case it would appear that the agent (or probably the agent commercial) is acting in bad faith and is trying to make you sign up to a forfait rather than a set percentage of the eventual sales price. If you are not sure just what status this person is working under then just ask to see their carte professionnelle d’agent immobilier. If they don’t have one then ask to meet with the agent immobilier who is sponsoring them. They should sort it out quickly.

I went into this business as I was so incensed with the way French agencies treat their clients: very little information, poor communication, outrageous rates of commission, etc etc. No agency should charge more than 4%. Very few vendors or buyers realise that they can negotiate the rate of commission downwards if they feel it is too high. What leverage do you have? As many people on this thread have pointed out you can just walk away from the offending agent or agency. There are plenty more out there.

You are the vendor: it’s your call whether to sign up with these people or not. And you can take their mandate and, before signing it, just strike through the offending part of the phrase:
“Vendeur un forfait de la somme de xx,xxx euros ou 5%percent du prix négocié” and just leave “5% du prix négocié”. (and make sure you initial the margin opposite this strikeout). If they want/need your business they will accept this.

But in the end, if you have problems with an agency BEFORE you even start to sell the property … it’s probably better to cut them loose immediately and find someone more motivated.

Bonne chance!

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Good advice from Simon which sums up the situation correctly.
It is interesting how many English clients wish to have the mandate in English when it has no value. We supply an informative translation if requested.
Our company charge 2.5% on the sale price negotiated or a flat 2,500 euros on properties valued under 100k.

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Thanks everyone for your advise.
I cant comment further on this matter on a public forum .
Simon Oliver your assesment of the situation is correct.

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Simon, aren’t commission rates supposed to be displayed in the shop window or has the rule changed ?

In this situation, unless there are other factors involved I would for sure not be pursuing things with that particular agency. Why invite aggro.

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Yep, that’s still the rule … as well as on the front page (home page) of an agency’s website.