The rules you follow every day in France

French rules for agents are detailed, and they are checked. When the DGCCRF, the consumer protection authority, surveyed 2,175 agency establishments in 2019, it found anomalies in 64% of them and issued 1,706 warnings, 1,765 injunctions and 114 criminal reports. Most problems came from mandates and fee display. This lesson turns the rules into daily habits.

1. No mandate, no negotiation

You may not negotiate a property for a client until a written mandate is signed. The DGCCRF lists what it must state clearly:

• The parties and the property.
• The duration.
• The fees and who pays them, seller or buyer.
• Whether it is exclusive or simple.
• How it can be ended.

The mandate is signed in the name of the card holder, not yours, and your powers are set by your attestation d’habilitation (lesson 2). The DGCCRF treats an incomplete or irregular mandate as a misleading practice.

Signed away from the agency? When a mandate is signed at the client’s home or at a distance, consumer law requires that the client receives a withdrawal form. Ask your agency for its off-premises version and use it every time.

2. Keep the registre des mandats

Every agency must keep a registre des mandats, a register that lists all mandates in chronological order. The DGCCRF found registers kept on loose sheets or in pencil. Both are wrong. Before you publish a listing, check that its mandate is signed and registered.

3. Exclusive mandates

An exclusive mandate is worth more to you, so the rules are tight.

• Irrevocability is capped at three months (decree 72-678, article 78, as summarised by Le Blog de L’Immobilier, October 2026).
• After those three months, the seller can usually end it with 15 days’ notice by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt. Check the exact clause in your agency’s model.
• There is no legal minimum or maximum duration, but the mandate must state it.
• Under the loi ALUR, for an individual seller, the agency must remind the seller of the right to terminate before the mandate renews tacitly.

What the DGCCRF calls misleading or illicit:

• Presenting a simple mandate as exclusive.
• Relying on an exclusivity clause that has expired.
• A clause making the seller pay a fee when he finds the buyer himself.
• Charging a fee without an actual sale.

4. Show your fees, the right way

The arrêté of 10 January 2017 sets how agencies inform consumers, and the DGCCRF explains it:

• Fees shown TTC (VAT included).
• Stating who pays: seller or buyer.
• Displayed in the window, inside the agency, and on the website, easy to find and up to date.
• Since 1 April 2022 (arrêté of 26 January 2022), the tariff must give a maximum rate.
• A tariff “on quote only”, or one showing only the buyer’s share, is not compliant.

In listings, when the buyer pays the fee, the price is generally shown both fees included and fees excluded, with the fee as a percentage of the price without fees. Check your agency’s template against the arrêté, since we did not verify that detail for this course.

Why “who pays” matters to clients. Agence Immobilière France estimates that about 70% of sale mandates put the fee on the seller. When the buyer pays, the transfer taxes are charged on the net seller price, which slightly lowers them (lesson 6). Explain both options to the seller before you sign.

5. Know the energy rules

The DPE (energy performance certificate) now decides whether a home can be let. Under the loi Climat et résilience, as summarised by Hellio:

DPE class	Banned from new leases and renewals
G	Since 1 January 2025
F	From 2028
E	From 2034

The bans also apply to furnished tourist lets. Tell every investor buyer the DPE class and what it means for letting.

A 2026 change. Since 1 January 2026, the coefficient used for electricity in the DPE fell from 2.3 to 1.9. LocService reported a projection that about 850,000 electrically heated homes would leave classes F and G. Owners with a recent DPE can download an updated certificate from ADEME. Check before you tell a seller the home is unlettable.

6. Short-term lets

Many investor buyers on the Côte d’Azur and in Paris ask about holiday lets. The loi Le Meur of November 2024 changed the rules (Optimhome):

• Under the micro-BIC tax regime, unclassified furnished tourist lets get a 30% allowance up to €15,000 of income (classified: 50% up to €77,700).
• Mayors can cap the letting of a main residence at 90 days a year, instead of 120, and set quotas.
• A registration number is required in almost all communes.

Never promise a holiday-let income. Send the buyer to the town hall’s rules and to a tax adviser.

7. Know your client and protect data

You will handle IDs, proof of funds and family details. Ask your agency for its written client identification procedure and follow it on every file. Never send ID copies in open group chats, and keep only what the deal needs.

What gets agents into trouble

Practice	Risk
Negotiating without a signed, registered mandate	Misleading practice in the DGCCRF’s eyes
Working without an attestation d’habilitation	Illegal practice for you and the card holder
Fees not shown TTC, without who pays or a maximum	DGCCRF warning or injunction
A simple mandate sold as exclusive	Misleading practice
A fee clause when the seller sells alone	Illicit clause
Taking a deposit as an agent commercial	Breach of your status
Ignoring the DPE class with an investor	A buyer who cannot let the home

Your daily habits

• No listing without a signed mandate entered in the register.
• No off-premises mandate without the withdrawal form.
• Fees in every listing, TTC, with who pays.
• The DPE class checked on every file.
• No money in your hands, ever.

These rules change, so check the official source before you act. Practise them in client skills.

This lesson is general information, not legal advice.