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Guide to Selling Property in France

Estate Agents in France

5. Property Description

Standards do vary considerably in the level of information provided in the written property particulars so this is something you need to discuss with your agent.

While estate agents must not provide misleading or inaccurate information, they are under no obligation to describe in any great detail the properties they have for sale.

Some agents now adopt the general practice of providing detailed property descriptions, but many still only offer only a few lines, where details of room sizes, condition, or precise location are absent, or are only covered on a summary basis.

The same is often the case with photos, which may be few in number, taken from a bizarre angle, and of poor quality.

One of the reasons why the property details are often short is because agents are not generally given exclusive rights on the sale of the property and will not want to give away too much for fear that sellers may simply bypass them.

That said, the 'Loi Alur' 2014 does set out a list of requirements for a property advert, but they are of a minimal nature - type of property, condition, layout, surface area, energy level and agents details.

Perhaps of greatest importance is that the sale advert must state separately and clearly from the sale price of the property the fees payable to the estate agent on sale of the property, and whether they are the responsibility of the buyer or the seller. We say more about this issue in the next section on 'Fees/Commission'.

From 1st Jan 2023 the advert must also state: “Les informations sur les risques auxquels ce bien est exposé sont disponibles sur le site Géorisques : www.georisques.gouv.fr”.

Next: Fees/Commission

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