Fees?

[Mike1958]

A colleague is looking for a house in the SW and has been advised to set aside 13 - 15 percent on top for fees by her agent. When we purchased our house 12 months ago the fees came to 6.3% (basically the fixed notary fee).

I am only assuming that the agent is trying to pass her charges onto the buyer. Is this common practice?

Mike

[Ron Avery]

The buyer normally pays the agents fees in France,  so the simple answer is YES. 

 Your friends agent is correct ibn advisibng on additional fees although I would have thought 15 % is a bit high.  If you only paid 6.3% including TVA you did not use an agent or were  very, very  luicky

[Teamedup]

The buyer pays the estate agents fees in France. The percentages vary with each agency, but some are very expensive.

Total fees including notaires will vary according to the age of the house AFAIK.

[Alexis]

16% used to be the norm but things have changed.

I keep meaning to look out my old receipts but still haven't done so.  I always seem to buy old property but new is taxed less.

[Will]

Fees tend to be at a lower percentage as the value of the house increases, which is why the percentage appeared higher a few years ago.

Most agents' selling prices are FAI (frais agences inclus - inclusive of agency fees) - your friend needs to make sure whether or not this is the case in this particular example. Some agents like to give the NV (net vendeur) price and add the fees on afterwards, as this makes them appear cheaper than their competitors. Taking the NV price as a base, agency fees generally are around 8% on top of this. Agencies should display, or inform buyers of, their fees. In popular places, such as coastal areas, agencies can often get away with charging higher fees than in isolated rural places, so there can be no hard and fast rule as to how much you will pay in agency fees (they can, in some cases, be negotiable).

Although it is correct to say that in most of France the agency fees are paid by the buyer, there are some regions (mainly in the south) where the custom is for the seller to pay the fees, as in England. The result is the same - a proportion of what the buyer hands to the notaire goes to settle the agent's bill - but it can be an important distinction, because it effectively means that the agent, in most cases, works for the buyer, rather than the seller.

Legal fees (frais notaires, also paid by the buyer) are a further approx 8% for an average house, again the percentage reduces as the value of the property increases. The notaire fees are to a fixed government scale (the majority is the equivalent of stamp duty and land registry charges) - there are several online calculators if you want a more exact figure. Legal fees are lower for property under five years old, as Alexis says, and if a mortgage has to be registered there are extra charges.

[Mike1958]

Many thanks for your comments.

My house purchase was based on the advertised price including fees. My notary fees were then on top of this. During our search in the Pyrenees (65 and 31) all of the properties that we looked at stated that advertised prices were inclusive, as is another friends purchase in the same area.

My colleague seems to have been dealing with English agents based near Carcassonne which may explain the difference.

Regards,

Mike

 

 

[Debra]

For our purchase we negotiated the price including fees.  We found out that the agents fees were 6% of the net price.  Our notaire requested that we send 8% of the net price to cover his fees.  We've paid all this up front so we could get the keys early, before the final act of sale.  If it turns out we have paid too much it will be refunded by the notaire later - probably much later!  This was for a village house. 

On our other property consisting of land and lakes, the structure was different.  The property cost 25% less than the house but the agents fees were double the amount than those on the house (18% of the net price rather than 6%) and the notaires fees 10% of the net price rather than 8%.

[Mrs B]

Hi

Can anyone tell me the difference between estate agents prices marked FAI and those marked HI (honoraires inclus) - do they mean the same thing?