Agency fees included in house sale price

[AnnaJAnna]

My husband and I have recently begun to plan our purchase in France. When looking at property listings on the internet, I believe that there is some ambiguity in the terms 'agency fee's included'. Does this mean that the vendor will pay the fee's or that the seller will pay them as part of the purchase price? As most mortgages will not cover agents fee's, I think this is an important question for many buyers.

Thanks to anyone who can help with this.

[Tresco]

The purchaser always pays the agents fees in France.

The English sites will nearly always advertise as agency fees included, the French ones very rarely, so you need to be very careful. Don't forget the Notaires fees as well

tresco

[Will]

In most, but not all, of France the buyer pays the agency commission and this is usually (though not always) included in the advertised price, as shown by 'frais agence inclus' or 'FAI' against the price. Some English (and a few French) agencies show an 'all-inclusive' price which includes legal fees and taxes.

If buying through a notaire rather than an agency the price you see will normally be the basic (nett vendeur) figure to which you have to add on the notaire's negotiating fee, set by the government on a scale of (I think) 2.5% to 5% not inclusive of TVA at 19.6%.

In all house purchases, except those where an all-inclusive price is quoted, the buyer pays legal costs, i.e. notaire fees and taxes, which can account for an extra approximately 5% to 10% depending on the price of the property and other factors such as whether or not a mortgage is involved.

As far as I know, most French mortgage lenders are not too fussy about whether or not the loan includes fees. But they are interested far more in the buyer's ability to repay than the value or condition of the property and French mortgaes tend to be for lower proportion of the cost, and over a shorter period than British ones. Companies offering a British-type loan on a French property wil probably apply their own terms and conditions.

Sorry it sounds so complicated, but don't blame us - that's French procedures and systems for you.

[Mpprh]

Hi

It is a bit of a minefield.

In theory agents fees are paid by the seller when it says FAI, but you may well be offered a deal whereby the total price is the same, but property price is reduced by the amount of the fees, and you pay the fees.

This is particularly the case on maisons secondaire because the reduced property price reduces the capital gains tax payable.

If it is a maison secondaire for you, it doesn't need much thought to come to the conclusion that you would rather buy at the higher price for the property to minimise future gains. And the same applies to under the desk cash, too !

Peter