Guide · Buying
Buying agent or estate agent: two mandates, two sides
The buying agent holds their mandate from the purchaser, the estate agent from the seller. Who pays whom, how to avoid paying two sets of fees, and what distance changes.
Both professions fall under the same statute, require the same professional licence and are often practised in the same streets. Yet they hold their mandate from different people, and that is the whole difference when you buy from abroad. This page sets out that division, alongside our reference page on a guided property search.
The same legal framework, two opposing principals
The estate agent and the buying agent carry on the same regulated activity under the Act of 2 January 1970: intermediation in property transactions. They hold the same professional licence bearing the wording covering property transactions, the same financial guarantee and the same professional indemnity insurance.
What separates them fits in one line of the contract. The estate agent receives a sale mandate from the owner: they owe them loyalty, diligence and the best possible price. The buying agent receives a search mandate from the purchaser: they owe them the property matching the written criteria, including among properties nobody publishes, and negotiation in their direction.
This opposition is structural, not moral. A good estate agent treats buyers perfectly well, because that is how they sell. But on the day the price is discussed, each one’s contractual obligation does not point in the same direction, and a buyer living six thousand kilometres away rarely has the means to check it for themselves.
Who pays whom, and how to avoid paying twice
Agency fees are borne by the party the mandate designates, and the listing must say so. In most sales they are borne by the seller: the buyer then pays only their own buying agent. But a significant share of listings carries the wording “fees payable by the buyer”, and that is where doubling up becomes possible.
The matter is dealt with before the offer, never after. Two outcomes exist, and an experienced buying agent obtains one or the other: either responsibility for the agency fee shifts to the seller as part of the negotiation, which amounts to a net price reduction, or the buying agent adjusts their own so the total stays what you had budgeted. What you must not do is discover the double line in the draft deed.
The buying agent’s fee, for its part, follows a protective rule set out in the search mandate: it is due only on an acquisition actually completed, and no deposit may be claimed while the search is running.
The licence holder and the independent sales agent
A third figure circulates without foreign buyers always telling it apart: the independent sales agent, often called a commercial agent. They are registered in the special register of commercial agents and work under the attestation of a professional licence holder, carrying on that holder’s activity without holding funds or signing mandates in their own name.
This arrangement is perfectly regular and very widespread. It calls for one check only: the financial guarantee and insurance you benefit from are the licence holder’s, not those of the agent you have on the phone. Ask for the name of the holding firm, its licence number and its insurer, and you will know who answers if difficulty arises.
The notary, who takes nobody’s side
The third professional in the file holds a different position from the other two. A public officer appointed by the Minister of Justice, the notary authenticates the deed, checks the legality of the transaction, clears pre-emption rights, verifies the mortgage position and collects transfer duties on behalf of the State. Their mission benefits both parties, and their tariff is regulated.
They do not search for property, do not carry out viewings and do not negotiate the price: that is neither their role nor their mandate. On the other hand, they alone can make the acquisition legally secure, and their involvement structures the whole timetable, as our page on the deadlines from offer to deed sets out.
What distance changes in this division
For a buyer living in France, the question often settles itself: they view, they compare, they form their own opinion. For a buyer based abroad, three things shift. They cannot verify what is described to them, so they need a professional bound to them by a duty to advise. They cannot multiply return trips, so they need a selection made before the viewings rather than during them. And they will most likely sign without being there, which means having prepared the power of attorney or remote appearance several weeks ahead.
That is exactly the place French Realty occupies upstream of the three professionals: it informs, guides and coordinates, frames the project, picks the partner buying agent best placed in the target area, and holds the overall view across search, financing, works and settling in.
You are unsure how to approach a French acquisition from abroad: the personal study offered by French Realty says who should act on your file, in what order and at what cost, with your dedicated contact.
Frequently asked questions
Do you pay two sets of fees by using a buying agent?
Not if the point is dealt with before the offer. Where the property is sold by an agency whose fee is borne by the seller, the buyer pays only their own buying agent. Where the listing states fees borne by the buyer, the matter is negotiated: either the buying agent obtains that the seller bears them, or they adjust their own. Any doubling up is established at the offer stage, never at the deed.
Can an estate agent represent both buyer and seller?
They hold a mandate from the seller and owe them loyalty: obtaining the best sale price. Nothing stops them treating a buyer well, and many do, but the interest they contractually defend remains their principal's. A buyer who wants a professional bound to them by a duty to advise signs a search mandate with a buying agent, who then becomes their agent.
What is the difference between an estate agent and an independent sales agent?
The holder of the professional licence is the only one who may hold a mandate and handle funds. The independent sales agent, registered in the special register of commercial agents, works under the attestation of a licence holder, without holding funds or signing mandates in their own name. The financial guarantee and insurance you benefit from are the holder's: it is that name you need to check.