Estate agency fees in France 2026: commission, VAT and the effect on notary fees
The commission, its VAT, the advertised price and what one line in the mandate changes to your notary fees.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy
Estate agency fees in France are not regulated: each agency sets its own scale, displayed including VAT and applied to the price excluding fees. A 5% commission on a home sold for €280,000 net to the seller is €14,000 including €2,333 of VAT at 20%. An estate agency commission is never a notary fee in France, but how it is presented changes the notary fees. If the mandate makes the commission payable by the seller, it is part of the price paid and, like the rest, bears transfer tax, emoluments and the land registry contribution. If the mandate makes it payable by the buyer and the deed shows it separately, it comes out of the taxable base: tax is due only on the net seller price. For a €280,000 flat net to the seller with a €14,000 commission in the Lyon Metropolis, the difference reaches €1,033 in notary fees. The choice is made in the mandate, before the preliminary contract: it cannot be made up for on the day of the deed. The mini-calculator below shows the gap on your own figures.
Agency fees incl. VAT
€14,000
Price incl. fees €294,000 · 4.76 % of that price
| Fees excl. VAT | €11,667 |
| VAT (20%) | €2,333 |
| Price including agency fees | €294,000 |
| Notary fee base (net seller price) | €280,000 |
| Notary fees | €22,041 |
| Notary fees if the seller paid the agency | €23,073 |
| Cost to the buyer (price incl. fees + notary fees) | €316,041 |
Difference in notary fees between the two presentations: €1,033.
Find the commission inside a fees-included price
Commission incl. VAT
€15,000
| Net seller price | €300,000 |
| Commission share of the price | 4.76 % |
| Of which VAT | €2,500 |
How a French agency commission is worked out
No law caps the fees on a property sale in France. The agent sets them freely in a scale that must be displayed in the office and on the agency’s website, always including VAT. It may be a single percentage, a flat fee or price bands, in which case it says whether the bands add up. When the buyer pays, the listing shows the price with and without fees and states the fees as a percentage of the price excluding fees, as service-public.fr explains. Buyers used to markets where the seller always pays the agent are often surprised to see “honoraires charge acquéreur” in a French listing: both models coexist.
The commission includes 20% VAT, since the agent is a VAT-registered business: of €14,000, €11,667 goes to the agency and €2,333 to the State. It is only due once the final deed is signed at the notary’s: a preliminary contract that falls through triggers no commission, and a viewing slip is not a mandate.
| Net seller price | Scale incl. VAT | Fees incl. VAT | Fees excl. VAT | Price incl. fees | Notary fees saved (buyer pays) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| €150,000 | 6.00 % | €9,000 | €7,500 | €159,000 | €664 |
| €250,000 | 5.00 % | €12,500 | €10,417 | €262,500 | €922 |
| €400,000 | 4.50 % | €18,000 | €15,000 | €418,000 | €1,328 |
| €700,000 | 4.00 % | €28,000 | €23,333 | €728,000 | €2,066 |
Commission paid by buyer or seller
Fees saved when the buyer pays the agency
€1,033
| Fees on the net seller price | €22,041 |
| Fees if the commission is in the price | €23,073 |
Two presentations, two bills
| Commission paid by the seller | Commission paid by the buyer | |
|---|---|---|
| Price in the deed | €294,000 | €280,000 |
| Transfer tax | €18,576 | €17,692 |
| Emoluments incl. VAT | €3,296 | €3,161 |
| Land registry contribution | €294 | €280 |
| Total notary fees | €23,073 | €22,041 |
| Total cost to the buyer | €317,073 | €316,041 |
In both cases the buyer pays €294,000 in total for the property and the agency. Only the split between price and commission changes, and with it the base for the proportional taxes. The gap is about 6.6% of the commission: transfer tax of 6.319 %, the marginal emoluments and the land registry contribution.
What the mandate says
The Hoguet Act regulates estate agents in France: no commission can be charged without a written mandate, and the mandate states who pays it. The listing must repeat that information, with the price excluding fees and the commission percentage when the buyer pays it. At the preliminary contract stage, the contract reflects the split set by the mandate; the notary reproduces it in the final deed.
Changing the split requires an amendment to the mandate, signed by the seller and the agency, before the buyer’s offer is accepted.
Why not everyone favours the same formula
For the buyer, a commission payable by them reduces notary fees. For the seller, it does not change the net price received. For the agency, it can complicate negotiation, since the buyer sees the exact commission. For the bank, it may raise a financing question if the lender does not finance agency fees. The “buyer pays” formula remains the most tax-efficient for the buyer, at no cost to the seller.
And on a new build?
A developer usually sells with no visible commission: the pay of its sales agents is included in the price including VAT. The question therefore does not arise in the same way, and little is at stake since the reduced tax is only 0.715 % of the price.