What does an offer to buy commit you to?

The offer is the first step in buying a property in France. How does it bind the buyer, and what is the next step in the purchase?

The first step towards a purchase is making an offer. This first commitment, which we advise making in writing (letter or email), lets the buyer propose a price to the seller, with or without negotiation. The offer does not bind the buyer, who may withdraw it until the preliminary contract (compromis or promesse de vente) is signed. Once the offer has been accepted and countersigned by the seller, however (or if it matches the price and terms of the sale mandate), there is agreement on the property and the price: the seller is then definitively committed, or must pay the penalty set in the mandate (usually equal to the commission) to the estate agency that has fulfilled its mission.

Offers to buy

An offer lets a buyer put their terms to the seller with a view to buying the property. If the offer is to buy at the price and on the terms set in the mandate, the seller is obliged to sell. Otherwise, the seller is liable and will owe damages to the buyer and the estate agent. An offer is not a real preliminary contract. It is the acceptance of the offer that constitutes a prior consent to signing a preliminary contract.

Promises of sale (preliminary contracts, or “compromis”)

This may be a private agreement or an authentic deed by which the seller undertakes to sell their property to a particular beneficiary for a certain time. The beneficiary is not bound by the promise. If the beneficiary exercises the option, the promise becomes binding on both sides and obliges the seller to sell and the buyer to buy. A unilateral promise must be registered within ten days of its acceptance, or it is void.

With a compromis, the buyer has a 10-day cooling-off period, which starts when the contract is notified to the parties by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt or by bailiff (or handed over in person if the compromis is signed at the notaire’s).