Property management in Veules-les-Roses: entrusting your property to an agency

Entrusting a property to an agency regulates the rental through a written mandate, displayed fees and precise rules on the apportionment of costs between landlord and tenant. In practice, entrusting the rental management of a property in Veules-les-Roses to a professional helps secure the letting and delegate day-to-day monitoring; however, you must check that the agency’s charges comply with the prescribed caps.

When you live far from your property or lack time, the value of a local professional lies as much in organising the procedures as in complying with the legal framework: viewings, the tenancy agreement, the inventory, rent receipts and communication with the tenant.

Key points to remember

• Letting management is based on a written mandate signed between the owner and the agency.
• Property management fees are freely set by the agency and remain payable by the owner.
• Among agency fees, only those for the file, viewing, drafting the tenancy agreement and entry inventory can be shared with the tenant.
• For an unfurnished or furnished property let as the tenant’s main residence, the tenant’s share of application, viewing and lease fees is subject to a double cap: half of the corresponding fees at most, and €12.10, €10.09 or €8.07 including VAT per m², depending on the area (€8.07 in Veules-les-Roses).
• For the check-in inventory, the tenant's share is also capped at half of the fees and €3.03 including VAT per m².

Why use an agency to let a property

Letting a property involves following several steps: organising viewings, compiling applications, drafting the tenancy agreement, preparing the inventory at check-in and then handling the administrative follow-up. According to Service Public, to entrust the management of your property to an agency, you sign a management mandate with it. This document sets out the framework for its involvement.

Using an agency is particularly useful if you live far away, lack time or wish to limit errors in the procedures. A local professional can also ensure continuity in exchanges with the tenant and in monitoring the documents required for a year-long let.

In Veules-les-Roses, this arrangement may suit owners who do not live locally and want a clear framework without managing every stage themselves. Let annually, unfurnished or furnished, the property becomes the tenant’s main residence: it is therefore no longer available to you for stays.

What the estate agency can do for you on a day-to-day basis

According to Service Public Entreprendre, the estate agent may in particular place adverts, show the property, check certain elements of the file, assist with signing the lease, hand over the keys to the tenant and draw up the inventory. Service Public also lists finding a tenant and sending rent receipts among the services covered by a property management mandate.

In practical terms, this makes it possible to delegate :

• preparing the property for letting;
• the coordination of viewings ;
• the drafting of documents relating to moving in;
• routine administrative follow-up ;
• local exchanges with the tenant.

The importance is not merely practical. It also concerns compliance with the categories of services: what relates to letting, what relates to management, and what may or may not be charged to the tenant.

If you would like to see what a management mandate can cover, you can consult the management packages offered by the agency. In this area, Cabinet Soudey relies on its sister company PCG Gestion for property management from Dieppe to Saint-Valery-en-Caux, exclusively for year-round rentals.

Secure the rental: checks to carry out before signing with an agency

Entrusting your property to an agency means checking that the professional meets the guarantees required by the regulations. According to Service Public Entreprendre, practising the profession notably requires a professional card appropriate to the activity carried out, professional civil liability insurance and, for property management, a financial guarantee.

This financial guarantee protects funds received by the agency on behalf of its clients, such as rent or a deposit, and enables them to be reimbursed if the agency suffers financial failure. For property management activities, it is compulsory, with no possibility of exemption by declaring that no funds are held. Its minimum amount is €30,000 during the first 2 years of activity, then €110,000 minimum. This minimum of €30,000 does not apply to a company where one of its legal or statutory representatives has already been subject to the guarantee requirement, and the guaranteed amount applies to each activity carried out (sales, management, property management).

RPL insurance covers the consequences of bodily, material or immaterial damage related to the agency’s activities. You therefore entrust your property within a regulated professional framework, rather than through a simple informal service relationship.

Before signing, you can check:

• the possession of a professional card corresponding to the activity;
• taking out professional liability insurance;
• the financial guarantee, mandatory for property management activities;
• the legibility of the display of fees;
• the precise contents of the mandate.

The professional card number, the amount of the financial guarantee and the guarantor’s name must appear on a notice displayed in the premises where the agency receives clients. To understand this framework, the Service Public Entreprendre page summarises the conditions for working as an estate agent.

Letting fees: what the owner pays, what the tenant may pay

As regards fees, the framework is precise. These rules, derived from Article 5 of the Act of 6 July 1989, concern the rental of an unfurnished or furnished property that becomes the tenant’s main residence. According to service-public.gouv.fr, an agency is free to set the amount of its services for letting residential accommodation. However, it must clearly display its maximum prices including VAT for each service and specify who bears the cost.

The basic distribution is as follows:

• the fees for processing the application, viewing, drawing up the tenancy agreement and the check-in inventory are shared between the landlord and tenant;
• the other costs of letting the property, particularly those relating to the advert, are paid entirely by the owner ;
• property management fees are payable by the landlord;
• the amicable and joint check-out inspection cannot be charged to the tenant.

For the application, viewing and tenancy agreement, the amount charged to the tenant is subject to two cumulative limits: it must be less than or equal to the share charged to the owner for the same services, and it cannot exceed a ceiling per m² of habitable floor area of €12.10, €10.09 or €8.07 including VAT, depending on the property’s area (very high-pressure, high-pressure or non-high-pressure). For these fees, the Service Public simulator classifies Veules-les-Roses as neither a high-pressure nor a very high-pressure area: the applicable ceiling in the commune is therefore €8.07 including VAT per m².

For the check-in inventory, the reasoning is the same, with a specific cap of €3.03 including VAT per m² of habitable floor area, in addition to the limit linked to the sharing of fees.

The habitable floor area is directly important here. Certain spaces are not included, notably garages, terraces, balconies, cellars, basements or areas where the height is less than 1.80 metre.

Concrete examples of applicable caps

The examples published by Service Public help explain how these caps work in practice. They do not set an agency's fees; they merely show the maximum that may be charged to the tenant.

In each case, two limits must therefore be compared: half of the fees charged and the per-m² ceiling. The lower of the two applies to the tenant, with the balance payable by the landlord. In Veules-les-Roses, the two lines for the area outside a rent pressure zone, together with the line for the incoming inventory, whose ceiling does not depend on the area, serve as the reference point.

The official details are available on the page about agency fees for renting.

Maximising the value of your property while staying within the legal framework

A local agency does not add value to a property by promising results. It does so primarily through an orderly letting process: a consistent advert, documents gathered together, structured viewings, a properly drafted tenancy agreement and a precise inventory. This rigour makes the file clearer for prospective tenants and limits inaccuracies that could later complicate management.

In Veules-les-Roses, a local contact may also be better placed to follow up exchanges relating to a year-long tenancy and intervene more easily at key stages. This does not relax the rules: fees remain regulated and the remit remains that set out in the mandate.

If you compare several offers, look at the scope of the services rather than just the quoted price. A mandate may cover very different acts from one agency to another. You can also review the details of the property management packages to identify what relates to finding the tenant and what relates to ongoing monitoring.

Mistakes to avoid when outsourcing the letting

Entrusting your property to an agency does not mean you can skip reading the documents. A few points deserve particular attention :

• sign without checking that there is indeed a written mandate ;
• confuse the costs of letting with management fees;
• think that all fees can be borne by the tenant;
• accept that the agreed check-out inventory is charged to the tenant;
• neglecting the legibility of the VAT-inclusive prices displayed.

Another useful point: if an amicable and jointly conducted inventory of fixtures is not possible, you must call on a judicial officer. The corresponding costs are then shared equally between the owner and the tenant.

If in doubt about a tenancy clause or the allocation of fees, ADIL or a legal professional can help you assess your specific situation.

Frequently asked questions