Agency fees: who pays what, and why the advertised price shifts meaning
Two listings at the same price can cover two different realities. What separates them is one mandatory line that few people read.
Since the French order of 10 January 2017, any listing showing a price must state who bears the agency fees. Where the seller bears them, the advertised price is the price net to the buyer: it is the sum the buyer will pay, fees included, with nothing to add.
Where the buyer bears them, the rule changes. The listing must then express the rate as a percentage of the price excluding fees, not of the advertised price. The distinction looks technical; it moves the point of comparison between two properties.
To this are added what the French call notary fees, which largely are not: most of the sum consists of duties collected on behalf of the State and local authorities. On an existing property they commonly represent seven to eight per cent of the price, and they are calculated excluding agency fees where the buyer bears those.
A fee schedule must be displayed in the agency and online, and remain reachable from every listing showing a price. It is an information duty, and it is also the only document that lets you check that what you are charged matches what is public.