Carte T: The Complete Guide to the Real Estate Transaction License

What the Hoguet Law requires for transactions

Law No. 70-9 of January 2, 1970, known as the Hoguet Law (the 1970 French law regulating real estate professionals), applies to anyone who routinely lends their assistance, even on an incidental basis, to the purchase, sale, search for or rental of other people’s property. These operations are reserved for holders of a professional license issued by the chamber of commerce and industry (CCI). For rentals as well as sales, it’s the “real estate and business transactions” endorsement: the carte T (the French real estate transaction license).

Publishing an owner’s rental or sales listing, showing a property, negotiating the price or signing a mandate all count as transactions. A concierge company that already manages the property on a short-term basis isn’t exempt: it’s acting on someone else’s property.

The license is valid for three years. Renewing it requires continuing education of 14 hours a year or 42 hours over three consecutive years, including at least 2 hours on non-discrimination in access to housing and 2 hours on professional ethics.

Obligations once you hold the license

• Hold a written mandate before any brokerage or negotiation.
• Enter each mandate, in chronological order, in a numbered mandate register, on paper or electronic, kept for ten years.
• Display your fees, tax included, at the agency entrance, in the window and on your website.
• If you hold funds, for example a deposit paid when the preliminary sales agreement is signed: financial guarantee, dedicated account, register of funds and receipts.

Penalties are criminal. Practicing without a license carries six months in prison and a €7,500 fine. Holding funds without a financial guarantee, or demanding fees before the sale, carries two years in prison and a €30,000 fine.

Rentals first: publishing listings and managing prices

The carte T isn’t primarily about selling. Article 1 of the Hoguet Law covers “rental or subletting, seasonal or not, unfurnished or furnished” of other people’s property, just like sales. Publishing an owner’s rental listing as a professional means lending your assistance to a rental: the law applies.

That’s the first use of carte T delegation. You publish your owners’ rental listings and manage their prices, within the framework of the law. The sale comes later, the day an owner decides to sell their property: you remain their point of contact, with the same authorization.

Carte T or carte G: where the line falls

Article 1-1 of the Hoguet Law draws the line. A rental that is incidental to a property management mandate falls under property management, so under the carte G (the French property management license). As soon as you manage the property on the owner’s behalf (lease, rent, inspections), carte G delegation applies, with its three contracts: property management mandate, partnership agreement and service agreement.

Both delegations can be combined in the Premium + plan. In both cases, the money collected is divided through split payment.

How carte T delegation works

Article 4 of the Hoguet Law allows a license holder to authorize people to negotiate, act as intermediaries or commit on their behalf. When they aren’t employees, these people work as commercial agents and take out their own professional liability insurance. Carte T delegation relies on this mechanism: Unlocker Real Estate, the carte T holder, authorizes the person who publishes listings and supports the sale. Mandates, whether for rental or sale, are signed by the owner in favor of Unlocker Real Estate. The commercial agent agreement is signed separately, outside the platform, and the authorization is filed with the CCI.

A personal status: real estate commercial agent

The authorization applies to an individual, not to the concierge company. The manager or partner who handles sales registers personally in the RSAC (the French special register of commercial agents), with the endorsement “real estate commercial agent.” They can operate as a micro-entrepreneur, a sole proprietor, or through a single-member company (EURL or SASU) in which they carry out the activity themselves. The concierge company keeps its structure.

The law sets three limits on the authorized person: they don’t receive or hold any funds, they don’t draft private agreements other than mandates concluded in favor of the license holder, and they don’t run an office.

1. 1

   Sign the commercial agent agreement

   With Unlocker Real Estate: tasks, territory, pay, term.

2. 2

   Register with the RSAC

   Personally, with the commercial court registry or through the one-stop shop.

3. 3

   Send the documents

   RSAC extract less than three months old, liability insurance certificate in your name, ID.

4. 4

   Get the CCI authorization

   Unlocker checks the file and files the request. Activity starts on the validation date.

The authorized person proves their powers with a certificate endorsed by the president of the CCI, which the license holder gives them. The authorization obtained by Unlocker is granted for one year and renewed every year. Renewal requires an RSAC registration that is still active and current liability insurance; Unlocker tracks the deadlines and notifies you.

Selling next: the listing and the sales mandate

The order is mandatory: mandate first, listing second. Before putting a property up for sale, the professional must hold a written mandate, signed by the seller and currently valid. Publishing a listing to “test the market” before signing means putting the property up for sale without a mandate.

The sales mandate

Under delegation, the mandate is signed electronically between the owner and Unlocker Real Estate. It must specify, among other things, the property and its price, the term of the mandate, the pay and the party who pays it, the conditions for handling funds, the channels used to advertise the listing and the mandate register number. A clause in very prominent type authorizes the agent to commit to the transaction: without it, no deed can be signed in the seller’s name.

The exclusive mandate must describe the actions the agent commits to take and how they will report on them. One point directly concerns concierge companies: a mandate signed outside the professional’s premises, following solicitation, gives the owner a 14-day withdrawal period.

What the listing must include

Whatever the channel, whether portals, social media or your own site, the sales listing states:

• the sale price set in the mandate and the party who pays the fees;
• if the buyer pays: the price including fees, in larger type, the price excluding fees, and the amount of the fees, tax included, as a percentage of the price excluding fees, preceded by the word “Fees”;
• if the seller pays: the price excluding fees only;
• the property’s energy rating and, for a condominium unit, condominium information (number of units, average current charges);
• the commercial agent status of the authorized person who publishes.

Under delegation, each listing carries an identification notice: your name, your capacity as an independent agent holding no funds, commercial agent of Unlocker Real Estate, and your RSAC registration number. Practical cases (listing on your site, portals, direct booking) are detailed in our guide on publishing listings and signing sales mandates without a carte T.

Fees and sharing the pay

Transaction fees aren’t capped: the professional sets them freely and displays the maximum scale of their services, tax included. The scale must be available on their website. When it’s expressed as a percentage by price bracket, it states whether the brackets are cumulative. The owner can negotiate it down.

The mandate sets the amount and the party who pays it: the seller, the buyer, or both when fees are shared. This choice determines how the price is shown in the listing.

No fees before the sale

Article 6 of the Hoguet Law is clear: no sum representing fees, search costs, advertising or brokerage is due, nor can it be demanded or accepted, before the transaction is actually concluded and recorded in a single written deed. In practice, fees are paid after the final deed is signed at the notary’s office.

“Marketing costs” or “advertising” fees charged to the owner when the mandate is signed fall under this ban. A viewing slip signed by a buyer isn’t a mandate and gives no right to a commission. The only regulated exception: a penalty clause, in very prominent type, may provide for compensation if the owner sells to a buyer introduced by the agent, up to the fees provided for in the mandate.

Splitting between Unlocker Real Estate and you

The authorized commercial agent is paid exclusively on commission and holds no funds. Fees are therefore collected on the platform, then split automatically through split payment, according to the rules set in your commercial agent agreement. Carte T delegation is included in the Premium plan, from €100 excl. VAT per month, and can be combined with carte G delegation in the Premium + plan.