Property Management Mandate, Partnership Agreement, Service Agreement: The Trio You Need to Sign

For a concierge company that wants to secure its relationship with owners legally, three contracts need to coexist. The operational partnership agreement (between the concierge company and the holder of the carte G, the French property management license), the property management mandate (between the carte G holder and the owner), and the service agreement (between the concierge company and the owner). Each covers a different relationship, and it’s the stacking of the three that makes the legal framework solid.

You sign a new owner, you present “the contract.” Except there are actually three. And they don’t cover the same things at all. If you don’t know exactly who signs what with whom, you’ll end up with a layered legal setup that won’t hold up the day something goes wrong.

This is the blind spot of most concierge companies starting carte G delegation (delegation lets you operate under a license holder’s card). People confuse the management mandate (the fundamental legal act) with the service agreement (the commercial deal), and forget the partnership agreement altogether (which structures your relationship with the carte G holder). This article breaks down the mechanism and explains exactly how to combine the three so your concierge company is 100% secured.

Why most concierge companies mix up these 3 contracts

The confusion is a historical leftover. Before 2018 and the spread of digital property management platforms, a typical concierge company signed a single document with its owner: a standard service agreement. No mandate. No partnership. Just a commercial deal to carry out operational tasks around short-term rentals.

The problem when you move to long-term

As soon as you touch a rental lease, that single contract is no longer enough. The Hoguet Law (the 1970 French law regulating real estate professionals) requires a property management mandate to be signed by a carte G holder. And if you go through a delegation, you also need to formalize your relationship with that holder through an operational partnership agreement. You go from one contract to three without always realizing what each one covers.

Why all three are necessary

Each document covers a different legal responsibility. The property management mandate covers the carte G holder’s responsibility to the owner. The partnership agreement covers the relationship between the concierge company and the carte G holder (role, scope, access to tools). The service agreement covers the commercial relationship between the concierge company and the owner (commission, tasks). Remove one of the three and a legal building block is missing, which weakens the whole structure.

Why the framework holds up over time

Unlocker’s 3 contracts aren’t an improvised setup. They were built by Unlocker’s in-house lawyers specializing in real estate law, and they’re continuously updated through ongoing legal monitoring: the Hoguet Law, case law on delegation, municipal orders, the tourism code. When something changes in the regulations, the framework adapts without you having to make legal calls yourself.

The operational partnership agreement

The first document of the trio, and the one where everything starts. The operational partnership agreement is signed between the concierge company (or the independent real estate agent) and the carte G holder. In Unlocker’s case, that’s Unlocker Real Estate, the entity that holds the carte G.

What it covers

This document organizes the operational delegation. It defines the scope of tasks the concierge company can carry out under the delegation (calendar, pricing, guest relations, field follow-up, dispute handling). It sets out mutual obligations (service quality, reporting, compliance), the conditions for accessing the Unlocker platform, and the length of the commitment.

When to sign it

Once, at the start of the collaboration between the concierge company and Unlocker Real Estate. Before you even have a first owner to bring into delegation. It’s the prerequisite for being able to generate property management mandates under delegation. Until this agreement is signed, no delegation mechanism can start.

What you keep within this framework

The partnership agreement doesn’t turn you into a subordinate contractor. Everyone keeps their own scope.

The property management mandate

The second document, and the one that is legally the pivot of the whole setup. The property management mandate is signed between the carte G holder (Unlocker Real Estate) and the property owner. The concierge company is not a signatory to this document, but it orchestrates it on the ground.

What it covers

The property management mandate gives the carte G holder the legal power to manage the property on the owner’s behalf. That includes signing leases, collecting rent and service charges, managing security deposits, move-in and move-out inspection reports, lease amendments, and representing the owner in all acts related to the rental. It’s the foundational act that makes renting out under a lease legally possible.

Why this document is mandatory

Article 6 of the Hoguet Law of January 2, 1970 requires a written mandate to be signed between the carte G holder and the owner for any management act. Without that written mandate, the act is void and the holder can claim no compensation; and practicing real estate management without holding the professional license yourself exposes you, under Article 14 of the same law, to six months in prison and a €7,500 fine. That’s why the concierge company can’t do without it, even if it would prefer a lighter option.

How the concierge company presents it to the owner

The mandate is generated directly from the Unlocker platform when the concierge company activates a property in delegation. The concierge company sends the mandate to the owner for electronic signature. It helps the owner understand the document (who signs what, why, and what it implies). The average time between sending and signing is 24 to 72 hours. The Unlocker mandates and contracts page details the interface and the workflow.

The service agreement

The third document, and the only one that is 100% in the concierge company’s hands. The service agreement is signed between the concierge company and the owner. It’s your direct commercial deal, the one that defines your pay and the exact scope of your tasks.

What it covers

The service agreement defines your management commission (rate, calculation base, how it’s collected), your operational tasks (listings, guest communication, cleaning, linens, inspection reports, maintenance), your service commitments (response times, quality, availability), and the termination terms (length, notice period, grounds). It’s the equivalent of the standard service agreement you were already signing in pure short-term rentals, adapted to the delegation framework.

Why it stays separate from the mandate

The property management mandate (signed with Unlocker Real Estate) covers the legal act of renting out. The service agreement (signed with you) covers the operational tasks you carry out alongside it. The two are complementary but legally distinct. If the owner wants to switch concierge companies tomorrow without breaking the property management mandate, they can do so by terminating only your service agreement. That protects everyone.

How you set your commission

Your service commission is up to you. You negotiate with the owner what seems fair to you. In practice, rates observed on the French market in 2026 are generally between 18% and 25% excluding VAT for short-term rentals (full management) and between 7% and 12% excluding VAT for long-term rentals. This commission applies to the rental income collected and is added to Unlocker’s fees (1% excl. VAT platform fee, plus 2% excl. VAT carte G fee for long-term rentals or 1% excl. VAT for short-term rentals).

Who signs what with whom

The structure is simpler than it looks once you visualize it.

The operational partnership agreement

Concierge company ↔ Unlocker Real Estate

Signatories: a representative of the concierge company + a representative of Unlocker Real Estate. The owner isn’t involved. One signature for the whole length of the collaboration.

The property management mandate

Unlocker Real Estate ↔ Owner

Signatories: Unlocker Real Estate (carte G holder) + the property owner. The concierge company doesn’t sign, but it presents the document to the owner and orchestrates the electronic signature. One mandate per property (or per unit in the case of an income property).

The service agreement

Concierge company ↔ Owner

Signatories: concierge company + owner. Unlocker Real Estate isn’t involved in this direct commercial relationship. A service agreement can cover several properties of the same owner or just one, depending on what’s negotiated.

The full picture

The concierge company is at the center of the trio. It has a contract with Unlocker Real Estate (partnership), a contract with the owner (service), and it runs in parallel the mandate signed between Unlocker Real Estate and the owner. The owner signs two documents (the mandate and the service agreement). Unlocker Real Estate signs two documents (the partnership and the mandate). The concierge company signs two documents (the partnership and the service agreement).

Concierge companyRuns the field work

Partnership agreement

Unlocker Real EstateCarte G holder

Property management mandate

OwnerEntrusts their property

Service agreement: concierge company and owner

The signing order that secures everything

The order in which you have the documents signed has real legal impact. Here’s the sequence that secures your business and reassures owners.

1. 1

   The operational partnership agreement

   Signed between the concierge company and Unlocker Real Estate, ahead of any owner relationship. It's the prerequisite. Without this agreement, your concierge company has no legal framework to offer delegation. This signature happens only once.

2. 2

   The property management mandate

   Signed between Unlocker Real Estate and the owner, as soon as the owner agrees to rent out under a lease. It's the founding document of the delegation for that specific property. It must be signed before any other contractual step with the owner for that property.

3. 3

   The service agreement

   Signed between the concierge company and the owner, right after the property management mandate is signed. This order matters. The service agreement refers to the delegation framework, so it needs the mandate to already be active to be fully legally coherent.

Why this order matters

If you have the service agreement signed before the mandate, you bind the owner to operational tasks in a legal framework that doesn’t exist yet. In a dispute, the service agreement can be considered premature or unenforceable. Conversely, if you follow the order partnership → mandate → service, each document builds on the previous one and the structure is solid.

The timing in practice

The partnership agreement is signed once and for all at the start. For each new owner in delegation, the gap between signing the mandate and the service agreement is typically 0 to 7 days. The Unlocker platform lets you chain the two electronic signatures in the same session, which secures the order automatically.

Going further

To understand why the concierge company goes through this delegation instead of building its own carte G, the article on concierge companies without a carte G details the legal constraints and the compared costs. To see how this framework applies to a hybrid short-term plus long-term strategy, we also have an article on the hybrid rental strategy.

Summary table: the 3 contracts side by side

The link between split payment, carte G and carte T

The three contracts don’t just secure the signing. They’re what tells the split payment who gets what on each payment. And they’re not the same depending on whether you work under carte G delegation or carte T delegation.

What the contracts tell the split payment

Under carte G delegation, every amount in the split comes from a specific contract. The property management mandate sets the conditions for handling client funds and for reporting to the owner. The service agreement sets your commission. The partnership agreement sets the delegation framework in which these flows move. Unlocker’s fees are added on top (1% excl. VAT platform fee, plus 2% excl. VAT carte G fee for long-term rentals or 1% excl. VAT for short-term rentals). The rent is collected on the platform, then automatically split between the owner’s share, your commission and these fees.

Carte T follows a different pattern

Carte T delegation (carte T is the French real estate transaction license) doesn’t rely on this trio. It goes through a commercial agent agreement signed separately, outside the platform, and an authorization declared to the CCI (the French chamber of commerce). Mandates, whether rental or sales, are signed by the owner in favor of Unlocker Real Estate, the carte T holder. The authorized agent holds no funds: fees are collected on the platform, then split according to your commercial agent agreement.

Its first use isn’t selling, it’s renting: posting your owners’ listings and managing their pricing. Article 1 of the Hoguet Law actually covers “the rental or sub-rental, seasonal or not” of other people’s property, before sales. A rental that is incidental to a property management mandate falls under property management, and therefore under the carte G (Article 1-1). Selling comes afterward, the day an owner decides to part with their property. The details are in the guide to carte T delegation.

Structuring your business with the 3 contracts

The three-contract framework may seem heavier than the single contract concierge companies historically used, but it’s what makes carte G delegation legally solid. Each document has a precise role, covers a distinct relationship, and protects a specific party. Once you master the trio, you can grow your long-term and hybrid business knowing exactly where you stand legally.

The practical key is to respect the signing order (partnership → mandate → service), present each document to the owner with its own logic, and centralize everything on a platform that handles the workflow end to end. The better you structure these 3 steps, the more commercial credibility and legal security you gain.

To get started in practice, the first step is to sign your operational partnership agreement with Unlocker Real Estate. That unlocks access to the mandate generation workflow, and you can start presenting delegation to your owners within 7 to 14 days. All the details on the mechanics are on the Unlocker mandates and contracts page.

To see how this framework fits into your concierge company’s overall compliance, the article on Hoguet Law compliance digs into responsibility for handling client funds. If you’re still torn between building your own structure or going through a delegation, concierge company vs. real estate agency compares the two paths, and the guide to the real estate professional license for concierge companies details the full legal framework.