Buying
Buying a house in France without an agence
PAP and Leboncoin have carried entre particuliers listings for decades, and since 2023 SeLoger takes them free too, so the homes are not hard to find here.
English
Where private sellers actually list in France
Each of these is a separate pool. A saved search on one tells you nothing about the others, so set up alerts on every one you intend to use.
- Anyone.com Listed by the owner
Homes put up for sale by their owners, with no honoraires in the price and none in the base your droits de mutation are calculated on. You deal with the owner and agree the price between you, and the notaire draws the acte as always.
More than 31 million active listings across 31 markets, agent-represented and owner-listed together. SeLoger carries agency and private listings mixed together.
Search owner-listed homes ↗ - PAP.fr Owners can list
Buyer filter Not needed: the site carries private sellers only, and no agency ads at all
The long-standing entre particuliers institution, and the cleanest search in this set because there is nothing to filter out. If you want to deal only with owners in France, start and often finish here.
- Leboncoin Owners can list
Buyer filter A seller-type setting, and professional ads carry a Vendeur professionnel badge
The largest volume of French private listings anywhere, mixed in with agency ads. The professional badge is the marker to look for. Coverage is strongest outside the big cities, where a lot of sellers try here first.
- SeLoger Owners can list
Buyer filter Check the advertiser on the listing
This changed in 2023 and a lot of advice has not caught up: SeLoger opened to private sellers and listing a sale is free for them. Sites that sell paid diffusion packages still tell you SeLoger is professionals-only, which is no longer true and is worth knowing before you pay anyone to place an ad.
- Bien'ici Agents only
Buyer filter Nothing to filter, since every listing comes from a professional
Founded by the agents' own federations and closed to private sellers. Useful for seeing the agency market, useless for finding an owner to deal with directly.
How many homes this really covers
France is one of the easier markets to search privately, because PAP is entirely private, Leboncoin carries the volume and SeLoger now takes private ads free. What you should not rely on is any of the private-sale share figures circulating: the numbers quoted vary wildly and none has a published source behind it. Judge the supply by what you can see in your own area rather than by a national percentage.
The ten-day cooling-off period, article L271-1 of the Code de la construction et de l'habitation
A non-professional buyer of residential property gets ten days to withdraw, running from the day after the signed compromis is delivered, with no reason needed and nothing to pay. The seller has no equivalent right. There is a second thing to know if you are buying privately and someone suggests a promesse unilatérale de vente rather than a compromis: article 1589-2 of the Civil Code makes a PUV over property void unless it is done before a notaire or registered within ten days. A promesse drawn up between two private parties and left in a drawer is worth nothing, and this is the most common way a French private sale falls apart.
In force since Ten days since 8 August 2015. Read the legislation
Buying one, step by step
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Search PAP first, then Leboncoin and SeLoger
PAP is private-only so nothing needs filtering. Leboncoin has the volume, with professional ads badged. SeLoger now carries private ads too, so check the advertiser rather than assuming.
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Read the mandate wording if there is an agency involved
Charge vendeur or charge acquéreur decides whether the fees sit inside the base your duty is calculated on. For charge acquéreur to work the mandate must say so and the acte must show the net price and the fees separately. If either is missing, the whole FAI price gets taxed.
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Sign a compromis rather than a promesse, if you can
A compromis binds both sides subject to conditions. A promesse unilatérale binds only the seller, costs you an immobilisation payment of around ten percent, and is void unless notarised or registered within ten days. Between two private parties, the compromis is the safer instrument.
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Put your conditions suspensives in writing
The mortgage condition is the important one, with the amount, the rate ceiling and the deadline stated. Add anything else that matters: a survey, a planning certificate, the resolution of a boundary question.
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Use the ten days
They start the day after the signed compromis reaches you. Spend them having the notaire read the file and checking the diagnostics, not reconsidering the garden.
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Budget the frais de notaire properly
Around 7 to 8.5 percent on an older property and 2 to 3 percent on a new build. Most of it is duty rather than the notaire's own fee, and the departmental rate has risen in most of France since 2025, with first-time buyers of a principal residence carved out of the increase.
Check before any money moves
- The dossier de diagnostics techniques: lead, asbestos, termites, energy, gas, electricity and the état des risques
- The DPE rating, which now governs whether the property can be let and what renovation obligations you inherit
- The cadastre and the boundaries, particularly on rural property, and any right of way across the land
- For a copropriété, the règlement, the last three assemblies' minutes, the fonds de travaux and the seller's arrears
- Planning: permits for anything built or converted, and the certificat d'urbanisme for what you intend to do
- Whether the departmental rate on your purchase is the raised one, and whether you qualify as a primo-accédant for relief
Selling one instead? See where to list a home yourself in France , or the full guide to selling without an agent in France .
Common questions
Where do private sellers advertise in France?
PAP, which is entirely entre particuliers, and Leboncoin, which carries the largest volume mixed with agency ads. SeLoger has also accepted free private sale listings since 2023, which is newer than most guides admit. Bien'ici does not take them at all.
Does it matter whether fees are charge vendeur or charge acquéreur?
Yes, for your tax. Fees charged to the buyer sit outside the base for droits de mutation, so the duty is calculated on the net price. Fees charged to the seller are inside it. On a €300,000 purchase with €15,000 of fees that is worth roughly €950. It only works if the mandate says so and the acte separates the two amounts.
Do I still need a notaire if I buy privately?
Yes, always. An acte authentique is required for the transfer to be published, so there is no version of a French sale without one. The notaire's checks, the publication and the collection of duty happen exactly the same way.
Can I change my mind after signing?
Within ten days of receiving the signed compromis, yes, without a reason and without penalty. The right belongs to you and not to the seller. It has been ten days rather than seven since August 2015.
Someone offered me a promesse de vente instead. Is that fine?
Be careful. A promesse unilatérale over property is void unless it is made before a notaire or registered within ten days of acceptance, and it binds only the seller while costing you an immobilisation payment. Between private parties a compromis is usually the better instrument.
Sources
Every legal, tax, and process claim on this page traces to one of these. We re-check them on a schedule and date the page when anything changes.
- Code de la construction et de l'habitation, article L271-1: ten-day withdrawalLégifrance · legifrance.gouv.fr
- Code civil, article 1589-2: form requirements for a promesse de venteLégifrance · legifrance.gouv.fr
- Assiette des droits de mutation et commission d'agenceBulletin officiel des finances publiques · bofip.impots.gouv.fr
- Mettre en vente un bien immobilier en directSeLoger · edito.seloger.com