Entrusting your Nice apartment to a manager: what the mandate covers

What is a management mandate, in law?

Not a letter of intent, not an agreement in principle: a written contract, governed by the Hoguet law and its 1972 implementing decree.

It sets out the extent of the powers you entrust and expressly authorises the manager to receive property, sums or valuables in the course of his mission. That wording is not a formality: without it, your manager has no right to collect a rent on your behalf. A mandate that stays vague on this point is a badly drafted mandate.

Every mandate is given a number and entered in a register of mandates whose model is set by order. You may ask for that number: it is the first sign that a professional works by the rules, and it is not refused.

Read the term and the renewal conditions last but not least. They are in the contract, they are not guessed at, and that is where you will find the notice period you will need the day you want to change.

What does management cover day to day?

The base is always the same, and it comes down to a few gestures repeated every month. Call the rent and charges, collect them, issue the receipt, remit to the owner on the agreed frequency. That is the visible part, and the easiest.

The rest is less visible and weighs more. The annual rent review where the lease provides for it, the reconciliation of charges once the co-ownership accounts are closed, chasing from the first day of delay, notifying insurance claims, supervising works and interventions, the inventory of fixtures on entry and exit, and returning the deposit within the time limits.

And an obligation the civil code imposes on every agent: to account for his management. That takes the form of a periodic report, supported by documents, which also serves you in preparing your tax return. A manager who does not produce legible accounts is not doing half the work he is paid for.

What is not covered must be equally clear: decisions that commit your asset remain yours. A serious mandate sets a threshold above which the manager asks your agreement before committing to works.

How do you check a manager is in order?

Three documents, and they are asked for without embarrassment. The professional card first, issued by the chamber of commerce and industry, bearing the property management mention. Many owners do not know this: the card that allows selling does not allow managing, they are two distinct mentions. A sales agency without the management mention cannot hold your property.

The financial guarantee next, and that is the protection that really counts. As soon as a professional holds funds on behalf of others, he must be covered up to the sums handled. Ours is carried by CEGC to the tune of 650,000 € for property management, while the transaction card is taken out on a non-holding-of-funds basis. An amount can be read, compared and verified with the guarantor.

Professional indemnity insurance last, covering errors made in the course of the mission.

Our card numbers appear in our legal notices, as the law requires. Ask the same of anyone offering to manage your property, and be wary of an evasive answer.

What does management cost, and on what base?

Management fees are freely set, unlike syndic tariffs or a notaire's emoluments. They are expressed as a percentage of the sums actually collected, which aligns the manager's interest with yours: nothing is charged on rent that does not come in.

What must be read in the mandate is not only the rate, it is the base and the perimeter. What the percentage applies to, what the fee includes, and what is charged on top, typically an inventory of fixtures, a re-letting, or supervision of significant works. Two identical rates can lead to very different costs depending on what is included.

A point few owners anticipate: under the régime réel for rental income, these fees are deductible, as is the premium on unpaid-rent insurance. The net cost of management is therefore not the one on the invoice.

How do you leave a mandate already running?

This is the question that blocks most changes, and the answer is more favourable than people think.

Where a mandate carries an exclusivity clause, a penalty clause, or a clause providing for fees due even without the professional's involvement, the rule is set by article 78 of the 1972 decree: after a period of three months from signature, the mandate may be terminated at any time by either party. The party ending it notifies the other at least fifteen days in advance, by recorded letter with acknowledgement of receipt.

Three months, then fifteen days' notice. Many owners believe themselves bound for a year, sometimes longer, and never check.

Where there are no such clauses, the mandate's own terms apply, and they should be read before anything else. We are glad to look at your current mandate with you, without commitment, and tell you the date from which a change becomes possible. The handover is then prepared with the outgoing manager, tenant file by tenant file.

What changes when you live far away

Many owners on the Nice seafront do not live in Nice. On the Promenade des Anglais it is in fact the ordinary situation, and it governs how management must be run.

Three requirements follow. A single contact, reachable, who knows your building and not only your file. Periodic reports sent without having to be asked for, because an owner six thousand kilometres away cannot drop by. And the ability to sign remotely what has to be signed.

Language is added to that. We work in French, English, Italian and Turkish, which matters as much for you as for your tenants.

One last point, often overlooked: a non-resident owner has tax obligations of his own in France. They are prepared with an adviser, not in the rush of a first deadline, and a manager who provides clear accounts makes the task considerably easier.