At French court auctions, a lawyer bids for you: choosing them, instructing them remotely and setting the cap
In a court auction, the buyer does not speak: every bid is placed by a lawyer. For anyone living abroad, that is rather good news, since the system is built to work through representation. This dossier says how to choose the lawyer, what the mandate must say, and why the cap is set before the hearing.
By Jean Mascla, founder of Home SelectUpdated · 7 min read
Why can you not bid yourself?
Because the sale takes place before the enforcement judge, at the end of a seizure procedure. This is not an auction house, it is a court hearing. The rules of a hearing apply, including the one that says parties speak through their lawyer.
The consequence runs deeper than formality. It means your ability to buy does not depend on your presence, your French or your nationality, but on the quality of the mandate you gave. For a buyer living abroad, that is rather good news: the system was designed to work through representation.
Who may place your bid, and before which court?
A lawyer admitted to the bar of the tribunal judiciaire where the sale is held. This is a precise point and it rules out many candidates: your usual lawyer in Paris cannot bid for you on a property sold in Nice unless admitted to the relevant bar.
It is the first question to ask, before even discussing the property. A serious lawyer will tell you unprompted and point you to a colleague at the right bar, which is itself a good sign about how they work.
How is the mandate given when you live abroad?
In writing, remotely, without travelling. The mandate identifies the property, the sale, the hearing, and above all it sets the maximum the lawyer is authorised to bid. It comes with identity documents and the financial guarantee the procedure requires, which must be in the lawyer’s hands before the hearing, not on the day.
This is the part of the timetable buyers underestimate most. Assembling a guarantee in euros from another country takes days, sometimes weeks: that is the subject of the deposit to lodge before the hearing, and it is dealt with first, not last.
What does the lawyer actually do in the room?
Listens, counts and raises a hand. Bids follow one another, and they stop once a short period passes with no new bid. The rhythm is quick, closer to a trading floor than to a property negotiation.
There is no discussion, no written offer, no cooling-off period. The last to raise a hand takes the property, and takes it in its condition and on the terms of the conditions of sale: no mortgage condition, no withdrawal right, no protection against hidden defects.
Why can the ceiling not be changed during the hearing?
Because a buyer following the hearing by telephone, in another time zone, a few seconds behind what is being said, is in no state to decide. Auction fever is a documented phenomenon and it spares no one: the only effective protection is a figure settled beforehand, based on what the property is worth rather than on what other people are doing.
That figure is built like a buyer’s bid, not like a budget limit. Start from the value of the property, take out what the works will cost, the costs of the procedure, and the occupancy risk if there is one. What remains is the ceiling. Going ten thousand euros past it because the hearing is still running is precisely what the mechanics of the room are designed to produce.
Fréjus, Côte d’Azur
What happens after the hammer?
The lawyer states the identity of the person on whose behalf the bid was placed, and the file enters a phase many buyers believe is over. It is not: the title is not final while the over-bid period runs, and the price must be lodged within the set period, failing which the sale is put back in play.
Which is why the retainer must not stop at the hearing. Ask explicitly what it covers afterwards: following the over-bid period, publication of the title, the formalities, and who you will write to if something moves while you are five thousand miles away.
What makes up the bill?
Two parts of a different nature, and they need separating before you compare two quotes. One part is tied to the procedure itself and follows a scale; the other is freely agreed between you and the lawyer, for the analysis, preparation and follow-up.
Ask for the breakdown in writing before the hearing, along with what happens to each item if the sale does not go your way. A lawyer who refuses to separate the two, or who announces a single figure without explaining its structure, is telling you something about the rest of the relationship.
What to remember about the lawyer
Having to go through a lawyer is not an obstacle for a foreign buyer: it is the mechanism that lets them buy without being there. It simply moves the effort. Everything that makes the purchase a good one happens upstream, in the choice of representative, the preparation of the guarantee and the figure written on the mandate. On the day of the hearing, there is nothing left to decide.
What Home Select organises for your court auction bid
Home Select searches and negotiates for the buyer, and for the buyer alone. Your property finder checks the property, the building’s documents and the calendar before you commit, and flags what deserves a question to the notaire or a clause in the offer.
Around the purchase, we introduce the partners used to buyers who live abroad: bilingual notaire, mortgage broker, lawyer, sworn translator. Each acts under their own responsibility; we keep the calendar, from the offer to the handing over of the keys.
Frequently asked questions
Can you attend the hearing without being French?
Yes, the hearing is public and nothing stops you attending. But attending does not entitle you to raise your hand: only lawyers may speak. Your presence is a matter of comfort and understanding, not of legal effect, which is why many foreign buyers do not come.
Can one lawyer bid for two clients in the same sale?
No, and it is a common-sense rule: two competing instructions in the same room would place the lawyer in a conflict of interest, since making one win means making the other lose. The question arises more often than people think at well-attended sales. Ask it at the first meeting.
What if the lawyer goes past the agreed ceiling?
The bid placed binds the buyer towards the court: it is not undone because it exceeded a private instruction. The dispute then becomes a liability matter between you and your lawyer, which is a distant consolation. Hence the value of a written, dated ceiling, and of a retainer that restates it.
Why can you not bid yourself?
Because the sale takes place before the enforcement judge, at the end of a seizure procedure. This is not an auction house, it is a court hearing. The rules of a hearing apply, including the one that says parties speak through their lawyer.
Who may place your bid, and before which court?
A lawyer admitted to the bar of the tribunal judiciaire where the sale is held. This is a precise point and it rules out many candidates: your usual lawyer in Paris cannot bid for you on a property sold in Nice unless admitted to the relevant bar.
How is the mandate given when you live abroad?
In writing, remotely, without travelling. The mandate identifies the property, the sale, the hearing, and above all it sets the maximum the lawyer is authorised to bid. It comes with identity documents and the financial guarantee the procedure requires, which must be in the lawyer’s hands before the hearing, not on the day.
What does the lawyer actually do in the room?
Listens, counts and raises a hand. Bids follow one another, and they stop once a short period passes with no new bid. The rhythm is quick, closer to a trading floor than to a property negotiation. There is no discussion, no written offer, no cooling-off period. The last to raise a hand takes the property, and takes it in its condition and on the terms of the conditions of sale: no mortgage condition, no withdrawal right, no protection against hidden defects.
Why can the ceiling not be changed during the hearing?
Because a buyer following the hearing by telephone, in another time zone, a few seconds behind what is being said, is in no state to decide. Auction fever is a documented phenomenon and it spares no one: the only effective protection is a figure settled beforehand, based on what the property is worth rather than on what other people are doing.
What happens after the hammer?
The lawyer states the identity of the person on whose behalf the bid was placed, and the file enters a phase many buyers believe is over. It is not: the title is not final while the over-bid period runs, and the price must be lodged within the set period, failing which the sale is put back in play.
What makes up the bill?
Two parts of a different nature, and they need separating before you compare two quotes. One part is tied to the procedure itself and follows a scale; the other is freely agreed between you and the lawyer, for the analysis, preparation and follow-up.
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