Selling a House or Property in Luxembourg - Luxembourg - Angloinfo (2024)

Property for sale? A general overview of the process and points to bear in mind when selling a house, apartment or land in Luxembourg...

HOW TO SELL YOUR PROPERTY

To mandate an estate agent or not?

As a property owner you can sell your property by yourself but in order to avoid any legal issues, delays or wasted time, the intervention of an estate agent is strongly recommended.

Choose an estate agent or a realtor who is licensed to work as such and who is well established in Luxembourg.

As a vendor, you have the choice between hiring the agent under an exclusive mandate or under a shared one. In both cases the commission will be the same, usually 3 % of the agreed selling price. If you have opted for a shared mandate, you are effectively mandating several agents and only the one who finds the buyer will be remunerated.

Some sellers prefer engaging the services of several agents, in the hope that the competition between them will lead to a more effective process. However, some agents may not invest as much in advertisem*nt and time if they are not certain to receive a commission. Moreover, buyers who see the same property advertised several times might conclude that the vendor is desperate to sell as quickly as possible; this could put the seller at a disadvantage.

So now here you go, alone or accompanied!

Step 1

Establish the market price of your property; leave aside any emotional attachment and treat your property as a product on the marketplace. Be aware that in Luxembourg the asking (listed) price IS the maximum price you will be able to negotiate for your property. However, if too high, the asking price will deter prospects from requesting a visit. Unfortunately, individual selling prices are not disclosed to the public, you must rely on general statistics which are published about twice a year if you have not mandated an agent.

To view the published data:

Step 2

Although it is not a popular concept in Luxembourg, home staging your property allows you to present it in the most visually pleasant manner hence attracting more prospects and reducing the opportunities to negotiate the price down.

Take professional looking pictures.

Step 3

Plan and action your marketing plan.

Based on the property type, its location and its price you will be able to establish a profile of your potential buyers. You will advertise according to whom you want to reach. You can use:

• Real estate platforms (www.immotop.lu, www.athome.lu, www.vivi.lu, …)
• Media advertisem*nt (newspapers, social networks, expat websites such as Angloinfohttps://www.angloinfo.com/luxembourg/classifieds/luxembourg-property )
• Distribution of leaflets

Also tell your network and as many people as you possibly can!

Step 4

• Organise visits.
• You must be able to answer all the questions about the building history and the utility costs.
• You must be in a position to present the Energy Pass (this document is mandatory for you to place your property on the market and the original will be attached to the Acte de Vente as it will be passed on to the next owner)
• You must present any authorisations that you have obtained if you had built any extensions, a car port, etc.

Step 5

Once you have a buyer and once you have agreed on the selling price it is important to sign a Compromis de Vente as quickly as possible. This document, although signed privately between the buyer and the vendor, seals the deal and from then on, the party which wishes to withdraw from the transaction, has to pay penalty fees of 10% of the agreed selling price to the other party. If the buyer needs a loan to finance the purchase, a so-called “suspensive” (or let-out) clause must be inserted in the contract so as to allow the simple and straight forward cancellation of the contract in case the loan is declined.

If you have mandated an estate agent, the latter will prepare the document. If you have not, you can contact a lawyer or a notary to draft the version which will be the best adapted to your situation.

Step 6

Once the Compromis is signed it can be forwarded to the notary for the preparation of the Acte de Vente. The Acte de Vente is the contract which will supersede the Compromis and which will be used to update the cadastral records.

The notary must undertake some research about the property and the parties; you should therefore expect a 4-to-6-week delay between the signing of each document. The buyer also needs a period of time to secure the written loan approval, but these two processes usually happen simultaneously.

The buyer must organise the payment for the property for the day of the signing of the Acte.

On that day, in the presence of all parties involved, the Acte de Vente is signed, and the keys are exchanged. The notary then transfers the fees, commissions and balances based on the agreed price.

• Buying Cost
• Selling a Property