Without this document, you cannot buy real estate, but it does not have legal power.

Property owners need confidence in the solvency of potential buyers. To do so, they require a document that is not a guarantee. A document that has no value but has become indispensable in real estate.

Due to inflation, the real estate market has been in a vise for many months. “On the one hand, banks are refusing to lend money, and on the other hand, families with reduced purchasing power are finding it difficult to buy,” states Emmanuel de la Boilerie, head of the real estate agency Imkiz.

As a result, between November 2022 and January 2023, real estate loan issuance fell by 41.9%. Therefore, the government and the Bank of France decided to put out the fire and launched a policy of increasing the marginal interest rate, i.e. the maximum legal interest rate that banks can apply when granting a loan.

However, it's not only buyers who have become concerned, but also sellers facing ever-higher interest rates. After all, who guarantees them that potential buyers have enough money to pay the bill? Now, before visiting an apartment or house, those wishing to become property owners must provide a “certificate of financing.” “A mention that a 'financing plan will be requested before viewing' appears on many estate agency websites,” confirms Yann Jeannot. According to the president of the Laforêt real estate network, most sellers refuse to put their property on the market if the listing does not require a financing certificate.

As a reminder, this document contains the following information:

• Maximum amount of financing provided by the bank
• Maximum amount of own contribution offered by a potential buyer
• Date of issue of the certificate
• Personal data of the potential buyer

However, many buyers or sellers forget that a certificate of financing does not actually have legal value. Specifically, it is not a bank's commitment to a person's ability to pay, but simply a document indicating their theoretical ability to obtain a loan at a certain point in time.