Questions before signing a search mandate

A checklist for the contents

Catalan housing law (Ley 18/2007) lists what must appear in a nota de encargo, the mandate an agent signs with an owner before marketing a property. That article sets no separate list for a buyer's contract, but the same items make a good test for any search mandate.

• Who the provider is and their number in the Registre d'agents immobiliaris de Catalunya.
• Who the client is; if there are several buyers, all of them.
• How long the contract runs.
• What is being commissioned: what is searched for, where, within what budget.
• The fee and how it is paid.
• Each party's rights and obligations, including the powers you grant the provider.

Term, exclusivity, termination

Turn each term into a question the contract text answers with yes or no. If the text has no answer, it needs adding.

• Term. When the contract ends and whether it renews automatically.
• Exclusivity. Whether you may view properties on your own or with other intermediaries, and what happens if you find a home without the provider.
• Termination. How either party ends the contract and with how much notice.
• Early exit. What you pay if you end the contract before its term, and which materials you take with you.

If your objective changes

Budget, area or type of home often change during a search. Agree in advance that any change is recorded as a written addendum to the search brief. Check whether work already done is billed separately, whether the term restarts and whether the fee changes. If the objective changes completely (renting instead of buying, for example), check whether the contract covers it at all.

Which costs remain payable

Ask what stays payable in each scenario: the purchase completes, it falls through, you stop the search.

Powers and money

Write down what the provider may do on your behalf: negotiate, pass on price offers, sign. Signing documents for you requires a power of attorney; at completion the notary checks the representative's powers. How this works for buyers abroad is covered in buying as a non-resident.

Pay the deposit and the price by bank transfer to the seller's account named in the contract, and get a receipt for every amount. If money passes through an agent, Ley 18/2007 requires the agent to hold a guarantee covering it until it reaches the recipient. What to check before a deposit is covered in nota simple and arras.

Show the mandate to a lawyer before signing: interpreting unclear clauses and their consequences is the lawyer's job, not the intermediary's.

Last updated 26.10.2026.