The preliminary agreement is signed at the notary's office or at the agency, but it is prepared weeks earlier, with documents coming from two sides. The seller looks for the title deed in a binder, the buyer waits for the bank's answer, and you keep track in your head of who sent what. Here are the documents most often requested, how to split them, and how to keep a signing appointment from falling through over a missing paper.
This list is a working base, not a regulatory one: it varies with the property, the co-ownership, the parties' situation and the notary's practice. The notary drafting the deed will give you the exact list for each file, and the safest move is to ask for it at the start.
Seller side: the property and its owner
Identity and situation
- ID of each seller.
- Civil status or marital property regime documents, depending on the situation.
- Title deed, meaning the deed by which the seller became the owner.
The property's diagnostics
- The technical diagnostics required for the type of property and its location: energy performance, electricity, asbestos, floor area measurement, and others depending on the case. The list depends on the property and its construction date; check it with your diagnostician or the notary.
For a condominium unit
- The co-ownership rules.
- The minutes of the latest general meetings.
- The building's maintenance log.
- The latest service charge statements and, where relevant, voted works.
For a house or land
- Documents tied to works carried out: planning permission, declarations, invoices, certificates.
- The latest property tax bill.
If the property is rented or financed
- The lease and rent proofs, if it is occupied.
- Details of a loan to be paid off, if there is one.
Buyer side: identity and financing
- ID of each buyer and, depending on the situation, civil status documents.
- The accepted purchase offer.
- The financing plan: down payment, planned loan, and the bank's agreement in principle when there is one.
- The name of the buyer's notary, if they chose one.
Detailed proofs of income and accounts belong rather to the loan file, which the buyer builds with their bank or broker. There is no point asking for them yourself without a reason: the fewer sensitive documents you hold, the fewer you have to protect.
Why documents arrive badly
Three causes come back almost every time.
The request is a loose list. "Send me the co-ownership documents" leaves the seller guessing. Naming each document and saying where to find it ("from the managing agent, or in the building's online area") saves weeks of waiting.
The deadline is vague. A set signing date is a landmark. "As soon as possible" is not. Give the date and say why: the notary needs the documents some time before drawing up the draft deed.
Nothing shows progress. When documents travel by email, text and photo, nobody knows what is left. A shared list, with the status of each document, removes half the reminders.
Organising collection by person and by stage
Separate what belongs to the seller from what belongs to the buyer, and address each request to the person concerned. In a couple, each has their own ID; a request sent "to the file" lets each assume the other is handling it.
Then split into two or three stages: first what conditions the listing or the offer, then what the notary needs to draft the deed, finally the last proofs before signing. A short request with a deadline is handled faster than a long list.
When a document is incomplete, say precisely what is missing ("the annexes to the co-ownership rules are missing", "last year's minutes are not attached") rather than resending a generic request.
What the notary and the bank don't need to see
The notary needs the property documents and the parties' identity. They don't need to read your exchanges with the seller about pricing strategy, or your notes on the buyer. Likewise, the seller doesn't need to see the buyer's financing plan. Decide at the outset who sees what, and keep your internal notes apart from what the parties can read.
With Kolinea
Kolinea follows this organisation. A folder is opened for the property, from a template, and each side gets a document request: one line per document, an optional instruction, a deadline, a specific recipient. The seller or buyer uploads files from a link, confirmed by an email code, with no account. You accept each document or reject it with a reason, and reminders go out two days before the due date, on the day, the day after, then seven days later.
The notary can be added with limited access: they then only see the items addressed to them. The estate agents page shows a complete sale folder, whose button opens the example folder, and gathering the reports and the contract documents details the seller-side collection. To open yours, go to the home page.