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A commercial property hunter in Paris

Shops, offices, workshops, freehold walls: the Paris commercial market is more opaque and more technical than residential. Home Select assigns you a dedicated hunter who searches, vets and negotiates for you, acting for the buyer or tenant only, with 15,000 partners, 1,700 listing sites monitored and fees paid only on success.

Describe your project Chat on WhatsApp
Shopfront of a commercial unit at street level on a Parisian shopping street
Success-only fees
Nothing is owed before completion: French law (loi Hoguet) prohibits any advance payment.
4.8/5
on Google (145 reviews)
1,200+
clients guided since 2011

Your project

Every type of premises, to buy or to lease

A retailer looking for the right pitch or wanting to own the freehold of their shop, a company that would rather own its offices than rent them, a professional practice in need of consulting rooms: in every case, Home Select works for you alone. Home Select is never instructed by a landlord or a seller on your search: no conflict of interest, and a negotiation fought entirely from your side of the table.

  1. Every type of premises

    Street-level shops, offices, workshops and light-industrial units, consulting rooms for professional practices, the freehold of your own business premises, premises to convert. Each family has rules of its own: permitted use, existing lease, public-access (ERP) compliance. Your hunter knows them and frames the search accordingly.

  2. The legal work done upfront

    The French 3-6-9 commercial lease, permitted use under planning rules, accessibility and ERP standards, pre-emption rights, recoverable charges: everything is checked before the offer, not after. That is where the most expensive mistakes in a commercial project are made. Home Select's guide to buying commercial property in Paris covers this framework in detail.

  3. The open market and off-market

    Home Select receives at least 100 off-market properties a day from its network (15,000 agents, notaires and managing agents), and its monitoring covers 1,700 listing sites continuously. For commercial premises, two further seams the portals ignore: units left vacant for months, and businesses winding down, where the best terms are negotiated.

Describe your project
Parisian Haussmann facade with wrought-iron balconies and arched windows

The Home Select method

How your search unfolds

The same method Home Select has applied to 1,200+ searches since 2011, adapted to the specifics of business premises.

  1. The brief

    Day one

    Intended use (trading, conversion), required planning designation, floor area, catchment area or district, budget, purchase or lease. This initial framing avoids viewing premises that are legally unusable for your activity. The search mandate is signed.

  2. Sourcing on all fronts

    Weeks one to three

    Specialist commercial-property portals, agencies, notaires, owners of vacant units, businesses ceasing trade, and Home Select's 15,000-partner network. A real example in the Sentier district: 12 units identified, 6 viewed, 2 feasibility studies for a design studio.

  3. Analysis and feasibility

    Ongoing

    A pre-visit of every serious lead, then a full review: permitted use under the planning code, ERP and accessibility compliance, the existing lease where there is a sitting tenant, charges, works required. Risky premises are ruled out before you travel, as on this search for a former workshop near the Canal Saint-Martin.

  4. Negotiation and completion

    Through to signing

    An offer argued on documented levers (vacancy, works, price references), protective clauses, clearance of pre-emption rights, review of the preliminary contract or the lease, support through to completion at the notaire or signature of the lease. On its two latest published commercial missions, Home Select negotiated 8.9% and 10% off the asking price.

Where it is won

Why commercial projects fail, and what your hunter checks

With business premises, the mistake is almost never in the asking price: it is in the document nobody read, which made the project impossible or expensive.

What sinks a project

  • Finding out after the offer that the permitted use does not cover your activity
  • Underestimating ERP and accessibility compliance, costed only after the fact
  • Signing a 3-6-9 lease without negotiating rent, indexation, charges or deposit
  • Paying the asking price for lack of references on a market more opaque than residential
  • Overlooking a pre-emption right or a protected-retail zone, and losing months

What your hunter does

  • Checks permitted use and the feasibility of your project before any offer
  • Has works and compliance costed before negotiating, not after
  • Reads and negotiates every lease clause: rent, indexation, charges, deposit
  • Works from real prices: in Paris, commercial freeholds trade at €5,000 to €25,000 per m² depending on location
  • Secures pre-emption clearance, conditions precedent and the timetable through to signing

Two mandates

Buying or leasing

The same hunting work in both cases: only the outcome differs, a deed of sale on one side, a commercial or professional lease on the other.

Buying or leasing
Buying Freeholds, offices, premises Leasing Commercial or professional lease
Brief and search strategy Included Included
Sourcing on all fronts, off-market included Included Included
Legal review (permitted use, ERP, lease) Included Included
Pre-visits and accompanied viewings Included Included
Negotiation of terms and clauses Price and contract Rent and lease
Support through to signing Deed of sale Lease signature
  • No upfront costs (loi Hoguet)
  • Fees due only on success

For a purchase, Home Select charges 2.5% of the net purchase price, minimum €10,000 incl. VAT, due at completion. For a lease search, the fee is set out in the mandate before any commitment. See Home Select's fees in full.

They searched with Home Select

Client testimonials

  • Through her energy and professionalism, Sophie enabled us to quickly complete a successful commercial rental project. The properties she put forward matched our requirements, and her advice helped us negotiate successfully.

    K A.Google review

  • A very capable hunter, attentive and dedicated to her work. This allowed me to quickly find a superb place, with excellent follow-up. I highly recommend Home Select

    Michel L.PagesJaunes review

  • Without hesitation, I recommend Home Select and our "hunter" at Home Select: available, knowledgeable, patient, full of good advice, with a good network, there at every stage of the project.

    Thomas T.PagesJaunes review

Your questions on commercial premises

What does a property hunter do for commercial premises in Paris?

The hunter runs the search on your behalf, acting for the buyer or tenant only: the brief (use, planning designation, floor area, catchment area), sourcing across the whole market including off-market, legal and technical review of each unit (permitted use, ERP compliance, existing lease), pre-visits, negotiation of the price or rent and of the clauses, then support through to the deed of sale or the lease. Home Select, a buyer's-side property hunter in Paris since 2011, has a hunter dedicated to commercial and business premises.

How much does a commercial property hunter cost in Paris?

For a purchase, Home Select charges 2.5% of the net purchase price, minimum €10,000 incl. VAT, only on success at completion: French law (loi Hoguet) prohibits any advance. For a lease search, the fee is also success-only and set out in the mandate before any commitment.

What types of premises do you search for?

Every type of business premises: street-level shops, offices, workshops and light-industrial units, consulting rooms for professional practices, retail arcades, the freehold of your own shop, premises to convert. Home Select covers the same territory as for all its searches: the 20 arrondissements of Paris and 68 communes of the Île-de-France region.

How much do commercial premises cost in Paris in 2026?

Commercial freeholds trade between €5,000 and €25,000 per m² depending on location, condition and the activities allowed. In some districts, a street-level unit costs 30 to 55% less than a flat in the same area: that is what often makes buying your own offices more attractive than renting them.

Do you find off-market premises?

Yes. Home Select, a property hunter in Paris, receives at least 100 off-market properties a day from its network (15,000 agents, notaires and managing agents), and its monitoring covers 1,700 listing sites continuously. Commercial premises add two seams of their own, absent from the portals: units vacant for months, whose owners carry charges and property tax at a loss, and businesses ceasing trade, where private negotiation is the rule.

Can commercial premises be converted into offices or a home?

Yes, under conditions. Converting a shop into offices requires a prior declaration of change of use, generally accepted in central Paris, with a one-to-two-month review period. Conversion into housing is far more tightly controlled and may require compensation. Home Select has supported both cases: a Sentier unit turned into offices for a design studio, and a former workshop in the 10th arrondissement turned into a loft, whose change of use had already been secured.

Do you also handle commercial lease searches?

Yes. A lease search covers sourcing the premises, reviewing the French 3-6-9 commercial lease or professional lease (term, indexation, allocation of charges, deposit, works), negotiating the terms and supporting you through to signature. In Paris, a commercial lease commits you for a minimum of nine years, with a tenant break option every three years: every clause weighs on the whole term.

Should you buy the walls or the business (fonds de commerce)?

They are two distinct transactions. Buying the walls means buying the property itself: you become the owner of the premises, which is exactly the scope of Home Select's search mandate. Buying a fonds de commerce means buying a trading business (clientele, brand, leasehold rights): a business transfer, which Home Select does not handle directly. If your project combines both, Home Select searches for the walls and coordinates with your advisers on the business side.
Haussmann corner building in cut stone with wrought-iron balconies and a zinc roof in Paris

Delegate the search for your premises

Jean Mascla, founder of Home Select Chat on WhatsApp

Home Select puts a hunter dedicated to commercial and business premises at your service, with its 15,000-partner network and success-only fees. Reply within 24 hours.

Describe your project