
Electronic signature for real estate
Tenancy agreement, sales or management mandate, preliminary sales agreement, inventory of fixtures, joint-and-several surety: digitise every file with a platform compliant with the ALUR, ELAN and SRU Acts. Integrates with Hektor, AC3, SPI and Immo-Facile. Ten-year archiving included, probative-value audit trail.

Real estate use cases
Every document in the life of an estate agency or property management firm can be signed electronically on Certyneo, from transactions to rental management.
Tenancy agreement
Furnished or unfurnished lease, under the Civil Code or the Act of 6 July 1989: send the agreement for electronic signature by the landlord, the tenant and, where applicable, the guarantor. All mandatory annexes (energy performance certificate, risks, inventory of fixtures) can be included.
Inventory of fixtures (move-in and move-out)
Remote signing or on-site signing from a tablet: the joint inventory is signed by both parties, archived and automatically linked to the original lease.
Sales mandate
Simple or exclusive mandate, with or without a right of pre-emption: send it to the seller, collect their advanced electronic signature (AES) and archive for ten years in line with the Hoguet Act.
Rental management mandate
Multi-year management mandate signed by the owner, with delegation of authority clearly framed. Automatic reminders for renewals before they expire.
Preliminary sales agreement
Preliminary agreement signed remotely by buyer and seller, with the deposit stated and the SRU 10-day withdrawal period automatically timestamped in the audit trail.
Joint-and-several surety deed
Surety commitment signed by the guarantor with the legal handwritten statements (Article 22-1 of the 1989 Act) converted into electronic signed fields and recorded in the audit trail.
Why Certyneo for real estate
Six concrete benefits for your transaction, management and property administration teams.
File closed in 48 hours
Instead of several rounds of post or face-to-face appointments, the full file (lease, surety, inventory of fixtures, annexes) is signed by every party in 24 to 48 hours.
Lower logistics costs
No more printing, registered post, scanning or travel expenses. According to FNAIM studies, digitisation saves between €15 and €30 per tenancy file.
Mobile-optimised signing
Your tenants and buyers sign from their phone in two minutes, with no app to download. Accessible, reassuring journey available in multiple languages.
Enhanced probative value
Advanced signatures (AES) compliant with eIDAS: dual OTP email + SMS identification, timestamped audit trail, evidence admissible before every court.
Ten-year archiving included
All your mandates, leases and preliminary agreements are archived for ten years with probative value, in line with the retention obligations of the real estate professions.
Smart multi-signer orchestration
Two tenants sharing a flat, a landlord and their agent, a joint-and-several surety: Certyneo orchestrates every signer (in sequence or in parallel) with automatic reminders.
Time saved per file
In real estate, the time lost between proposing a property and the actual signature translates directly into missed revenue: drop-outs, rentals that fall through, preliminary agreements that drag on. According to industry studies, electronic signatures deliver:
- -70% administrative time per tenancy file, according to FNAIM studies on digitisation.
- €15 to €30 saved per file on logistics costs (printing, registered post, scans, travel).
- Drop-out rate halved thanks to the speed of signing — less waiting means fewer chances for another property to snap up the tenant or buyer.
You can estimate your ROI precisely with our free calculator in two minutes.
Integrations with your business software
Certyneo connects to the agency and property management software most widely used in France.
Hektor
Transaction software popular with independent agencies: export files through the API or CSV, then send in bulk from Certyneo with real-time signature status tracking.
AC3 & Apimo
Multi-agency solutions: Certyneo connects through our REST API and webhooks to push signature statuses straight onto the property or tenant record.
SPI (Imovia/Crypto)
Software dedicated to property management: Zapier or Make connector for sending management mandates, leases and inventories of fixtures.
Immo-Facile
French agency CRM: integration through webhooks to trigger automatic sending when a file reaches the "ready to sign" status.
Your software is not listed? The Certyneo API (documented at our API documentation) lets you integrate it in a few hours. Contact us.
ALUR, ELAN, SRU and Hoguet compliance
Electronic signatures in real estate fit into a precise legal framework. Certyneo covers every applicable statute.
Act of 6 July 1989 & ALUR Act
The ALUR Act (2014) and its implementing decrees govern the content of the tenancy agreement and its annexes (energy performance certificate, risk assessment, information notice). Every mandatory document can be bundled into the same Certyneo envelope for simultaneous signing.
ELAN Act (2018)
The ELAN Act explicitly recognised the validity of electronic private deeds in real estate and encouraged digitising the landlord-tenant relationship. Certyneo covers the whole lease lifecycle (signing, amendments, renewal, termination).
SRU Act — withdrawal period
For the preliminary sales agreement on a residential property, the 10-day withdrawal period (Article L271-1 of the French Construction and Housing Code) starts from the first presentation of the signed document. Certyneo timestamps this date precisely and exports the evidence in the event of a dispute.
Hoguet Act & Civil Code
The Hoguet Act requires mandates to be retained for ten years. Our plans include this probative-value archiving by default. Article 1367 of the Civil Code recognises electronic signatures as equivalent to handwritten signatures.
Frequently asked questions in real estate
Is an electronically signed tenancy agreement legal in France?
Yes, without any ambiguity. The ELAN Act (2018) explicitly confirmed the validity of electronic leases, and Article 1367 of the Civil Code recognises electronic signatures as equivalent to handwritten signatures. Mandatory annexes (energy performance certificate, risk assessment, notice) can also be signed electronically.
How do we honour the SRU 10-day withdrawal period on a preliminary agreement?
Certyneo timestamps precisely the date on which both parties sign the preliminary agreement. The 10 calendar-day period (Article L271-1 of the French Construction and Housing Code) starts from that date. You can export the signature certificate with a qualified timestamp at any time to prove when the period began.
Can the handwritten statements of the joint-and-several surety be produced electronically?
Yes. French case law accepts that the handwritten statements required by Article 22-1 of the 1989 Act can be typed and signed electronically, provided the guarantor actually reproduces them (no pre-filled copy-paste). Certyneo offers a mandatory entry field with validation and timestamping.
Can two people sign an inventory of fixtures at the same place?
Yes. Certyneo offers an "in-person signing" mode: both parties sign successively from the same tablet or smartphone during the visit, with strong identification (SMS OTP) for each. The audit trail retains the timestamp and the geolocated IP.
Is Certyneo compatible with Hektor, AC3, SPI, Immo-Facile?
Yes, through several integration channels: direct REST API, webhooks to push signature statuses, and Zapier/Make connectors covering these platforms. Our integrations team can also support a bespoke rollout tailored to your stack.
How long are signed leases and mandates archived?
Our plans include ten-year probative-value archiving, which matches the Hoguet Act retention obligation for mandates and the usual durations for tenancy agreements. Documents remain downloadable at any time from your dashboard.
How much does Certyneo cost for a real estate agency?
Our pricing starts with a free tier to trial the service. Paid tiers are based on the volume of envelopes sent per month, with bands designed for agencies (5, 20, 100 files per month). See our /pricing page for details.
Can several documents be signed in a single envelope?
Yes. A Certyneo envelope can contain several PDFs (lease + energy performance certificate + risk assessment + surety). The signer walks through them in a single flow, signs once at the end, and the audit trail covers the entire package.
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