Buy & sell an escort agency

An escort agency arranges companionship; as a rule it does not run a customer-facing space. What is needed is an office with phone and dispatcher workstations, secure storage for documents, and frequently additional apartments or rooms used as a base. As soon as sexual services are provided on the agency's own premises, that constitutes a prostitution establishment with all the associated requirements.

For buyers this means keeping two things cleanly separate. The property is an office or mixed residential/commercial asset judged on the usual criteria, location, layout, parking, discretion of access. The business is a brokerage operation with its own permit requirement.

Currently on offer is a detached commercial building in Villingen-Schwenningen: 576 sqm of lettable space on a 1,064 sqm freehold plot, nine rooms, seven of them with en-suite bathroom and WC, plus a Finnish sauna, an XXL whirlpool, a cold-plunge pool, a bar, a club room, a cinema room, a mirror room, a covered inner courtyard, eight parking spaces and two garage spaces. The building has been run continuously since 1991 as a naturist sauna club and prostitution establishment and is free of existing leases or tenancies. Purchase price €848,000.

Brokering sexual services is also subject to a permit requirement under the Prostitutes Protection Act: a prostitution-brokerage business needs a permit under Section 12 ProstSchG, issued to the operator and requiring a reliability check. It does not transfer to a purchaser on sale.

On top of this come duties of care in day-to-day business: working only with individuals who are registered and hold a valid registration certificate, no instructions that restrict self-determination, documented processes. Anyone taking over an existing agency should have this area checked in advance by a specialist lawyer, the greatest liability risk lies here, not in the property.

Typically transferable are the property, fittings, brand, domain, website and phone number. Not transferable are the official permit and anything tied to the previous operator personally. Customer data is subject to data protection law and may not be passed on without a legal basis.

Because a substantial part of the value lies in intangible assets, the property purchase and the business purchase belong in separate contracts with separate valuations. We do not claim or advertise turnover or booking figures; a vetted interested party sees verifiable documents during due diligence.

Enquiries come in as buy an escort agency, sell an escort agency, take over an escort service, or buy a companion agency. Most interested parties are looking for an established business complete with a suitable base, not just four walls.

We handle this segment confidentially and without public advertising. Sellers should have permit status, leases, brand and domain rights, and a clear separation of private and business assets in order. Buyers should establish early whether they will obtain their own permit, without it, everything else is worthless.