Written Buyer Agreements Not Required for Commercial Transactions

As the industry navigates practice changes resulting from the National Association of REALTORS®’ proposed settlement agreement, you may be wondering how the new rules apply to your commercial real estate business.

Q: Does the requirement to use a written agreement before showings apply to commercial transactions?

A: No. The settlement and the practice changes it requires are focused on residential transactions, not commercial transactions or leases. And if a commercial broker who is a REALTOR® has access to an MLS, but is showing a property on a CIE or another platform that is not associated with an MLS, the requirement to use a written agreement does not apply for that property.