Written Buyer Agreements in Florida: What They Must Say Before the First Tour

Published October 10, 2026 · Recalde & Friedman, PLLC · For real estate agents

When the agreement is required

Since August 17, 2024, an MLS participant who is "working with" a buyer must have a written agreement with that buyer before the buyer tours a home. This comes from the NAR settlement practice changes, and MLSs enforce it. According to NAR's FAQs:

• "Working with" means providing services to the buyer, such as finding properties, arranging tours, negotiating or presenting offers. Talking to a buyer at an open house, or giving an unrepresented buyer access to your own listing on the seller's behalf, does not count.
• "Touring" means the buyer or the agent enters the home, including to give a live virtual tour. A "home" is a residential property with one to four units.
• It applies to transaction brokers too, including a transaction broker working with both the seller and the buyer.
• It does not apply to commercial transactions.

The four required terms

1. A specific, conspicuous disclosure of the amount or rate of compensation the broker will receive from any source, or how it will be determined.
2. That amount must be objectively ascertainable and not open-ended. A flat fee, a percentage, an hourly rate or $0 works. "Whatever the seller offers" doesn't, and neither does a range like "between X and Y percent."
3. A term that bars the broker from receiving more than the agreed amount from any source.
4. A conspicuous statement that broker fees and commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable.

The settlement doesn't set the length of the agreement, the services, the type of relationship or the fee. Those terms are negotiated. An agreement can cover one day or one property, or it can be exclusive for months.

How it fits with Florida law

A buyer agreement is not the same thing as a brokerage relationship disclosure. Florida's rules in § 475.278 still apply:

• If you'll act as a single agent, the Single Agent Notice must be given before or when the agreement for representation is signed, or before the showing, whichever comes first.
• If there's nothing in writing, you're presumed to be a transaction broker.
• For a no brokerage relationship arrangement, the statutory notice must be given before the showing.

Florida Realtors publishes buyer brokerage agreements for each relationship type, plus a Showing Agreement and a short Property Pre-Touring Agreement. Florida Realtors describes the pre-touring form as useful at the start of a relationship but not a full replacement for a more detailed agreement.

What to check before the buyer signs

• Who pays, and what happens with a shortfall. If the agreed fee is 2.5% and the seller agrees to pay 2%, is the buyer responsible for the rest? Say so plainly, and make sure the buyer can afford it at closing. Lender limits are covered in seller credits and buyer-broker compensation.
• What if the seller offers more? The broker can't keep more than the agreed amount. Decide in advance how an overage is handled in the offer, for example by asking for a smaller seller-paid amount.
• When the fee is earned: at closing only, or also if the buyer defaults?
• Term, territory and property types, along with any protection period after the agreement ends.
• Termination: how either side can end it, and what survives.
• Older agreements. NAR's FAQs say pre-August 2024 buyer agreements still in use should be amended to meet the new terms.

Hypothetical

Frequently asked questions