Real estate brokerage or listing agreement template
Sale or letting engagement, exclusive or not, offers, commission, protection period, conflicts of interest and licence. A sample contract you can read in full, edit in QuoteBill and sign online with a secure link.
Sample — review with a lawyer · Simple electronic signature with an audit trail
Who it is for
For an owner who wants a broker to sell or let a property, and the broker, when both want the type of engagement, commission, term, protection period and duties settled in writing first.
Real estate brokers are licensed in many places, and rules on commission, written form, who may be charged and exclusive engagements differ by country and take precedence over this sample.
What it covers
14 clauses, in this order. Each one is in the sample text below, and you can edit, remove or add clauses before you send.
1. Purpose
What the agreement is for: the Client engages the Broker to find a buyer or tenant for the property. It is not itself a sale or a letting.
2. Property and the Client’s right to deal
Blanks for the property and the asking price. The Client confirms it may sell or let, tells the Broker about rights, defects and disputes it knows of, and answers for what it says.
3. Type of engagement
You choose exclusive or non-exclusive. If exclusive, no other broker is engaged during the term. A choice says whether commission is due if the Client finds the counterparty itself, as far as the law allows.
4. Broker’s services
Advertising, showings, forwarding every offer, general market views and help up to signing and handover. The Broker describes the property truthfully and gives no legal, tax or financial advice.
5. Price and offers
The Client decides on price and offers. The Broker cannot bind the Client, accept an offer or take a deposit unless the Client authorises it in writing or electronically.
6. Commission
The commission comes from the price schedule or a blank, and choices say who pays and when it is earned. Nothing is due if no contract results. Legal limits on commission override this clause.
7. Marketing costs
The Broker bears its own advertising costs. Extra services such as photos or certificates are paid by the party named in a blank, and only after the Client approves them.
8. Term and protection period
A set term in months, then ending or monthly extension. If a person the Broker introduced signs within a set period after the end, the commission is due, as far as the law allows.
9. Conflicts of interest
The Broker discloses any personal interest or work for the other side, acts for both sides only with the Client’s consent and takes no payment from others without the Client’s agreement.
10. Licence and professional duties
The Broker confirms the licence or registration the law requires, keeps it in force, tells the Client if it is lost and follows the duties the law puts on brokers.
11. Data and confidentiality
Personal data is used only for the engagement and legal duties and handled as the law requires. The Broker does not reveal the lowest acceptable price, and each side keeps the other’s information confidential.
12. Termination
A non-exclusive engagement can be ended at any time and an exclusive one on a set number of days’ notice. A serious breach not put right allows immediate ending. Commission already earned stays due.
13. Liability
The Broker answers for its own advice and performance, not for the counterparty, the property’s condition or information it passed on in good faith. Its liability is capped, with the usual exceptions.
14. Governing law and disputes
The law you name applies. The sides first try to settle a dispute in good faith, and otherwise the courts you name decide.
A price schedule is optional: add one if you want the amounts in a table, or write the agreed amount into the payment clause.
The sample text
The whole sample, as QuoteBill starts it. Text in double square brackets, like [[10]], is a blank to fill in or check. A figure or time such as [[10]] that you leave as it is is used as shown when you send; a blank that needs your own words must be filled first. The clause text is written in English, Korean, Japanese and German; in other languages a contract starts in English for you to translate.
Read the sample text
Real Estate Brokerage Agreement
Parties: Client · Broker
1. Purpose
This agreement sets out the terms on which the Client engages the Broker to find a [[buyer / tenant]] for the property described below, and what each party must do. It is not itself a contract of sale or of letting.
2. Property and the Client’s right to deal
Property: [[Address and description of the property]]
Asking price or rent: [[Asking price or rent and currency]]
The Client confirms that it owns the property or is entitled to sell or let it, and that it has any consent that is needed from co-owners, lenders or the building association.
The Client tells the Broker about any mortgage, lease, right of others, defect, dispute or planned work affecting the property that it knows of, gives the Broker the documents it asks for, such as proof of ownership, plans and certificates, and tells it at once of any change. The Client is responsible for the accuracy of what it tells the Broker.
3. Type of engagement
The engagement is [[exclusive / non-exclusive]]. If it is exclusive, the Client does not engage another broker for the property during the term and tells the Broker of enquiries it receives itself. If it is non-exclusive, the Client may engage other brokers.
If the Client finds the buyer or tenant itself, the Broker’s commission is [[due / not due]], as far as the law that applies allows. This clause is not meant to go beyond what the law that applies permits for brokerage agreements.
4. Broker’s services
The Broker advertises the property, shows it to interested persons, gives them the information the Client has approved, forwards every offer to the Client without delay, advises the Client on the market in general and helps with the steps up to the signing of the contract and the handover.
The Broker acts with reasonable care and skill and describes the property truthfully and without misleading statements. It does not give legal, tax or financial advice, and each party takes its own advice on those matters.
5. Price and offers
The Client decides on the price, on the terms and on which offer to accept. The Broker has no authority to bind the Client, to accept an offer or to receive a deposit or other money for it, unless the Client authorises it in writing or in electronic form. On request the Broker gives the Client its view of the price and of any offer.
6. Commission
The commission payable to the Broker is shown in the price schedule of this contract or, if there is none, is [[Commission amount or percentage]]. It is paid by [[the Client / the other party / both parties, as stated here: split]] and excludes tax unless stated otherwise.
The commission is earned when [[the contract of sale or letting is signed / the sale or letting is completed]] as a result of the Broker’s work. No commission is due if no contract results during the term or the protection period.
Limits that the law that applies puts on the amount of a broker’s commission, on who may be charged it and on when it is earned apply and take precedence over this clause.
7. Marketing costs
The Broker bears its own costs of advertising and showing the property. The costs of extra services that the Client asks for, such as professional photographs, an energy or condition certificate or paid advertisements, are paid by [[the Client / the Broker]], and only after the Client has approved them: [[Extra costs approved, or none]]
8. Term and protection period
The engagement runs for [[3]] months from the effective date. It then [[ends / is extended month by month until either party ends it]].
If, within [[3]] months after the engagement ends, the Client signs a contract with a person whom the Broker introduced during the term and named to the Client in writing or in electronic form, the commission is due as if the contract had been signed during the term, as far as the law that applies allows.
9. Conflicts of interest
The Broker tells the Client without delay if it, or a person close to it, has a personal interest in the property or in the transaction, or if it also acts for the other party. It acts for both parties only with the Client’s knowledge and consent. The Broker takes no payment or benefit from the other party or from third parties in connection with the transaction unless the Client knows about it and agrees.
10. Licence and professional duties
The Broker confirms that it holds the licence, registration or membership that the law that applies requires to act as a real estate broker: [[Licence or registration number, or none required]]
It keeps it in force during the term, tells the Client at once if it is lost, and follows the duties that the law that applies puts on brokers, such as keeping records and giving the information it must give.
11. Data and confidentiality
The Broker uses the personal data of the Client and of interested persons only for this engagement and to meet legal duties, shares it only with persons who need it for that purpose and handles it as the law that applies to it requires. It does not tell interested persons the lowest price the Client would accept or other confidential information. Each party keeps the other’s non-public information confidential.
12. Termination
The Client may end a non-exclusive engagement at any time by notice in writing or in electronic form. An exclusive engagement may be ended on [[30]] days’ notice. Either party may end the engagement at once if the other party seriously breaches it and does not remedy the breach within [[14]] days of being asked to.
Ending the engagement does not affect commission that is already due or that is due under the protection period.
13. Liability
The Broker is responsible for its own advice and for the proper performance of its services. It is not liable for the other party’s performance of the contract that results, for the condition of the property or for statements of the Client that it passes on in good faith. The Client is responsible for what it tells the Broker.
Except for intent, gross negligence, personal injury or where the law does not allow a limitation, the Broker’s total liability under this agreement is limited to [[the commission / Amount]].
14. Governing law and disputes
This agreement is governed by the law stated under Governing law. The parties will first try to settle any dispute in good faith. Otherwise the courts stated under Jurisdiction decide, unless mandatory law provides otherwise.
Payment terms
The commission is payable within [[14]] days of the event that makes it due and of receiving the invoice, by bank transfer to the account stated on the invoice.
Governing law
[[Country or state whose law applies]]
Jurisdiction
[[Courts that decide disputes, e.g. the courts of your city]]
How to use it
Choose the template
Press the button to use this template. If you are not signed in, you first sign in or sign up for free and then come straight back to it.
Start a draft
The new-contract page opens with this template marked. Press its card to create a draft. Your company details fill in Party A, and you fill in the blanks, the other party and, where the template has one, the price schedule.
Send it for signature
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Next steps
Your client opens the link on any device and needs no account. See what the signing looks like on the E-Contracts page, and read which kind of electronic signature is enough for which document.
Already signed? Make the invoice from the signed contract: the parties and the price lines carry over, in full or for a deposit. The guide on turning a quotation into an invoice shows how to review the new draft, its dates and the PDF.
What it is, and what it is not
QuoteBill creates a simple electronic signature with an audit trail. In the EU, the UK, the US and Korea a signature is not denied legal effect only because it is electronic, and in Japan most contracts need no particular form at all. What a simple electronic signature proves in a dispute depends on the evidence behind it, and some documents need another form.
It is not a qualified or advanced electronic signature, and QuoteBill does not verify who the signers are. It records the use of the link and access code you delivered, so anyone who has both can sign. The signature certificate lists every link issued and, for each action by the sender or a signer, its IP address and browser where they could be read.
Some documents need another form. Wills, many real-estate transfers, guarantees and some employment documents must, in some countries, be handwritten, notarised or signed with a qualified signature. The templates are samples, not legal advice: review them with a lawyer.
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