When I published my article last June about NAR’s huge legal settlement, I mentioned in the article the danger that I thought existed if commercial brokers just assumed that the new requirement to now have signed Buyer-Agency Agreements in place, only applied to agents who were selling homes. And since then, when I’ve been checking in with commercial brokers on this subject, they have, for the most part, told me that both their companies and their companies’ legal counsel have pretty much given them a big fat yawn on this one, and they didn’t believe that any changes would be necessary in commercial real estate brokerage transactions, because of this new NAR requirement.
Well, beginning now this year in 2025, California is requiring that signed Buyer-Agency Agreements must now be in place for all commercial real estate sale transactions, too, whenever a broker is representing a buyer, and with this in mind, I would keep track of any requirements that may be coming your way within your own state, requiring you to do the same, too.
So with this in mind, AIR CRE has designed two new individual forms for this purpose, this one for representing buyers on an exclusive basis, and this one for representing buyers on a non-exclusive basis.
In addition, as I’ve previously mentioned, if you ever get sued and dragged into the courtroom because of disagreements stemming from a commercial real estate transaction, do you really want to tell the judge and jury that you didn’t have a signed Buyer-Agency Agreement in place, because you believed that the NAR legal settlement, and the requirement to now have these signed Buyer-Agency Agreements in place, didn’t apply to commercial real estate transactions? Even if the lawsuit isn’t specifically regarding your commission, opposing legal counsel could utilize this to paint a picture of you as being a reckless and negligent broker.
So with this in mind, I have to believe that a judge and jury might consider this to be arrogant and elitist, too, if you assume that a new requirement dictated by the nation’s leading authority on rules, regulations, and ethics for real estate brokers and agents, does not apply to you.
So just as with everything else that applies for both successfully negotiating and closing commercial real estate transactions within your business, you’ll want to get out ahead of the pack, and protect yourself in advance on this one.
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