An agent forwards a client’s contact to a colleague in another state, the way she’s done a dozen times before. This time, though, she can’t just point to the MLS to estimate what her colleague stands to earn. That number isn’t posted there anymore. She has to ask directly, in writing, before the referral fee gets negotiated at all.
That shift traces back to one settlement. In 2024, the National Association of Realtors resolved a set of federal antitrust lawsuits over how buyer-agent commissions got set and disclosed. The changes took effect August 17, 2024, and they touched almost every buyer-side transaction in the country (National Association of Realtors, NAR Settlement FAQs, retrieved 2026-07-07). This post covers what the settlement actually did, what it left untouched, and specifically how it reshaped referral agreements between agents.
Key Takeaways
- Effective August 17, 2024, the NAR settlement barred publishing buyer-broker compensation offers on the MLS and required a written buyer agreement before a home tour.
- The settlement did not ban referral fees between agents or brokers. RESPA still permits agent-to-agent referral fees under Section 8(c), a separate carve-out from its ban on settlement-service kickbacks.
- Compensation terms that used to be visible on the MLS now live in private written agreements, which means referral agreements need their own explicit fee language instead of a public reference point.
- A separate November 2025 push to require broker-to-broker referral fee disclosure passed NAR’s Board of Directors but failed the Delegate Body’s two-thirds threshold, so it never became a national rule.
What Did the 2024 NAR Settlement Actually Change?
NAR settled the Sitzer/Burnett and Moehrl antitrust cases in March 2024 for $418 million, paid out over roughly four years, following a jury verdict against NAR and several large brokerages the prior October (National Association of Realtors, Judge Approves NAR Settlement in Sitzer/Burnett Case, retrieved 2026-07-07). The settlement received final court approval in November 2024, and its practice changes had already taken effect that August.
Two rule changes matter most. First, MLS Participants can no longer publish an offer of buyer-broker compensation on the MLS itself. Second, a buyer’s agent must sign a written buyer representation agreement with the client before that client tours a home, whether in person or via a live virtual showing (National Association of Realtors, NAR Settlement FAQs, retrieved 2026-07-07). Neither rule bans compensation. Both rules move where and how that compensation gets documented.
Why Did the MLS Compensation Ban Happen in the First Place?
The plaintiffs argued that publishing buyer-broker compensation offers on the MLS propped up commission rates industry-wide, since sellers effectively set the buyer-agent’s pay and few buyers negotiated it. Once that offer sat in a shared database every participating broker could see, it functioned less like a private negotiation and more like a posted price. Removing it from the MLS was the settlement’s central structural fix.
Under the new rule, offers of compensation can still happen. They just can’t run through the MLS. A listing broker can still offer to pay a buyer’s agent; that conversation now happens off the shared database, through direct outreach, brokerage-to-brokerage calls, or other channels a buyer’s agent has to actively pursue (National Association of Realtors, NAR Settlement FAQs, retrieved 2026-07-07). Buyers, meanwhile, negotiate their own agent’s compensation directly, spelled out in the written agreement rather than assumed from a seller-side posting.
Does the Written Buyer Agreement Requirement Affect Referrals?
Yes, directly. Before a buyer’s agent can show that referred client a single property, a signed agreement specifying the agent’s compensation terms has to already exist. NAR’s own guidance requires that agreement to state a specific, objectively ascertainable rate or amount, not an open-ended figure to be worked out later (National Association of Realtors, NAR Settlement FAQs, retrieved 2026-07-07).
That timing sequence changes how a referral has to be structured. A referring agent handing off a client now needs the receiving agent to have that buyer agreement signed and specific before any showings start. Sending a referral and waiting to sort out compensation details later isn’t compatible with a rule that puts the paperwork first.
Agents building referral relationships through MezAgent after the settlement took effect kept describing the same adjustment. It wasn’t the referral percentage that changed. It was needing to confirm, in writing, what the receiving agent’s buyer agreement actually specified before assuming a deal would close on familiar terms.
For example: an agent in Ohio refers a relocating client to a colleague in Texas. Before the settlement, the Texas agent could point to the MLS listing’s buyer-broker offer as a rough baseline for what she’d earn, and structure the referral split around that number. Now she has to negotiate her own compensation with the client directly, in writing, before the referral relationship produces any usable figure to split at all.
Did the Settlement Ban Referral Fees Between Agents?
No. Referral fees paid between licensed agents or brokers were not part of what the settlement addressed, and they remain a fully separate arrangement from buyer-broker compensation. NAR’s settlement FAQ page does not list referral fees among the practices it restricts (National Association of Realtors, NAR Settlement FAQs, retrieved 2026-07-07). The lawsuits targeted how buyer-broker commission got set and publicized, not what one broker pays another for sending a client their way.
This is a common point of confusion. Agents hear “commission lawsuit” and assume every commission-adjacent arrangement got touched, including their own referral splits. It didn’t. A referral fee for handing off a client and a buyer-broker commission for representing that client through closing are two different payments, negotiated between different parties, and the settlement only reached one of them.
Is a Referral Fee Between Agents Still Legal Under RESPA?
Yes. RESPA’s Section 8 restricts kickbacks tied to referrals of mortgage settlement services, not commission splits between licensed real estate agents. Section 8(c) contains a specific exception permitting cooperative brokerage arrangements, including referral fees paid between licensed real estate professionals (Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, 12 CFR § 1024.14, retrieved 2026-07-07).
Agents sometimes conflate the two rules because both involve the word “referral” and both involve money changing hands. The distinction is where that money originates and what it’s paying for. RESPA targets payments for steering a client toward a specific lender, title company, or appraiser tied to a federally related mortgage loan. A broker-to-broker referral fee, documented in writing and routed through each agent’s brokerage, sits in a different category entirely, one the NAR settlement never restricted either.
What Happened to Referral Fee Disclosure After the Settlement?
Separately from the settlement, NAR considered whether Realtors should have to disclose referral fees to their own clients, not just to the other agent involved. In November 2025, NAR’s Board of Directors approved a Code of Ethics amendment to Article 6 requiring that disclosure, passing with an 83.5% board vote in favor (Inman, Realtors Reject Proposal to Require Disclosure of More Referral Fees, retrieved 2026-07-07).
That approval didn’t stick. Code of Ethics amendments need a two-thirds supermajority from NAR’s Delegate Body, the local association representatives who vote on rule changes. The Delegate Body’s vote landed at 66.3%, just short of the 66.7% threshold required, and the amendment failed hours after the board had approved it (HousingWire, NAR Delegates Reject Referral Fee Disclosure Rule, retrieved 2026-07-07).
The gap between an 83.5% board vote and a failed delegate vote says something about how referral fee transparency splits the industry. Leadership wanted the disclosure rule. The delegates closest to day-to-day brokerage practice, where referral relationships get negotiated informally, didn’t clear the higher bar required to bind everyone to it nationally.
Some state and local Realtor associations have moved toward their own referral fee disclosure standards anyway, independent of the failed national vote. A few brokerages have added disclosure language to their own referral paperwork as a matter of internal policy, regardless of what NAR requires. The Real Referral Fee Percentage in Real Estate for 2026.
How Should Referral Agreements Be Written Now?
Referral agreements written after August 2024 need to state their own compensation terms explicitly, rather than assuming a market-standard figure everyone could once see on the MLS. That means naming the referral fee percentage, specifying whether it’s calculated on gross or net commission, and setting a closing deadline, all inside the same document.
It also means confirming, before the referral goes out, that the receiving agent already has a signed, compliant buyer agreement in place with specific compensation terms. A referral sent into a transaction where that paperwork isn’t settled risks a dispute over what number the referral fee should even be calculated against. How Real Estate Agents Get Paid for Referring Clients They Can’t Serve.
A Timeline of the Settlement’s Key Dates
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| October 2023 | Jury verdict against NAR and co-defendants in Sitzer/Burnett |
| March 2024 | NAR announces $418 million settlement agreement |
| August 17, 2024 | Practice changes take effect: MLS compensation ban, written buyer agreements required |
| November 2024 | Federal court grants final settlement approval |
| November 2025 | Board approves referral fee disclosure amendment (83.5%); Delegate Body rejects it (66.3%, below the 66.7% threshold) |
Frequently Asked Questions
When did the NAR settlement take effect?
The settlement’s practice changes took effect August 17, 2024. NAR announced the underlying $418 million settlement in March 2024, and a federal court granted final approval in November 2024, after the practice changes were already in place nationwide.
Did the NAR settlement ban referral fees between real estate agents?
No. The settlement addressed buyer-broker compensation disclosure and MLS practices, not fees paid between agents for referring clients. Referral fees between licensed agents remain legal and were never part of the settlement’s restrictions.
Can buyer-broker compensation still be posted on the MLS?
No. Since August 17, 2024, MLS Participants cannot publish offers of buyer-broker compensation on the MLS. Compensation is negotiated privately instead, through a written buyer representation agreement or direct communication between brokerages off the MLS platform.
Does RESPA prohibit agent-to-agent referral fees?
No. RESPA Section 8(c) specifically permits referral fees between licensed real estate agents. RESPA’s anti-kickback rules target referrals of mortgage settlement services, like payments tied to lenders or title companies, which is a separate category from a broker-to-broker referral commission.
Do Realtors have to disclose referral fees to clients now?
Not as a national rule. NAR’s Board of Directors approved a disclosure requirement in November 2025, but the Delegate Body’s vote fell short of the two-thirds threshold needed to amend the Code of Ethics, so the rule never took effect. Some state associations and brokerages have adopted their own disclosure standards independently.
The Bottom Line
The 2024 NAR settlement changed where buyer-broker compensation lives, not whether referral fees are legal. Compensation moved off the MLS and into written, specific agreements negotiated before a buyer ever tours a home. Referral fees between agents were never part of that fight, and RESPA’s carve-out for them hasn’t moved either. What has changed is the paperwork discipline referral agreements now need, since the public reference point agents used to lean on is gone.
A separate push to force referral fee disclosure to clients failed at the national level in late 2025, though the debate hasn’t disappeared from state associations. Agents structuring referral agreements today should write their own compensation terms explicitly rather than assume anyone can look them up. Real Estate Referral Commissions: How Agents Get Paid for Property Introductions.
Sources
- National Association of Realtors, “NAR Settlement FAQs,” 2024, retrieved 2026-07-07. https://www.nar.realtor/the-facts/nar-settlement-faqs
- National Association of Realtors, “Judge Approves NAR Settlement in Sitzer/Burnett Case,” November 2024, retrieved 2026-07-07. https://www.nar.realtor/magazine/real-estate-news/judge-approves-nar-settlement-in-sitzer-burnett-case
- Inman, “Realtors Reject Proposal to Require Disclosure of More Referral Fees,” November 2025, retrieved 2026-07-07. https://www.inman.com/2025/11/17/realtors-reject-proposal-to-require-disclosure-of-more-referral-fees/
- HousingWire, “Transparency Not Today: NAR Delegates Reject Referral Fee Disclosure Rule,” November 2025, retrieved 2026-07-07. https://www.housingwire.com/articles/transparency-not-today-nar-delegates-reject-referral-fee-disclosure-rule/
- Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, “12 CFR § 1024.14 – Prohibition against kickbacks and unearned fees,” retrieved 2026-07-07. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/12/1024.14
This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship and should not be relied on as a substitute for professional guidance. Settlement terms, MLS rules, and referral fee regulations vary by jurisdiction and continue to evolve. Consult a licensed real estate attorney or broker before entering into or relying on any referral agreement described here.
