Buyer Agreements and Florida Agency: What Changed?

A written buyer agreement does not automatically make a Florida licensee a single agent. Separate the agreement about services and compensation from the legal brokerage relationship and its duties.

Florida law and NAR guidance checked October 18, 2026.

Keep three documents or concepts separate

A form may address more than one subject. Read its provisions instead of deciding the relationship from the presence of a signature or the word “buyer.”

What changed for written buyer agreements?

Under NAR's practice changes effective August 17, 2024, an MLS participant working with a buyer must have a written agreement before touring a home, including a live virtual tour. Required compensation terms must be determinable, cannot be open-ended, and limit compensation from any source to the agreed amount or rate. Commissions are negotiable, not set by law. See NAR's Written Buyer Agreements 101.

These requirements should not be confused with a claim that Florida law makes every buyer relationship single agency. NAR expressly distinguishes its written-agreement requirement from the type of relationship permitted under state law. See NAR's settlement FAQ, question 58.

How Florida brokerage relationships fit

Under Florida Statutes section 475.278, transaction brokerage is presumed unless single agency or no brokerage relationship is established in writing.

• Transaction broker: provides limited representation, with limited confidentiality, and does not act as a fiduciary or single agent.
• Single agent: owes fiduciary duties, including loyalty, confidentiality, obedience, and full disclosure.
• No brokerage relationship: still carries statutory duties, including honesty and fair dealing, accounting for funds, and disclosure of specified material residential-property facts.

Florida prohibits disclosed and undisclosed dual agency. A written buyer agreement does not remove that prohibition. A transaction broker's permitted work with both sides is different from representing both as a fiduciary.

Worked example

A buyer and brokerage sign an agreement describing services, a defined term, negotiated compensation, and a transaction-broker relationship. The signature does not convert that relationship into single agency. To answer a practice question, identify the agreed relationship and apply its duties.

Now change the question: it asks when an MLS participant working with the buyer needs the agreement before a tour. That asks about the written-agreement rule, not whether loyalty is a transaction-broker duty.

What about walking into an open house?

A buyer attending an open house independently does not need to sign a buyer agreement merely to enter. An agent hosting on behalf of the seller or listing broker is in a different position from an agent already working with that buyer. See NAR's open-house guide.

Try three practice questions

1. Does signing a buyer-broker agreement, by itself, prove that the Florida brokerage is a single agent?
2. Under the NAR rule described above, can an MLS participant working with a buyer wait until after the first home tour to obtain the agreement?
3. A person visits an open house alone, and the host works only on behalf of the seller. Must that visitor sign a buyer agreement merely to tour?

Answers and explanations

1. No. Read the relationship provisions and applicable disclosures.
2. No. The agreement is required before the tour.
3. No. That open-house situation is different from a participant working with the buyer.

If a practice answer seems outdated

Identify whether it asks about Florida agency duties, MLS participation rules, compensation, or a purchase contract. Then submit the course, question number, and explanation that appears inconsistent. See how to report a possible content error and the exam-prep guide. These original exercises explain concepts; actual transactions require the applicable forms, current rules, and supervising broker's guidance.