Real Estate Team Agreement — California Edition Template

Teams are the dominant growth structure in modern residential real estate — and the most common source of intra-brokerage disputes. Who owns the leads? What's the split on a team-generated deal versus an agent's self-generated deal? What happens to the pipeline when a team member leaves? Without a written team agreement, those answers default to memory and goodwill, and both run out quickly when a $30,000 commission is on the table.

This 8-page Real Estate Team Agreement documents the full team structure: team identity and the team leader's authority (operating under the supervising broker — many states now regulate team names and advertising, requiring the brokerage name to appear and prohibiting misleading team names that suggest an independent brokerage); roles and duties of team members (buyer's agents, listing partners, showing assistants, transaction coordinators); compensation splits by deal source (team-generated vs. self-generated) and by role, with cap and bonus structures; lead ownership and database rights — the single most litigated team issue — with explicit language that team-provided leads and the CRM database remain team property; expense allocation (marketing, ISA, software); conduct standards and fair housing compliance; non-solicitation of team clients and staff after departure (with notes on state restrictive covenant enforceability, which varies widely); departure mechanics including pending-deal splits and listing reassignment; and dispute escalation through the supervising broker.

Everything in a team agreement sits underneath license law: commissions must still flow through the broker, and the broker's supervisory duties are non-delegable. The 50-state notes flag team registration and advertising rules states have adopted, plus restrictive covenant limits. Use this template as the framework and have brokerage counsel finalize it.

About this California Edition: the template and its drafting notes are adapted for California practice — the Civil Code § 2079 et seq. agency disclosure regime (including the statutory agency disclosure form used in residential transactions), the Business & Professions Code § 10147.5 notice that commission rates are negotiable and not fixed by law, and California's new three-month maximum term for exclusive buyer representation agreements. California-specific drafting notes accompany the template so you can align it with C.A.R. practice and current statutory requirements before use.