Referral Agreement (Broker-to-Broker) — Connecticut Edition Template

Referral fees are a core revenue stream in real estate — but they are legal only when paid between licensed brokers. Every state's license law prohibits paying referral fees to unlicensed persons, and in transactions involving a federally related mortgage loan, RESPA Section 8 (12 U.S.C. § 2607) prohibits kickbacks and unearned fee-splitting for settlement-service referrals — with an exemption at 12 U.S.C. § 2607(c) that permits cooperative brokerage and referral arrangements between licensed real estate agents and brokers. The practical rule: broker-to-broker referral fees are fine; anything else needs scrutiny. And because a referral fee is a commission-sharing promise, the statute of frauds in most states means an unwritten referral deal is an unenforceable handshake.

This 4-page Referral Agreement locks the arrangement down in writing: identification of referring broker and receiving broker (with license numbers and states), the referred client's identity and the scope of the referral (buy-side, sell-side, or both; geographic area; property types), the referral fee as a percentage of the receiving side's gross commission (or a flat amount), when the fee is earned and payable (at closing, out of escrowed commission), treatment of multiple transactions by the same referred client during a defined capture period, a no-brokerage-services acknowledgment by the referring broker in the destination transaction, status updates, and governing law.

The included notes cover interstate referrals (fee must generally be paid broker-to-broker through the licensee's own broker), states with specific referral disclosure requirements to clients, and the RESPA boundaries for anything touching settlement services beyond brokerage. Template for drafting purposes — not legal advice.

About this Connecticut Edition: Every template was redrafted around Connecticut's real estate licensing law (Conn. Gen. Stat. Chapter 392), with the listing, buyer-representation, and commission documents built to satisfy the written-agreement requirements of Conn. Gen. Stat. § 20-325a (names, addresses, price/terms, compensation, duration, signatures, and the commercial broker lien notice), agency disclosure under § 20-325d, disclosed dual agency under § 20-325g and designated agency under § 20-325i, the Residential Property Condition Disclosure Report requirement of § 20-327b (with the § 20-327c $500 credit for non-delivery — our disclosure is a supplement, never a replacement), the Connecticut statute of frauds (§ 52-550), and the Connecticut Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (§ 1-266 et seq.). Attorney-conducted closings, crumbling-foundation and oil-tank disclosure items, and Common Interest Ownership Act resale certificates are addressed in commentary.