Referral Agreement (Broker-to-Broker) — Iowa 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 Iowa Edition: Every template was redrafted around Iowa's real estate license law, Iowa Code chapter 543B, and the Iowa Real Estate Commission's rules in 193E IAC, which require written brokerage agreements with definite expiration dates, a written agency disclosure before any brokerage agreement or offer, and the informed written consent of all parties before a brokerage may act as a dual agent or through appointed (designated) agency — so the consent form in this set is a true Iowa dual agency / appointed agency election rather than a transaction-brokerage substitute. The seller disclosure form is structured to Iowa Code chapter 558A (delivery before the buyer's written offer) and adds the Iowa-specific items practitioners expect: radon, the time-of-transfer septic inspection under Iowa Code chapter 455B, and the groundwater hazard statement categories. Throughout, the forms reference the Iowa statute of frauds (Iowa Code § 622.32), the Iowa Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (Iowa Code chapter 554D), homestead spousal joinder (Iowa Code § 561.13), the commercial broker lien act (Iowa Code chapter 570A), Iowa's abstract-and-Title-Guaranty title practice, and the rule that all compensation flows through the licensed brokerage.