Referral Agreement (Broker-to-Broker) — Maine 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 Maine Edition: These twelve templates are drafted around the Maine Real Estate Brokerage License Act (32 M.R.S. Chapter 114) and the Maine Real Estate Commission's rules. The real estate brokerage agency, acting through its designated broker, is the contracting party on every form. Maine permits disclosed dual agency with written informed consent and also recognizes appointed agency, so the consent document covers both elections with separate duty explanations and signature blocks. The seller disclosure tracks Maine's statutory residential property disclosure headings (water supply, waste disposal, hazardous materials, known defects) and adds private-well, septic, heating-oil-tank, and shoreland-zoning items common in Maine housing stock. Electronic signatures are addressed under Maine's Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, and the statute of frauds is flagged in the addendum and counteroffer commentary. No association forms are reproduced.