Referral Agreement (Broker-to-Broker) — Nevada 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 Nevada Edition: Every template was redrafted around Nevada's real estate license law (NRS chapter 645), including the licensee duties owed to all parties and to clients (NRS 645.252 and 645.254), the written-consent rule for a licensee acting for more than one party (NRS 645.253), the compensation-through-the-broker rule (NRS 645.280), and the requirements that exclusive listing and buyer agreements be in writing with a definite termination date and no automatic renewal (NRS 645.320). Disclosure documents track the Seller's Real Property Disclosure regime (NRS 113.100–113.150), the common-interest community resale package and cancellation right (NRS 116.4109), and the facts Nevada deems not material (NRS 40.770), while contract forms rely on Nevada's statute of frauds for land contracts (NRS 111.210) and its Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (NRS chapter 719). The independent-contractor and team agreements reference Nevada's independent-contractor presumption (NRS 608.0155) and I.R.C. § 3508, and the commission forms note the commercial broker's lien provisions of NRS chapter 645 (NRS 645.8701 et seq.). These are supplemental drafting templates, not Nevada Real Estate Division forms, and must be reviewed by Nevada counsel.