Referral Agreement (Broker-to-Broker) — South Carolina 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 South Carolina Edition: the template and its drafting notes are adapted for South Carolina practice under the South Carolina Real Estate License Law, S.C. Code Ann. § 40-57-10 et seq., administered by the South Carolina Real Estate Commission. South Carolina requires the Commission's Agency Disclosure Brochure at first substantive contact and permits dual agency and designated agency only with written informed consent, so this edition's agency documents are built around those written-consent requirements. The Seller Property Condition Disclosure tracks the South Carolina Residential Property Condition Disclosure Act, S.C. Code Ann. § 27-50-10 et seq., including South Carolina's requirement to deliver the disclosure before a contract is signed. Electronic signatures are addressed under the South Carolina Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, and the commission documents reference South Carolina's commercial broker lien statute (commercial transactions only). Not legal advice; have a South Carolina-licensed attorney review before use.