Recently I made a giant mistake. I forgot to add a date range and submitted an offer without a fully completed BRBC.
I tried everything to finesse not having to cancel the original agreement and resubmit. Thankfully the clients were “investors” (don’t get me started) and backed out before I had to humiliate myself to a colleague, but I still got humiliated plenty by CAR legal and my compliance officer. I am sharing this so you don’t need to be called onto the carpet too.
Why We Need to Add This Form
We need this form because the NAR settled a class action lawsuit that alleged anticompetitive commission practices across the industry. The settlement required buyer broker compensation to be transparent and agreed to in writing before showing property.
The California DRE, always on the forefront of consumer protection, went further than the NAR settlement required. AB 2992 extended the written agreement mandate to all California real estate licensees, including non-NAR members, and to all real property including commercial.
The DRE also established the rebuttable presumption that the agreement must be signed before touring a property.
Sidebar
What is a rebuttable presumption? I had to ask an AI to help me understand it… this is the Explain Like I’m Five (ELIF) definition. Oh, and if you don’t know ELIF next time you ask ChatGPT a question tell it you want the ELIF version.
“Think of it like recess. Your teacher says, "you must raise your hand before leaving the classroom." That is the earliest practical time. If you get up and walk to the door first and then raise your hand, the teacher will assume you broke the rule. You can explain that your pencil rolled across the room and you were just grabbing it, but the burden is on you to prove you did not do anything wrong.”
And We’re Back
California often leads on consumer protection in real estate, as it did with agency disclosure laws, transfer disclosure statements, and natural hazard disclosures. AB 2992 followed that tradition by closing the gap between what the settlement required of NAR members and what state law required of every licensee.
Enter the BRBC
The BRBC, or Buyer Representation and Broker Compensation Agreement, is the form that meets both requirements. It tells the buyer who represents them, for long, and how the broker gets paid.
Under Civil Code Section 1670.50, the agreement must include compensation details and a description of services and cannot exceed three months. A BRBC that goes over three months is unenforceable.
The December 2025 C.A.R. form revision addressed this exact issue by adding language that automatically limits the BRBC to 90 days if the parties miscalculate the ending date. Before this fix, a broker who closed after the three-month window had no contractual grounds to collect; the agreement was legally dead from the start.
Common Mistakes
The biggest and most costly mistake an agent can make is skipping the signed BRBC entirely. Some agents still show property without a signed agreement, hoping to collect payment through the seller later. That hope becomes a problem when escrow refuses to disburse without an enforceable contract in the file.
Without a signed BRBC, there is no legal basis for the buyer to pay you and no contractual grounds to ask the seller to pay on the buyer's behalf . Yes, let that sink in, no BRBC, no money. You expose yourself to DRE discipline and forfeit your commission in one move.
This is where I was totally humiliated by the C.A.R. attorney (and compliance officer... my TC's were a little nicer but started looking at me like I was an alien replacement clone) remember I had submitted an incomplete BRBC with an offer. I thought she could have been a tiny bit nicer, a little less “hey dumbass” and a little more “here’s some solution”, but I guess I needed to hear the message the way it was delivered…
The second biggest mistake is more subtle. An agent sets a lower commission amount in the BRBC, the seller agrees to pay more in the RPA, and the agent tries to change the BRBC to match after the fact.
Even if the buyer consents, this practice violates the NAR settlement and creates a potential buyer claim for breach of fiduciary duty. The buyer can argue the agent got paid more for performing no additional services beyond what was originally agreed. Set your fee in the BRBC upfront and be prepared to live with it .
Fixes
Can you fix these? The fast answer is mostly no; there is no reset button that undoes the timing requirement.
If you skipped the BRBC entirely and are already in contract, you cannot retroactively satisfy the law. The DRE presumes the agreement should have been signed before the first showing, and getting one signed later does not undo the violation. Noncompliance may lead to disciplinary action from the Department of Real Estate .
However, getting a BRBC signed before closing does give escrow a document to reference for disbursement, which at least protects the commission check. It is damage control, not a cure, but something on file is better than nothing for payment purposes.
For the compensation change problem, once the BRBC is executed, the compensation amount is locked. The NAR settlement prohibits a buyer broker from receiving more compensation from any source than the amount agreed upon in the buyer brokerage agreement.
Best Practices
The BRBC is not optional. It protects our commissions, licenses, and client relationships. Sign it early, set your compensation right (ask your broker), and verify existing agreements before starting work. I learned this the hard way so you do not have to.
Always ask the buyer if they are working with or have worked with another broker . If yes, ask whether the relationship was exclusive or non-exclusive and request a copy of the agreement and any cancellation notice. Do not give legal advice about the effect on the first broker but contact that broker for additional information.
For open houses, use the C.A.R. Buyer Non-Agency Agreement, or BNA form, to show property without creating a representation relationship. Explain both the BNA and the BRBC so the buyer can make an informed choice.
For Now
One of my early mentors said to me, “if you are not humble, you will be humiliated” and it holds true to me to this day. Thank you to the incredibly blunt C.A.R. legal hotline attorney. Make sure you have a completed (ask you broker for help) and signed BRBC in place before showing the property. Make sure to submit the BRBC with your offer.
This piece and many more are available on my blog: www.americasells.com/blog
