Form-of-the-week: Buyer’s Listing Agreements – Exclusive Right to Buy, Exchange or Option and Specific Property Acquisition – Form 103 and 103-1
Authority to act on the buyer’s behalf
A listing agreement is a written employment arrangement between a client and a licensed real estate broker. On entering into a listing agreement, the broker or their agents are retained and authorized to diligently perform real estate related services on behalf of the client in exchange for payment of a fee. [Calif. Civil Code §1086(f); see RPI Form 102-104 and 110-112]
A client who retains a broker may hold an ownership interest in real estate, which the client seeks to:
- sell [See RPI Form 102 and 102-1];
- lease [See RPI Form 110]; or
- encumber as collateral for mortgage financing. [See RPI Form 104]
Further, the client retaining the services of a broker may be seeking to acquire an interest in real estate as a:
The individual employed by a client to provide real estate services in expectation of a fee is always a licensed real estate broker. Thus, if a dispute arises with a client over the client’s failure to pay the agreed-to fee, it is the broker employed under a written listing signed by the client who pursues collection.
A real estate agent employed by the broker may solicit and enter into a listing, but the agent does so acting on behalf of the broker. The agent has no independent right to enter into or enforce a listing agreement naming the agent as the person employed. Essentially, the agent is an agent of the agent — their employing broker.