Guides / Buyer-Agent Agreements / Washington

Buyer-Agent Agreements in Washington

Washington is a genuine outlier among the three patterns. It is NOT purely reliant on the national NAR settlement/MLS rules like New York, but it also did NOT pass a new statute reacting to the settlement the way Texas (SB 1968, 2025) or California (AB 2992) did. Instead, Washington already had its own binding state statute requiring signed buyer brokerage agreements before the NAR settlement even existed. SB 5191 was signed into law May 4, 2023, and took effect January 1, 2024 — roughly 7.5 months before the national settlement's practice changes took effect on August 17, 2024. It amended the pre-existing 1996 Real Estate Brokerage Relationships Act (RCW 18.86, originally enacted 1996) to, for the first time, require a written buyer brokerage services agreement (not just seller listing agreements) before or as soon as reasonably practical after a broker begins performing brokerage services for a buyer. Because Washington's state law requirement already matched or exceeded what the NAR settlement mandated nationally, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) — which is member-owned and not NAR-owned, giving it an independent choice — voted NOT to opt into the national NAR settlement, stating Washington was already in compliance via state law. So: real statute, real RCW citations, real effective date of Jan 1, 2024, but it is a pre-existing/coincidentally-timed state law rather than a settlement-triggered statute like TX/CA. Do not describe it as passed 'in response to' the NAR settlement — that would be inaccurate; frame it as Washington having already achieved via independent state legislation (RCW 18.86, as amended by SB 5191) what the national settlement later required elsewhere, with NWMLS separately declining to adopt the national settlement terms because state law already covered it. Note also a related but separate 2025-26 measure, SB 6091 (signed 2026), which restricts marketing listings to limited/exclusive buyer groups (anti-'pocket listing' / private listing network rule) — this is a distinct, later law about listing marketing practices, not buyer-agent agreement signing requirements, and should not be conflated with the SB 5191 buyer-agreement mandate.

Substitute Senate Bill 5191 (2023), codified in RCW Chapter 18.86 (Real Estate Brokerage Relationships Act), primarily RCW 18.86.020 (services agreements) and 18.86.030 (broker duties/disclosures) — effective January 1, 2024 (bill signed by Governor Jay Inslee on May 4, 2023) — this predates and was NOT enacted in response to the August 17, 2024 national NAR settlement

Requirements

A real estate firm must enter into a written 'services agreement' (Buyer Brokerage Services Agreement, or BBSA — NWMLS Form 41) with a buyer/tenant client before, or as soon as reasonably practical after, the appointed broker begins rendering real estate brokerage services (RCW 18.86.020); this applies to residential buyer representation and treats tenants as buyers, extending protections to renters.
For buyer agreements, the term cannot be shorter than 60 days (buyers may negotiate a longer term); the agreement must identify the specific broker appointed to represent the buyer and state whether the relationship is exclusive or nonexclusive (buyer's choice via checkbox).
The agreement must address limited dual agency: if the buyer consents to the broker (or the firm's designated/managing broker) acting as a 'limited dual agent' representing both buyer and seller, that consent must be given via a separately initialed provision, and the agreement must state that a limited dual agent may not advocate terms favorable to one principal over the other.
The agreement must state compensation terms — how much the firm will be paid and by whom — and separately, under RCW 18.86.030, brokers must disclose in writing to all parties (before an offer is signed) whether they represent the buyer, seller, or both as limited dual agent, plus any compensation terms offered or received to/from other parties in the transaction; compensation itself remains fully negotiable and is not fixed by statute.
Brokers must provide buyers/sellers the state-mandated 'Law of Real Estate Agency' pamphlet (updated under RCW 18.86.120) disclosing agency relationships; a narrow exception exists for commercial real estate buyer representation, where a full services agreement is not mandatory but the updated pamphlet and written acknowledgment are still required.
Washington's requirement (effective Jan 1, 2024) predates and is independent of the national NAR settlement (effective Aug 17, 2024); NWMLS — a member-owned MLS not owned by NAR — formally voted not to opt into the national settlement, citing that Washington's own state law (SB 5191/RCW 18.86) already met or exceeded the settlement's consumer-protection goals, so buyer agency in Washington is governed by real, pre-existing state statute plus NWMLS-adopted forms (BBSA/Form 41), not by NAR settlement compliance rules.

Facts on this page reflect research current as of 2026-07-05. Programs, rates, and laws change — confirm current figures with the relevant state agency before relying on them.

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