The Buyer Agency Agreement in Virginia: What You Sign, What You Owe, and How to Get Out

You cannot tour houses with an agent in Virginia without signing something first. That is not a brokerage’s policy, it is § 54.1-2137 of the Code of Virginia, “Commencement and termination of brokerage relationships; brokerage agreements required.” We read it before writing this, and the useful thing is how little the statute actually mandates – which means most of what is in the form is negotiable, and you are the one who has to negotiate it.

What the statute actually requires

Subsection B is the requirement people have heard about: except as otherwise provided in the article, “a licensee shall enter into a brokerage agreement with a prospective client prior to providing brokerage services.” It adds that a licensee is not required to have one in place before preparing property-specific materials intending to obtain a brokerage relationship – so a market analysis someone sends you unprompted is not a service you have already signed for.

Subsection C is the part to read with a pen:

Four things follow from that text.

Ninety days is the statutory default, not the norm. If the form leaves the termination date blank, the agreement ends 90 days after its date. A pre-printed twelve-month term is a choice someone made, not a legal requirement.

The amount has to be stated. Not “customary,” not “as per MLS,” not a range. The statute requires the agreement to state the amount of the brokerage fees and how and when they are paid. If the number is blank or vague, the form is not doing what the Code requires.

The services have to be stated. “Full service” is not a description. What is promised – showings, comparable sales analysis, negotiation, inspection coordination, attendance at settlement – should be on the page.

Everything else in the form is “such other terms.” Duration length, exclusivity, geography, holdover periods and fees are all negotiated terms sitting in category 4. They are in the form because a brokerage put them there.

When the relationship starts and how it ends

Subsection A says brokerage relationships commence when a client engages a licensee to provide brokerage services, and continue until completion of performance, or the earlier of an agreed expiration date, a mutually agreed termination, a default by any party, or a termination under subsection G of § 54.1-2139 – the dual agency provision that lets a licensee withdraw when a client refuses to consent. We cover that in what you are consenting to under dual agency in Virginia.

Subsection D covers what happens after. Unless you agree otherwise in writing, the licensee owes no further duties once the agreement ends, with two carve-outs: accounting for all money and property relating to the relationship, and keeping confidential your personal and financial information and anything else you asked be kept confidential. That confidentiality survives the agreement; nothing else does, which is why the holdover clause matters.

The eight terms you actually have to decide on

1. Duration

Shorter is not automatically better, but blank is worse than short, and twelve months is a long time to be locked to a stranger. Ask for a term long enough to cover a realistic search – which in a fast county may be weeks. In July 2026 Henrico’s county-level median days on market was 16, on 1.5 months of supply (CVR MLS). Then ask for a renewal you have to actively agree to.

2. Geographic scope

An agreement that covers the entire Commonwealth is broader than most buyers need. If you are looking in Midlothian and the City of Richmond but might also look in Hanover, say so and write it down. Narrow scope protects you if you later want a different agent for a different area.

3. Property-type scope

Single-family resale, new construction, land, condo, investment. These are genuinely different transactions requiring different experience, and a scope limited to what your agent actually does well is in both parties’ interest. Land and acreage in Goochland is not the same skill as a city townhouse.

4. Exclusivity

Most buyer agency agreements are exclusive: you owe the stated compensation on a purchase in scope regardless of who found the house, including one you found yourself on a Sunday drive. Defensible, and the clause most buyers do not realise they signed. If you want carve-outs, negotiate them before signing, in writing, by address.

5. The compensation amount, and who pays it

The statute requires the amount to be stated. It does not set the amount, and nobody can tell you a percentage is standard or customary – so treat any such claim as a negotiating position rather than a fact. The practical mechanics at the offer stage: the seller may or may not cover the buyer’s agent compensation, and that is a term you ask for in your offer like any other term. If the seller covers less than the amount in your agreement, you owe the difference under your own contract. So before you write an offer, know the number in your agreement and know what happens if the seller pays nothing toward it. Our post on what a realtor costs when selling in Richmond works through the other side of that same negotiation, and closing costs in Richmond shows where it lands on a settlement statement.

6. Retainer and administrative fees

Some agreements include a retainer, an administrative or transaction fee, or both. Ask three things about each: how much, when it is payable, and whether it is credited against the compensation at closing or charged on top. In the document, not in a text message.

7. Holdover or protection period

This is the clause that produces disputes months after everyone has moved on. It says that if you buy a property your agent introduced you to within some period after the agreement ends, you still owe the compensation. Two things to pin down: how long the period runs, and whether the properties it applies to have to be identified in writing. A holdover tied to a written, dated list of specific addresses is reasonable. A holdover that applies to anything you ever discussed is not.

8. Termination rights and dispute resolution

Subsection A allows termination by mutual agreement or on a default; the practical question is what the form says. Look for whether either party may terminate on written notice, any notice period, and what survives. Then read the dispute resolution clause: mediation, arbitration, venue, and who pays fees. Nobody reads that paragraph until it is the only one that matters.

How to get out of one

Start by reading your own copy. The statute contemplates termination by expiration, mutual agreement, default, or completion of performance, so the routes are:

1. Let it expire. If the term is short, this is often the cleanest option. Check the holdover clause before you assume expiry ends everything.
2. Ask for a written release. Mutual termination is expressly contemplated. Most brokerages will release a client who asks plainly and early; get it signed, and get it to say whether the holdover survives.
3. Escalate to the broker, not the agent. The supervising broker holds the agreement and can release it. If the relationship has broken down, that is the right conversation.
4. Document a default if there is one. A default by any party is a termination trigger under subsection A. That is a legal conclusion, not a feeling, and it is where an attorney earns their fee.

What does not work is quietly buying with someone else and hoping. Under an exclusive agreement with a holdover clause, that is the fact pattern that generates a claim. If you are worried about the consequences of walking away from commitments generally, backing out of a Richmond contract covers the purchase-contract side of the same instinct.

Where this sits in the process

The brokerage agreement comes early, usually before the first tour and often before you have a lender letter, which surprises people. Buying your first home in Richmond, step by step puts it in sequence, and starting the financing conversation first makes the agreement easier to scope – our preferred lenders page is where we begin. Heading for a builder’s sales office? Read do you need a buyer’s agent to buy new construction first.

Then go look at houses with your scope in mind: our active listings and the wider Richmond-area search are the places to start. And if you want to check the rules or raise a concern about a licensee, the Virginia Real Estate Board at DPOR is the regulator; § 54.1-2138 is the companion section on when a brokerage relationship has to be disclosed to someone who is not yet a client; and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s homebuying resources are the neutral background reading.

Buyer agency agreement questions we get