What the NAR Settlement Changed for Agents: The Rules in 2026

The NAR settlement made two changes that still govern every Realtor MLS as of October 7, 2026. Since August 17, 2024, nobody may offer compensation to a buyer's broker through the MLS, and an MLS participant working with a buyer must sign a written agreement with that buyer before the buyer tours a home.¹ The federal appeals court for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the settlement on August 19, 2026, which leaves those rules in place.²

This guide covers the court record, the exact NAR policy text, what the Justice Department has said, where Clear Cooperation stands, a few state laws that go further, and what it all means for property managers who also lease or sell. For state licensing rules, see /states.

The settlement and where the court case stands

NAR signed the settlement agreement on March 15, 2024. It resolves claims in Burnett v. National Association of Realtors (W.D. Mo., No. 4:19-cv-00332, the case often called Sitzer/Burnett) and in Moehrl v. National Association of Realtors (N.D. Ill., No. 1:19-cv-01610).³ NAR agreed to pay $418 million into the settlement fund and to adopt a list of practice changes.³

The district court granted preliminary approval on April 23, 2024. It held the final approval hearing on November 26, 2024, and its written order granting final approval is dated November 27, 2024.⁴ The order also notes that notice to the class began on or around August 17, 2024.⁴

Objectors appealed. In a consolidated decision filed August 19, 2026, the Eighth Circuit affirmed. The court described the deal this way: NAR pays $418 million, HomeServices pays $250 million separately, other brokerages could opt in, and the total fund across all defendants exceeded $1 billion.² The opinion closes with a one-line holding: "For all of these reasons, we affirm."²

How long the rules last matters for planning. The settlement says the practice-change obligations end seven years after the class notice date.³ That points to roughly August 2031, though NAR can keep any policy longer as a matter of its own rules.

Sources for the table: the settlement agreement, NAR's practice-change guide, the final approval order and the Eighth Circuit opinion.³⁵⁴²

Change one: no offers of compensation on the MLS

The settlement required NAR to bar MLS participants, subscribers and their sellers from making offers of compensation on the MLS to buyer brokers or other buyer representatives. It also bars disclosing listing broker compensation or total broker compensation on the MLS.³ MLSs had to remove all broker compensation fields.³

NAR's model MLS rule now reads: "Participants, Subscribers, or their sellers may not make offers of compensation to buyer brokers and other buyer representatives in the MLS."¹ Using MLS data feeds to build a platform for compensation offers from multiple brokers is prohibited, and the MLS must cut off that participant's data access.¹

What did not change:

• Off-MLS offers are still allowed. The settlement says the practice changes do not prevent offers of compensation to buyer brokers off the MLS.³ NAR's FAQ says a listing broker may show compensation offers on its own brokerage website, but only for its own listings.⁶
• Seller concessions can still go on the MLS, as long as they are not limited to or conditioned on paying a buyer's broker.³
• Buyers can ask for it in the offer. NAR updated FAQ 50 on October 17, 2025 to say a buyer can always ask their broker to make seller-paid compensation a term of the purchase offer, even when no offer of compensation exists.⁶

Listing side rules came with it. Under NAR Policy Statement 8.12, listing brokers must disclose in writing to sellers, and get the seller's authority for, any payment or offer of payment to a broker or other representative acting for buyers. The disclosure must state the amount or rate and come before any payment or agreement to pay.⁷ Brokers also may not tell clients their services are free unless they will receive no compensation from any source, and they may not filter out listings based on whether or how much compensation is offered.³

Change two: a written agreement before the buyer tours

This is the rule agents feel every week. The exact policy text, NAR Policy Statement 8.13, as carried in the 2026 Handbook on Multiple Listing Policy:

"Unless inconsistent with state or federal law or regulation, all MLS Participants working with a buyer must enter into a written agreement with the buyer prior to touring a home."⁷

NAR's FAQ fills in the trigger words. "Touring a home" means the buyer or the agent working with the buyer enters the house, including when an agent enters to give a live virtual tour to a buyer who is not there. A "home" means residential property of one to four units.⁶ "Working with" a buyer means providing services to that buyer, such as finding properties, arranging tours or presenting offers. An agent who only works for the seller, including at an open house, is not working with the buyer and does not need an agreement.⁶ Dual agents and designated agents representing a buyer do need one.⁶

NAR does not dictate the type of relationship, the term or the services. NAR's FAQ lists a one-day or one-house agreement, and a $0, flat fee, percentage or hourly fee, as all permitted.⁶ MLS subscribers must comply, and the MLS enforces the rule.⁶

What the written buyer agreement must say

Policy Statement 8.13 requires four items in the agreement:⁷

1. "a specific and conspicuous disclosure of the amount or rate of compensation the Participant will receive or how this amount will be determined, to the extent that the Participant will receive compensation from any source."
2. "the amount of compensation in a manner that is objectively ascertainable and not open-ended."
3. "a term that prohibits the Participant from receiving compensation for brokerage services from any source that exceeds the amount or rate agreed to in the agreement with the buyer."
4. "a conspicuous statement that broker fees and commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable."

A common misreading is that the agreement must state a dollar figure. It does not. NAR's text allows an amount, a rate, or a method for determining the amount, as long as the result is objectively ascertainable.⁷ What fails is an open-ended term. The settlement itself gives the example of compensation that is "whatever amount the seller is offering to the buyer."³ NAR's FAQ adds that a range such as "between X and Y percent" also fails.⁶

The cap is the part that bites at closing. If the agreement says 2 percent and the seller offers 3 percent, the buyer's broker cannot take the extra point. The FAQ says brokers and buyers may amend the agreement, but any amendment must meet the same requirements.⁶

What the Justice Department has said

The Antitrust Division was not a party to the settlement and has said so in court. Its filings set the outer edge of what the settlement protects.

• Nosalek v. MLS PIN, February 15, 2024. The DOJ urged the District of Massachusetts to deny preliminary approval of a settlement that let sellers keep making buyer-broker offers through the MLS. It argued the changes were cosmetic and that sellers would keep offering "customary" commissions for fear of steering.⁸ It made the same argument against a revised version on March 17, 2025.⁹
• Burnett, November 24, 2024. Two days before the final hearing, the DOJ filed a statement of interest. It took no position on whether the settlement met the class action standard, apart from one concern: the written-agreement-before-touring rule "raises independent concerns under the antitrust laws." It asked that the parties drop the provision, or that the parties or the court make clear that approval gives no antitrust immunity.¹⁰ It also said compliance with the settlement or NAR's new rules "affords no defense" to a future government enforcement action.¹⁰
• Davis v. Hanna Holdings, December 19, 2025. In a case over homebuyers' broker commissions in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the DOJ argued that rules adopted by a trade association are not automatically exempt from the per se rule against price fixing.¹¹

The practical reading: the touring rule is binding on Realtor MLS participants, but the DOJ has flagged it, and the settlement does not shield it from a future government case.

Clear Cooperation and Multiple Listing Options for Sellers

Clear Cooperation, Policy Statement 8.0, is still in the 2026 Handbook. Within one business day of marketing a property to the public, the listing broker must submit the listing to the MLS. Public marketing includes yard signs, window flyers, websites, email blasts and multi-brokerage listing sharing networks.⁷

On March 25, 2025, NAR added the Multiple Listing Options for Sellers policy alongside it, with a local implementation deadline of September 30, 2025.¹² It creates two exempt listing types:⁷

• Office exclusive. The seller directs that the listing not be disseminated through the MLS and not be publicly marketed. It is filed with the MLS but not shared with other participants.
• Delayed marketing. The seller directs the broker to delay public marketing through IDX and syndication for a period the local MLS sets "in its unfettered discretion." The 2026 Handbook notes an MLS may set that period at zero days.⁷

Either option requires a signed seller certification that discloses the broker relationship, acknowledges the MLS exposure the seller gives up or delays, and confirms the seller's choice.⁷ NAR also clarified that one-to-one, broker-to-broker communications do not trigger Clear Cooperation, but communications among multiple brokerages count as public marketing.¹² Delayed marketing listings are active listings, and an MLS cannot prohibit showings of them.¹²

We found no 2026 NAR policy change that repeals or replaces Clear Cooperation. The 36th edition of the Handbook (2026) carries Policy Statements 8.0, 8.12, 8.13 and 8.14, and NAR says local adoption of mandatory provisions was required by March 1, 2026.⁷ Check your own MLS for its delay period.

State laws that go further

NAR's rule yields to state law that requires an agreement earlier. NAR's FAQ says the agreement is required before touring "unless state law requires a written buyer agreement earlier in time."⁶ Three examples we verified on legislature sites:

Texas limits its non-representation showing agreement to 14 days and bars it from being exclusive.¹³ The bill was filed without the governor's signature on June 22, 2025, and took effect January 1, 2026.¹⁴ Washington's rules come from 2023 c 318, effective January 1, 2024.¹⁵ Its services agreement must state the compensation terms, and for a buyer, whether the broker will show homes where no one has offered to pay the firm.¹⁶¹⁷ Maryland's lessee language came in Chapter 359 of 2024, effective October 1, 2024.¹⁸¹⁹ For other states, compare rules at /laws.

What this means for property managers who lease or sell

NAR's settlement FAQ is direct on leasing: "The settlement and the practice changes it requires are focused on residential transactions, not commercial transactions, or leases."⁶ The touring rule is also tied to a "home" of one to four units being purchased by a "buyer."⁶ Showing a rental to a prospective tenant does not trigger NAR Policy Statement 8.13.

State law is a different matter. Washington defines "buyer" to include "an actual or prospective tenant in a real estate rental or lease transaction."¹⁵ A broker who represents a tenant there falls under the same services agreement and compensation rules as a buyer's agent.¹⁶¹⁷ Maryland's content rules apply to agreements with a "buyer or lessee."¹⁹ Texas's § 1101.563 applies to prospective buyers of residential property, while § 1101.562 lets a broker show property for sale or lease without representing the party if the broker meets its conditions.¹³

Three situations come up most in management firms:

• An owner client sells a managed home through your brokerage. All of the sale rules apply. Nothing about compensation goes on the MLS, the seller approves any buyer-broker payment in writing in advance, the listing agreement carries the negotiability disclosure, and Clear Cooperation applies once you market it publicly.⁷ The owner retention playbook covers how to handle the sale conversation.
• Your agents help a tenant buy. That is a buyer relationship. The agreement must be signed before the first tour.
• Leasing listings on the MLS. Read your MLS's current rules for lease listings before you put a tenant-agent fee in any field or remark. Lease intake runs through the tenant lead to lease playbook.

What to do now

• Pull your buyer agreement form and check it against all four Policy Statement 8.13 items, word for word.
• Remove any "whatever the seller offers" or range language from buyer agreements.
• Add the "not set by law and fully negotiable" statement to listing agreements, buyer agreements and any pre-closing disclosure forms you control.
• Build a written seller approval form for any payment to a buyer's broker, with the amount or rate, signed before you agree to pay.
• Train agents on the trigger: an agreement before the buyer or the agent enters the home, including live video tours.
• Keep a short, non-exclusive, one-property agreement ready for first showings. In Texas, the non-representation version cannot run past 14 days.
• Check your state law. Texas, Washington and Maryland all add requirements beyond NAR's.
• For leasing in Washington or Maryland, confirm your tenant representation agreements meet state content rules.
• Ask your MLS for its delayed marketing period and keep signed seller certifications for every exempt listing.
• Audit marketing so a listing goes into the MLS within one business day of any public marketing.
• Add these review dates to your compliance calendar, and recheck NAR's FAQ, since NAR updates individual answers.

For the federal rules that touch rental operations, see /federal. This article explains the rules and is not legal advice.