The Brokerage Agreement Every Agent Needs Before Showing a Property

Why you need it before the first site visit, not after

Every experienced agent has the same scar: months of work on a deal, then the buyer and seller quietly close directly and your calls stop getting answered. A proper brokerage agreement format in India is the difference between that being an annoyance and being a loss you can actually recover. Once introductions are made, your leverage drops with every site visit, so the agreement has to come first.

There's no single government-prescribed format for a brokerage agreement. It's a service contract, so you're free to draft it in plain language as long as it captures the essentials: who the parties are, what you'll do, what you'll be paid, when, and what happens if someone tries to cut you out. This guide walks through the clauses that earn their place on the page.

The core clauses: parties, property and scope of service

Start with precise identification. Full names, addresses and contact details of both you and your client, plus your RERA registration number where your state requires agent registration. Then describe the property or the requirement clearly: for a seller mandate, the exact property with survey or unit details; for a buyer mandate, the budget, locality and property type you're searching within.

Scope of service is the clause agents skip and then regret. Spell out what you're doing: sourcing and shortlisting, arranging site visits, negotiating terms, coordinating documentation, assisting at registration. When the fee is questioned later, this clause is your answer. It also limits you, which is healthy; you're a broker, not a guarantor of the seller's title.

Add a simple representation that you're facilitating the transaction and that legal and title verification remains the buyer's responsibility, ideally through their own advocate. Pointing clients to a proper document verification checklist is good service and good self-protection in the same breath.

The commission clause: amount, trigger and GST

This is the heart of the agreement, and vagueness here costs real money. State the commission as a clear percentage of the final transaction value or a fixed amount, and state it as exclusive of GST if you're registered, since brokerage attracts 18% GST. An 'all inclusive' fee silently donates the tax portion from your own pocket.

Define the trigger event precisely. Is commission earned when the agreement to sell is signed, when the sale deed registers, or when the client receives possession? Registration of the sale deed is the cleanest and most common trigger for sales. For rentals, signing of the rent agreement works. Then give a payment timeline, for example within seven days of the trigger, so 'I'll pay after Diwali' has no contractual footing.

If part payment of the deal happens in stages, say whether your commission is due proportionately or in full at the trigger. Full at trigger is simpler and easier to enforce.

• Commission as a defined percentage or fixed amount
• Stated as plus GST at applicable rates
• A single, unambiguous trigger event
• Payment due within a fixed number of days of the trigger
• Mode of payment to your business account

The protection clause: stopping the direct-deal bypass

The clause that pays for the whole document is non-circumvention. It says that if the client transacts, directly or indirectly, with any party you introduced, within a defined protection period after the introduction, your commission remains payable in full. Typical protection periods run several months to a year; pick a duration you can defend as reasonable for your market.

Pair it with an introduction record. Maintain a simple written trail of who you introduced and when: an email or message to the client naming the property and party, sent before or immediately after the visit. A protection clause without proof of introduction is a lock without a key. Agents who log every introduction in their deal pipeline have this evidence generated as a side effect of normal work.

If you work with co-brokers, add a line on commission sharing, or sign a separate one-page co-broking note per deal. Disputes between brokers are more common than disputes with clients, and they're entirely preventable.

Exclusivity, term and termination

Decide whether the mandate is exclusive or non-exclusive and say so. An exclusive seller mandate, where you're the sole agent for a defined period, justifies more marketing spend from your side and usually earns a better outcome for the owner. If you take exclusivity, commit to something in return: a marketing plan, a reporting cadence, a listing timeline. Exclusivity with no obligations reads as one-sided and invites early termination.

Give the agreement a term, commonly a few months with renewal by consent, and a termination clause with written notice. Critically, state that termination does not extinguish commission on parties already introduced during the term. Otherwise a client can terminate on Monday and close with your buyer on Friday.

Execution: stamp paper, signatures and disputes

A brokerage agreement is valid as a contract even on plain paper with signatures, but executing it on non-judicial stamp paper of the value applicable to agreements in your state strengthens its evidentiary standing. Stamp duty on agreements varies state to state, so check your state's registration and stamps department portal for the current value rather than copying whatever an old template used.

Both parties sign every page, ideally with a witness each. Registration of a brokerage agreement is not required. Add a dispute resolution clause naming the courts of your city, or arbitration if you prefer, and a line that the agreement is governed by Indian law. None of this needs legalese; a court reads plain English perfectly well, and so do your clients, which is the point.

• Non-judicial stamp paper per your state's rate for agreements
• Signatures of both parties on every page, with witnesses
• No registration required for a brokerage agreement
• Jurisdiction or arbitration clause for disputes
• Each party keeps an original or certified copy

Make the agreement your default, not your exception

The agents who use a brokerage agreement on every deal stop having commission conversations at payout time, because the conversation already happened on page one. Keep a standard brokerage agreement format for India ready with your details pre-filled, adapt the property and fee per deal, and make signing it as routine as sharing your visiting card.

Landeo keeps this workflow together: your deals move through a pipeline with commission terms recorded against each one, documents stay attached to the deal they belong to, and GST invoices generate when the deal closes. The agreement protects the fee; the system makes sure nothing about the deal is ever just in your head.

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