Buyer broker agreements in Utah and Idaho: what changed in 2024 and who pays

A buyer broker agreement is a contract between a buyer and a real estate brokerage. It says whether the brokerage represents the buyer, for how long, for which homes or areas, and what the buyer will owe for the brokerage's services. The seller doesn't sign it and isn't bound by it.

These agreements existed long before 2024. What changed is that they became required nationwide for MLS participants, and their pay terms became stricter. Under the NAR settlement practice changes that took effect August 17, 2024, an MLS participant working with a buyer must have a written agreement in place before the buyer tours a home, unless state law requires one earlier. NAR's FAQs define touring as the buyer or agent entering the house, including a live virtual tour, and a home as a property with one to four residential units.

Two other points from NAR's FAQs shape every agreement written since then. The compensation must be "objectively ascertainable and not open-ended," so "whatever the seller is offering" or "between X and Y percent" won't work. And the buyer's brokerage can't receive more from any source than the amount or rate in the agreement.

This page is about the agreement itself and the agency rules around it. For the money side, see /selling-costs/buyer-agent-commission/ (whether a seller should pay the buyer's agent) and /buy/guides/buyer-agent-commission/ (how a buyer's agent gets paid, including lender limits).

This page summarizes Utah and Idaho licensing law, rules and forms and NAR's published settlement FAQs as of October 2026. It isn't legal advice. Read the agreement before you sign it, and talk to a real estate attorney about your situation.

No. Utah's Division of Real Estate publishes a short list of state-approved forms, and it covers the Real Estate Purchase Contract (REPC) and its addenda, such as the FHA/VA, seller financing, assumption and lead-based paint addenda. There's no buyer broker or buyer agency agreement on that list, and none appears in the approved-forms rule, R162-2f-401f.

What Utah does require is a written agreement. Rule R162-2f-401a(2) says a licensee must define the scope of their agency by executing a written agency agreement with each principal, including buyers the licensee represents and buyers and sellers represented as a limited agent in the same deal. The rule doesn't publish the form or dictate its pay terms.

In practice, most Utah agents who are REALTORS® use the Utah Association of REALTORS® (UAR) Exclusive Buyer-Broker Agreement and Agency Disclosure. UAR says it updated the form in 2024 to comply with the settlement and that it's very similar to the previous version. According to UAR, the revised form:

• Can run for one day, six months or any other negotiated period, with an end date stating when it ends.
• States the compensation the buyer is obligated to pay, and it isn't open-ended.
• Emphasizes that brokerage fees are fully negotiable.
• Lets the buyer's financial obligation be offset by a third party, such as a seller who agrees to contribute.
• Covers either a county or a specific property, not both.
• Bars the brokerage from accepting more compensation from any source than the agreement provides.
• Lists properties excluded because the buyer already has a representation agreement with another brokerage for them.

UAR says having the form signed before showing a property satisfies the settlement's written-agreement requirement. A brokerage that isn't a UAR member may use its own agreement, which still has to meet R162-2f-401a and, if the brokerage is an MLS participant, the MLS rules.

Utah's rules also set when agency must be disclosed. A licensee must disclose the agency relationship on first contact with another agent in the deal (R162-2f-401a(9)), disclose it in writing to clients, other agents and unrepresented parties before a binding purchase agreement is signed (R162-2f-401a(6)), and confirm it in the purchase contract (R162-2f-401a(10)). The REPC's Section 5, Confirmation of Agency Disclosure, is where each agent and brokerage states whether it represents the buyer, the seller, or both as a limited agent.

Idaho's brokerage representation law (Idaho Code §§ 54-2082 through 54-2097) is stricter about the writing than the NAR rule. Section 54-2084 says a buyer isn't represented by a brokerage unless they agree to representation in a separate written document, and that no type of agency "may be assumed by a brokerage, buyer or seller or created orally or by implication." Section 54-2083(16) repeats that a representation agreement can only be made in writing.

Idaho recognizes four relationships (§ 54-2084(2)): nonagency, agency representation, limited dual agency, and limited dual agency with assigned agents. A buyer who hasn't signed a representation agreement is a customer, not a client. A brokerage can still work with a customer, owing the duties in § 54-2086, such as honesty, reasonable skill and care, and disclosing adverse material facts it knows or should know.

The timing rules come in layers.

• At the first substantial business contact, a licensee must give the buyer or seller the Idaho Real Estate Commission's agency disclosure brochure and keep a signed, dated record of receipt (§ 54-2085(1)). The brochure must say conspicuously that no representation exists without a written agreement.
• The brokerage's relationship must be determined and all necessary agreements signed no later than preparation of a purchase and sale agreement (§ 54-2085(3)).
• The purchase agreement, or a document attached to it, must contain a Representation Confirmation in which the buyer and seller each check the relationship they had with the brokerages (§ 54-2085(4)).
• For an MLS participant, the NAR rule moves the deadline earlier, to before the first home tour.

Every Idaho buyer representation agreement, exclusive or not, must contain conspicuous and definite beginning and expiration dates, all of the buyer's financial obligations including fees or commissions, the manner in which the fee will be paid to the broker, and signatures with dates (§ 54-2050(2)). The licensee must hand the buyer a signed copy at signing (§ 54-2050(5)).

Idaho REALTORS® publishes its own forms for members. Its settlement FAQ calls the RE-14 the buyer representation agreement and the RE-15 the buyer compensation agreement. It added the RE-5, a prior-to-touring agreement for a buyer who wants to see a home but doesn't want to sign a representation or compensation agreement yet. Idaho REALTORS® says the RE-5 isn't a substitute for the RE-14 or RE-15 once the agent is going to negotiate for the buyer or present the buyer's offers.

One more Idaho rule matters to sellers. Under § 54-2089, paying a brokerage, or signing an agreement only to pay it, doesn't by itself create an agency relationship. A seller who agrees to pay the buyer's brokerage isn't hiring that brokerage.

Forms differ by brokerage, but the terms below come up in almost every agreement. The right-hand column shows where a requirement comes from. Where it says "negotiated," no Utah or Idaho law sets the term.

NAR's FAQs say NAR policy doesn't dictate the type of relationship, the term, the services or the amount. A buyer and brokerage can also sign a new or amended agreement later, as long as it still meets the settlement requirements.

An exclusive agreement means the buyer agrees to work with only that brokerage during the term. Idaho REALTORS®' legal hotline describes the RE-14 as an exclusive right to represent. It notes that if the agreement is limited to a specific city, county or address, the buyer can sign with a different brokerage for properties it doesn't cover. UAR's Utah form is exclusive too, but it can be limited to a single property.

A nonexclusive agreement lets a buyer work with more than one brokerage. NAR's FAQs give the example of a buyer signing nonexclusive agreements with several brokerages. If two brokerages then claim the same fee, an arbitration panel may have to decide which one was the procuring cause.

In Idaho, § 54-2091 says representation begins on the date in the written agreement and ends at the earliest of three events:

• Performance or completion of the representation, usually closing.
• Agreement by the parties to end it.
• Expiration of the agreement.

Utah's rules don't set an end-of-agency rule for buyer agreements. The form's own end date and termination terms control. Read the agreement for any clause about what you'd owe if you buy a covered home after it ends, or through another brokerage during the term. Those clauses are a matter of the contract, and a real estate attorney can tell you how one would apply.

If you're a buyer who isn't sure about an agent, ask for a short term or a single-property agreement. NAR's FAQs list one day, one month, one house and one ZIP code as examples of the term.

Nothing in Utah or Idaho law requires a seller to pay the buyer's brokerage. The buyer's agreement is between the buyer and their brokerage, so if you don't agree to contribute, the buyer owes whatever that agreement says. In Utah, the REPC's Section 4.3(e) says that if no Seller's Compensation Contribution is entered, the seller hasn't agreed to compensate the buyer's brokerage in the REPC.

Not offering doesn't make your home off-limits to represented buyers. The agreement tells the buyer what they owe, so buyers can still tour and make offers. Many will ask you to cover some or all of their agent's fee in the offer. NAR's FAQs say a buyer can always ask for that as a term of the offer.

Your listing agent also can't sit on an offer because of it. NAR's Standard of Practice 16-16, as NAR's FAQs describe it, prohibits a REALTOR® from delaying or withholding delivery of a buyer's offer while trying to negotiate buyer broker compensation.

Whether offering is worth it, and how much, is covered at /selling-costs/buyer-agent-commission/. You can test numbers in /selling-costs/commission-calculator/.

Treat it like any other term. You can accept, counter or decline it, and it's one piece of the offer's overall value.

• Compare offers by net, not price. Subtract the requested compensation, any closing-cost concession and your own costs from each offer's price.
• Ask what the buyer's agreement allows. In Utah, the REPC says the buyer agrees that the seller's contribution, plus any payment from the listing brokerage, won't exceed what the buyer owes under their buyer-broker agreement. Offering more than that doesn't help the buyer's agent.
• Counter the amount or the form. You can offer a smaller percentage, a flat dollar amount, or a concession toward the buyer's closing costs instead.
• Get it in the purchase contract. In Utah, that's the Seller's Compensation Contribution in REPC Section 4.3(e). In Idaho, it goes in the purchase agreement or a separate written compensation agreement. Idaho REALTORS® says its RE-16C can be used to negotiate compensation between the buyer's agent and the listing agent.
• Check the agency confirmation. Before you sign, look at REPC Section 5 in Utah, or the Representation Confirmation in Idaho, so you know who represents whom.

Here's a hypothetical comparison. Offer A is $410,000 and asks you to contribute 2% to the buyer's brokerage, which is $8,200. Offer B is $400,000 with no request. Before your other costs, Offer A nets you $401,800 and Offer B nets $400,000. Offer A is still ahead, but by $1,800, not $10,000. Financing terms, contingencies and timing matter as much as the number.

With a flat listing fee, such as JupiDoor's Utah tiers, your own fee doesn't rise with the price, so comparing offers comes down mostly to the buyer's request and any concessions.

Sometimes the same agent or brokerage works for both the buyer and the seller. Both states allow it only with written consent, and both strip out the duty of undivided loyalty. NAR's FAQs say a dual agent works with the buyer, so a written buyer agreement is still required before touring.

In Idaho, consent can be given in advance. Section 54-2088(8) says consent to possible future dual representation, such as a clause in a listing or buyer representation agreement, is effective consent. Idaho REALTORS®' legal hotline adds that properly informed parties can consent to limited dual agency at any time during the representation. So check your listing or buyer agreement for that clause before you sign.

For a seller, the trade-off is simple. A limited agent can't tell you what the buyer would really pay or push the buyer for a better price. If that matters to you, say so in your listing agreement.

A buyer doesn't have to hire an agent. The NAR rule applies only to MLS participants working with buyers. NAR's FAQs say a listing agent who hosts an open house or gives an unrepresented buyer access to a listing, working only for the seller, doesn't need a written agreement with that buyer. That changes if the buyer asks the listing agent to show other homes or to represent them, as Idaho REALTORS® points out.

Your listing agent still owes the unrepresented buyer some duties. In Utah, the agent must disclose their agency relationships in writing to unrepresented parties before a binding purchase agreement (R162-2f-401a(6)). In Idaho, an unrepresented buyer is a customer, and the brokerage owes the customer duties in § 54-2086, including honesty and disclosing adverse material facts. If the listing agent agrees to represent the buyer too, that's limited agency or limited dual agency, and the consent rules above apply.

If you're selling by owner and a buyer arrives with an agent, ask the agent early how they're being paid and whether they expect you to contribute. Our by-owner guides cover the offer itself: /utah/sell-by-owner/repc-explained/ for Utah and /idaho/sell-by-owner/purchase-agreement/ for Idaho.