Dear Alabama REALTORS®,

We want to inform you of an important change to the Alabama Association of REALTORS® Statewide Legal Forms Library that will take effect on October 1, 2025.

Due to recent legal developments across the country and increased scrutiny of many areas of the real estate profession, AAR will soon remove the option for broker-to-broker offers of compensation from our Legal Forms. Starting October 1, 2025, the AAR Statewide Legal Forms Library will no longer provide an option for broker-to-broker compensation offers. Instead, any requests for concessions or buyer broker compensation, and any related negotiation, may take place between the consumers in the AAR Purchase Agreement. 

Background: 

This decision is the result of careful review and consideration by AAR’s Legal Team and leadership, with input from REALTORS® throughout the state. AAR’s primary policy considerations in this decision were: 1) the potential legal impact for our members, and 2) improving transparency for consumers.

We believe the decision to remove broker-to-broker compensation from our Legal Forms helps achieve both goals:

Legal Impact for Members  – AAR’s Legal Team has closely monitored legal developments across the country, especially comments made by the US Department of Justice (“DOJ”) related to broker-to-broker compensation and other real estate practices. Recently, in June 2025, the DOJ issued their firmest statement to date on the topic, which characterized broker-to-broker compensation and blanket offers of compensation as “an anticompetitive practice that inflates costs for home buyers and sellers.”^[1] Based on this and other statements by the DOJ, and ongoing legal analysis, AAR believes that continuing to engage in broker-to-broker compensation offers could lead to potential future liability for brokers, agents, and companies. We value and appreciate the efforts of the DOJ to bring greater awareness to these issues. 
 
Consumer Transparency – Efforts to continue to make the real estate transaction clearer and more transparent for consumers will be ongoing. While broker-to-broker compensation can be done transparently, unfortunately, it may also occur without the consumer’s knowledge, involvement, or awareness. This poses a significant concern. As we have seen in the past, a small number of bad actors can create legal liability for themselves and impact the entire real estate industry and profession. Moving to a system of negotiating concessions and buyer broker compensation in the Purchase Agreement helps ensure that the consumers are more fully informed and involved in the process.

We are notifying you of these changes now so that you have time to update your procedures, ask any questions you may have, and be ready when the switch is made on October 1, 2025.

What's Changing: 
We will be making the following changes to our Statewide Forms Library as of 10/1/2025:

• Listing Agreements: The Listing Agreements which reference broker-to-broker compensation – RF 1.1(A), RF 1.1(B), and RF 1.3(A) – will be removed from our library.
  • Listing Agreements which do not reference broker-to-broker compensation – RF 1.1(C), RF 1.1(D), and RF 1.3(B) – will remain in the library.
• Buyer Agreements: Any reference to broker-to-broker compensation will be removed from the forms.
• Compensation Agreement Between Alabama Brokers – RF 1.8 will be removed from the library.
• Purchase Agreements: The space to indicate that a Compensation Agreement has been executed will be removed. The remainder of the buyer broker compensation paragraph will remain in the forms.

Going Forward: 
Please note that once the above-noted forms are removed from the library, AAR will no longer support their use. If you would like to continue making broker-to-broker offers, you will need to obtain alternative forms for your brokerage’s use.

We will be hosting a webinar on August 25 at 10:00 AM to review these changes and answer any questions you may have. Please click the link below to register. In the meantime, please feel free to submit questions to the Legal Line.

Thank you for your support of AAR and for your patience as we update the AAR Statewide Legal Forms Library.

Warm regards,

Carol Andrews
Chair, Legal Forms Advisory Task Force
Alabama Association of REALTORS®

Jeremy Walker
Chief Executive Officer
Alabama Association of REALTORS®

^[1] Response of the United States to Plaintiff’s Renewed Mot. For Preliminary Approval, Nosalek v MLS PIN, No. 1:20-cv-12244-PBS (D. Mass.).