Real Estate Brokerage
Who may be paid
Texas brokerage is a licensed-broker business. A salesperson or broker associate may not accept compensation for a brokerage act from anyone except the sponsoring broker; commissions belong to the broker and are split by written agreement. Referral fees to unlicensed persons are prohibited. Unlicensed assistants may handle clerical work and, with limits, open houses, but may never negotiate or interpret contract terms. Antitrust is a separate trap: discussing commission rates or splits with a competitor is a Sherman Act problem regardless of what TREC thinks.
TREC rules that generate questions
Advertising must display the licensed name of the sponsoring broker in a readily noticeable way - this includes team names, websites, and social media. Trust funds (earnest money, rents, deposits) go into a TREC-compliant trust or escrow account, never the broker's operating account, and are disbursed only on proper written authorization or court order. Brokerage records are retained at least four years. The broker, not the salesperson, is primarily accountable to TREC for supervision, advertising, and trust funds, and must maintain a written office policy on agency.
Traps
- A lender or another broker offers a salesperson a "referral fee" directly - a violation even though it feels like a gift.
- An unlicensed assistant "explains the contract" - that is negotiating.
- Paying a commission to an unlicensed LLC, out-of-state entity, or unlicensed investor.
Rule of thumb
Follow the money: any payment for a brokerage act must trace through the sponsoring broker's records. Worked example - a listing broker pays $2,000 to an unlicensed investor who brought the buyer: prohibited, because payment may go only to a licensed person (or the broker's own sponsored agents).