Since Oct. 24, 2024, Ohio Buyers Sign Before the First Showing: What the Exclusive Buyer Agency Agreement Contains

Since October 24, 2024, Ohio law has required every buyer to sign a written agency agreement before an agent shows a home or writes an offer. The form buyers most often see is Ohio REALTORS Form 101, the Exclusive Buyer Representation Agreement, which locks in a definite expiration date, a compensation amount that must be specific and negotiable, and a clause that keeps the agreement alive through closing once you sign a purchase contract. This guide explains, in plain English, what you are legally signing. It is general education, not legal advice; have a qualified Ohio attorney review any agreement before you sign it.

The change arrived through two parallel tracks: the national National Association of REALTORS (NAR) settlement, whose rules took effect August 17, 2024, and Ohio House Bill 466, which Governor Mike DeWine signed on July 24, 2024 and which amended Ohio Revised Code Sections 4735.55, 4735.56, and 4735.59. Together they ended the old model where a buyer could tour homes for weeks with no paperwork and no written understanding of who paid for what. Today, the agreement is the foundation of every buyer representation relationship in the state, and knowing what it contains protects you whether you buy in Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati, or Cleveland.

What Exactly Changed in Ohio Buyer Agency Law, and When?

Ohio House Bill 466, introduced in the 135th General Assembly by Representatives Schmidt and Brennan, requires a licensed broker or salesperson to enter into a written agency agreement with a buyer before marketing or showing a seller's residential real property, before making an offer to purchase residential real property on behalf of a buyer, and before making an offer to lease residential premises on behalf of a buyer for a term exceeding 18 months. Before that date, a buyer could work with an agent informally, with no signed document defining the relationship, the term, or the compensation. Here is the full timeline with the reporting date for each item.

Date	Change	What it means for buyers
May 2024	Ohio REALTORS releases the new Buyer Broker Compensation Agreement form	The compensation disclosure form is available early so brokerages can adopt it before the settlement deadline
July 24, 2024	Gov. Mike DeWine signs Ohio House Bill 466 (135th General Assembly)	Ohio codifies the written buyer agency requirement into state license law
Aug. 17, 2024	NAR settlement rules take effect: offers of buyer-agent compensation are no longer advertised on NAR-affiliated MLSs, and a written buyer-broker agreement is required before touring	Buyers negotiate and sign compensation terms directly with their agent instead of seeing a commission offer on the listing
Oct. 24, 2024	House Bill 466 takes effect; ORC Sections 4735.55, 4735.56, and 4735.59 amended	A signed written agency agreement is required before an agent shows residential property or submits an offer on a buyer's behalf
2026 (current)	HB 466 and the settlement rules remain in force; MLS compensation fields stay off	Every Ohio buyer should expect a written agreement at the first private showing, in every market Glasshouse serves

Reporting note: dates and statutes accessed October 1, 2026, from the Ohio Legislature, Ohio REALTORS, and codes.ohio.gov. Sources are listed at the end of this article.

Do I Have to Sign a Buyer Agency Agreement Before Seeing a Home in Ohio?

Yes, once a private showing or an offer is involved. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 4735.55, a licensee must have a written agency agreement in place before marketing or showing a seller's residential real property to a buyer, before making an offer to purchase residential real property on a buyer's behalf, and before making an offer to lease residential premises on a buyer's behalf for a term longer than 18 months. You can still browse listings online and attend public open houses without signing anything, and an initial consultation about your goals, budget, and timeline does not require an agreement. But the moment you ask an agent to schedule a private showing, prepare an offer, or negotiate on your behalf, a signed agreement must already exist.

The practical effect is that the paperwork now comes early, not at closing. In our practice helping buyers across Ohio get through the new requirements, the two clauses that draw the most questions are the expiration date and the compensation paragraph, and both are explained below. The old surprise, discovering how an agent gets paid at the closing table, is exactly what the law was written to eliminate.

What Does the Standard Ohio Exclusive Buyer Agency Agreement Actually Say?

The statewide standard is Ohio REALTORS Form 101, the "Exclusive Buyer Representation Agreement (Percentage)," version 2.7.1 copyrighted 2024. It establishes an exclusive agency relationship between you and the brokerage: during the term, you agree to work only with that brokerage, and you represent that you have no conflicting buyer representation agreements with another firm. The form's key clauses are negotiable within limits set by law, and the most important ones are summarized in the table below.

Clause	What the standard form says	What to check before you sign
Exclusivity	You work with this brokerage alone for the term, and you represent that you have signed no conflicting buyer agreements	Confirm you are not already signed with another agent; a second exclusive agreement for the same period can create a double-compensation dispute
Term and expiration	Runs from a stated start date to a stated end date, expiring at 11:59 p.m. on the end date; the length is negotiable	Match the term to your real search timeline; typical terms run 30 to 90 days, and Ohio license law treats a missing firm expiration date as a serious defect
Extension through closing	If you enter into a purchase contract during the term, the agreement extends automatically through closing	Know that signing a contract keeps the relationship alive to the closing table, even if closing falls after the original end date
Compensation (paragraph 7)	Brokerage fees are not set by law and are fully negotiable; the amount must be stated as a specific disclosed figure, flat dollar or percentage, not open-ended and not contingent on what a seller offers	Read the actual number or percentage, and know what happens if the seller's side declines to pay all or part of it, because you may be responsible for the difference
Termination	Cancellation rules depend on the form version; some board forms allow either party to cancel with written notice, for example Columbus REALTORS RES-09 allows seven days' written notice	Ask directly how either side can end the agreement early, in writing, and get the answer in the form before you sign

Reporting note: Form 101 provisions summarized from the published Ohio REALTORS form and verified October 1, 2026. The specific form version a brokerage hands you controls; read that exact document and have an attorney review it.

Exclusive or Non-Exclusive: Which Buyer Agency Agreement Am I Signing?

Ohio REALTORS publishes two versions of the buyer representation agreement: Form 101, the exclusive percentage version, and Form 102, the non-exclusive version. The choice changes who you can work with and when a fee is earned, so it is worth understanding before the first showing.

Feature	Exclusive (Form 101)	Non-exclusive (Form 102)
Your commitment	You work with one brokerage for the term	You may work with more than one agent at the same time
When the broker earns its fee	If you enter a purchase agreement during the term, the brokerage earns its agreed fee even when another agent found the home	Compensation is generally tied to the home that broker's agent actually produced for you; confirm the exact wording in the form
Agent attention	One agent carries your search start to finish	Several agents may compete for your business, and each knows you are not committed
Best fit	Buyers ready to commit to one agent for the whole search	Buyers still interviewing agents and wanting flexibility before committing

How Does Buyer Agent Compensation Work in Ohio Now?

Before August 17, 2024, sellers routinely advertised a buyer agent commission in the MLS listing, and buyers rarely saw or signed anything about it. Under the NAR settlement, offers of compensation to a buyer's agent can no longer be advertised on NAR-affiliated MLSs, so the compensation conversation moved out of the listing and into the written agreement. Form 101's compensation paragraph states the rule plainly: fees are not set by law and are negotiable, and the amount must be written down as a specific figure or percentage that is not open-ended and not contingent on what the seller offers.

In practice, the buyer's agent can still be paid by the seller as a negotiated term of the purchase contract, by the buyer directly, or through a combination, and many Ohio buyers now negotiate a seller concession in the offer to cover the buyer-side fee. What changed is transparency: the number is on paper, agreed in advance, and signed by the buyer. If the seller's side declines to pay all or part of the agreed amount, the agreement may make the buyer responsible for the difference, which is exactly why the specific number and the fallback should be discussed before, not after, you fall in love with a house. Mortgage, VA loan, appraisal, and title questions around the fee structure belong to your lender and your title company, and legal questions belong to a qualified Ohio attorney.

What Is Dual Agency, and When Do I Have to Consent?

Dual agency is one of the least understood parts of the paperwork, and Ohio law is specific about it. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 4735.70, dual agency exists when a licensee or brokerage represents both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction, and under Ohio Revised Code Section 4735.71, no one may participate in a dual agency relationship unless both parties have full knowledge of it and consent in writing. That consent happens on the agency disclosure statement described in Ohio Revised Code Section 4735.57, which spells out whom each licensee represents and whether two licensees from the same brokerage are acting as dual agents or separately.

Ohio also allows designated agency: under Ohio Administrative Code Rule 1301:5-6-08, a client can authorize one licensee in a brokerage to assign other licensees in the same firm to represent the client's interests. When separate agents from one brokerage represent the buyer and the seller individually, the individual agents are not dual agents, but the brokerage itself still is, so the brokerage-level consent requirement remains. The practical question to ask before signing is simple: if we see a home listed by this same brokerage, how does representation work, and what will I be asked to sign? A reputable agent answers that before you ever sit down to sign the buyer agency agreement.

What Happens if I Buy a Home After My Agreement Expires?

The standard form handles the most common scenario automatically: if you enter into a purchase contract during the term, the agreement extends through closing, so the agent who found the home and negotiated the deal stays represented to the closing table. If the term simply runs out with no contract signed, the relationship ends on the stated expiration date, which is why Ohio license law treats a missing firm expiration date as a serious defect in the form.

The gray zone is a home you were shown during the term but buy after it ends. Protection period clauses, sometimes called tail clauses, vary by form and broker, and they are one of the details buyers most often skip. If the form includes one, it typically means the brokerage still earns its fee if you buy a home introduced during the term within a set window after expiration, so ask directly what happens to homes already shown, and get the answer in writing in the agreement. Whether an agreement can be extended or cancelled by written notice also depends on the form, with some board forms such as Columbus REALTORS RES-09 permitting either party to cancel with seven days' written notice.

If you are starting a search anywhere in the state, our buyer guide walks the full path from pre-approval to closing at the Glasshouse Realty buyer resources page, and first-time buyers can work through the structured lessons in our First-Time Buyer Academy. For the earlier Dayton-focused read on how the written agreement requirement changed the showing process, see what Ohio's buyer agency law means for home buyers in Dayton. The paperwork has changed, but the standard is the same at every Glasshouse office: read the whole form, ask every question, and sign only when you understand the deal.