Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of real estate brokers, real estate broker-salespersons and real estate salespersons by the Real Estate Division of the Department of Business and Industry. (Chapter 645 of NRS) Existing law defines “brokerage agreement” to mean an oral or written contract between a client and a broker in which the broker agrees to accept valuable consideration from the client for assisting, soliciting or negotiating the sale, purchase, option, rental or lease of real property, or the sale, exchange, option or purchase of a business. (NRS 645.005) Existing law imposes various requirements relating to such brokerage agreements, including, without limitation, requirements concerning: (1) the duties of a licensee who has entered into a brokerage agreement to represent a client in a real estate transaction; (2) the delivery of a copy of a brokerage agreement to a client; and (3) the form and contents of a brokerage agreement which includes a provision for exclusive representation. (NRS 645.254, 645.300, 645.320) Section 2 of this bill revises the definition of “brokerage agreement” to remove provisions which provide that an oral contract may constitute a brokerage agreement, thereby requiring a brokerage agreement to be in writing.
Sections 1, 3 and 5 of this bill revise references to written brokerage agreements to reflect that, under section 2, a contract is required to be in writing to constitute a brokerage agreement. Section 4 of this bill similarly eliminates a requirement that certain brokerage agreements be in writing which is made redundant by section 2.