California: buyer-agreement requirements.

This page lists what California requires, at the state level, before a licensee represents a buyer: who regulates real-estate licensees, whether a written buyer agreement is required by state law or rule, the statute or rule that says so, and whether the state mandates an agency-disclosure form or publishes an approved agreement form.

It is built for broker-owners and transaction coordinators who need the state rule in one place before setting office policy. Read it alongside your brokerage's own forms and your broker of record's guidance — the written-agreement question became a national practice issue in 2024, but the rule that binds you is your state's, and it is the state rule this page cites.

California, field by field.

Regulating authority

California Department of Real Estate (DRE)

Written agreement required by state law

Yes

Statute or rule

Cal. Civ. Code § 1670.50 et seq. — Title 4.1, added by AB 2992 (Ch. 516, Stats. 2024), approved by the Governor 2024-09-24, operative 2025-01-01. Agency disclosure timing at Cal. Civ. Code § 2079.14. Bill and code text read at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.

Agency disclosure form

Yes — the disclosure form's wording is set out in the Civil Code. § 2079.14: the buyer's agent must provide the disclosure form 'as soon as practicable before execution of a buyer-broker representation agreement' and before execution of the buyer's offer; if the offer is not prepared by the buyer's agent, 'not later than the next business day after receiving the offer.'

State-approved form available

Yes — mandatory use

Notes. The operative language: 'A buyer-broker representation agreement shall be executed between a buyer's agent and a buyer as soon as practicable, but no later than the execution of the buyer's offer to purchase real property.' The trap is the term limit: 'A buyer-broker representation agreement shall not last longer than three months from the date the agreement was made.' The statute also prohibits automatic renewal and voids agreements that violate the durational rule. A 6- or 12-month buyer agreement imported from another state can therefore be unenforceable here — which means an unenforceable compensation clause. The agreement is between the buyer and the brokerage. CARVE-OUT: the three-month cap in § 1670.50(d)(1) does not apply to an agreement between a broker and a corporation, LLC, partnership or other business entity — read the sentence immediately following the cap before applying it to a commercial client.