South Carolina: buyer-agreement requirements.

This page lists what South Carolina 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.

South Carolina, field by field.

Regulating authority

South Carolina Real Estate Commission — Dept. of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR)

Written agreement required by state law

Yes

Statute or rule

S.C. Code § 40-57-135(I)(2) (listing and buyer's representation agreements in writing); dual agency form at S.C. Code § 40-57-350(I)(1). Read at scstatehouse.gov.

Agency disclosure form

Partly verified. § 40-57-350(I)(1): consent to dual agency 'is presumed to be informed if a party signs a completed copy of a dual agency agreement, promulgated by the commission,' and where dual agency applies that form must be signed by the buyer before writing an offer. We did not verify a separate standalone buyer agency disclosure form.

State-approved form available

Yes — mandatory use

Notes. 'A listing or buyer's representation agreement must be in writing and must set forth all material terms.' South Carolina puts the substance inside the agreement — duties, compensation, duration, termination — rather than in a separate mandated buyer brochure. The dual agency form is the Commission's own and must be signed before an offer is written, so if there is any chance a file goes dual, get that signature early rather than at the offer table.