Virginia: buyer-agreement requirements.

This page lists what Virginia 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.

Virginia, field by field.

Regulating authority

Virginia Real Estate Board — Dept. of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR)

Written agreement required by state law

Yes

Statute or rule

Va. Code § 54.1-2137, as amended (the section carries 2025 amendments, Acts ch. 479 and ch. 495). Read at law.lis.virginia.gov.

Agency disclosure form

Not verified. Virginia's brokerage relationship disclosure duties sit in the surrounding sections of Title 54.1, ch. 21, which we did not read. Confirm the current section and form with the Real Estate Board.

State-approved form available

Not verified

Notes. 'A licensee shall enter into a brokerage agreement with a prospective client prior to providing brokerage services.' Brokerage relationships 'shall commence at the time that a client engages a licensee to provide brokerage services.' One carve-out appears in the text itself: 'A licensee shall not be required to enter into a brokerage agreement prior to preparing property-specific materials with the intent to obtain a brokerage relationship.' Note the section was amended in 2025 — read the current text, not a 2024 write-up, and not a summary of the original NAR-settlement-era version.