FACTS:

The listing agent refuses to submit the buyer’s offer to the seller unless the buyer pays a $100 “processing fee.”

ISSUE:

May the listing agent require a processing fee as a condition of submitting an offer?

ANSWER:

No.

DISCUSSION:

A listing agent is required by the Commissioner’s Rules to “promptly submit to the . . .  client all offers to purchase or lease the listed property.”  See A.A.C. R4-28-801(B).  The listing agent may not condition submitting of an offer on the buyer or buyer’s agent paying a “processing fee.”

Note:  The practice of collecting a processing fee is likely a RESPA violation as well.  See Busby v. JRHBW Realty, Inc. d/b/a RealtySouth, 642 F.Supp.2d 1283 (11th Cir. 2009).

Arizona REALTOR® Magazine – March 2012; updated December 2015