Real Estate Agent Guide 2026

By Carlos Romero Polanco | Published on August 14, 2026 | Litigation and Investigations

What should be signed, proven and verified before listing, showing or closing a property. The difference between a collectable commission and a long dispute is usually decided before the first showing.

1 What you can lose if you don't document

Three scenarios concentrate most commission disputes in the Dominican Republic:

Listed without an engagement. No one put in writing who hired you, or for how long.
Presented without proof. There is not a single document proving that this buyer came through you.
Closed without an agreement. You got to closing and the commission still had no owner.

The difference between a collectable commission and a long dispute is usually decided before the first showing.

2 Before accepting a property

The commission is not lost on closing day. It is lost earlier, when no one defined in writing what was commissioned, to whom and for how long. A broker without a documented engagement works hoping the other side will behave well.

The agreement does not have to be long. One page is enough. What cannot be missing is the definition of when your right to collect arises and what happens with the buyer you introduced once the engagement expires. That last point is the one that is almost always omitted, and it is the one later disputed in court. If it is not clear when your commission arises, it is not clear what your work is worth either.

What should be put in writing

Identity of the owner and the capacity in which he or she acts.
The property covered by the engagement and the authorized price.
Amount or percentage of the commission.
Who pays it.
The event that triggers it and the moment it arises.
Duration of the engagement.
Exclusivity, or expressly its absence.
Authorization to publish photographs, price and conditions.
The possibility of working with other brokers.
A mechanism to register the prospects presented.
The prospect protection period after the engagement expires.
What happens if the owner sells directly to that prospect.

None of these points requires a complex contract. It requires deciding them beforehand, when there is still no money on the table and no one has a reason to argue.

Three disputes that one piece of paper resolves

1. The owner closes directly with the buyer you introduced. With an agreed protection period, the dispute is about dates. Without it, it is about your word.

2. The owner claims he already knew that buyer. With a prospect registry and a certain date of presentation, that claim can be checked. Without a registry, it cannot.

3. Another broker claims to have introduced the same person first. Whoever can show the earlier proof wins, not whoever argues louder.

3 Verify

Listing is not just a commercial act. It is a statement. When you market a property you are saying that the property exists, that whoever is offering it can dispose of it, and that the advertised features are real. If any of the three fails, you are inside the dispute even if you did not draft the contract or touch the money.

It is worth separating two things that are often confused. Verifying to list is a reasonable and quick check, proper to the broker. Full acquisition due diligence is something else: it belongs to the buyer's lawyer and happens later. No one expects you to do the second. But the first one is yours.

A · Completed property

Identity of the owner and match with the title certificate holder.
Legal status certification, checked against the Title Registry and not only against the copy handed to you.
Power of attorney when the person hiring you is not the title holder, with apostille or legalization as applicable if it comes from abroad.
Marital status when relevant to dispose.
Precise identification of the property and the area to be advertised.
Authorized price and conditions to be published.

Pro Consumidor has clarified that everyone in the operation chain is a supplier, expressly mentioning the real estate agency and anyone regularly engaged in the sale of properties. This does not imply automatic liability, but it does place you inside the file from day one.

B · If the owner is a company

Existence and good standing of the company.
Who represents it and with what authority, according to the bylaws or the applicable representation mechanism.
Taxpayer Registry Number (Registro Nacional de Contribuyentes).

C · Project under construction

Title or status of the land and identification of the developer.
Essential permits applicable to the works.
Signed technical fact sheet, with areas, materials, amenities and estimated delivery date.
Official price and availability, and the agreed price update mechanism.
Tax benefits only when approval exists, identified by number and date.
Structure authorized to receive deposits.

If the developer refuses to hand over the land title and permits, read it carefully: he is not protecting confidential information. He is telling you something about the state of his project.

4 Stop

Seven situations that should stop a listing. Not all of them force you to reject; almost all force you to condition.

Condition 01 The owner does not match the title certificate holder. Ask for the legal status certification; if no one explains it, reject.

Reject 02 The owner refuses to sign any engagement document. Whoever will not define the commission in writing leaves your collection at the mercy of later evidence.

Condition 03 You are asked to publish a price or conditions that no one authorized in writing. Publish only what you can back with a document.

Condition 04 Price far below market without an explained cause. It may respond to a legitimate urgency, but it may also hide a lien, litigation or registry problem they have not told you about yet.

Condition 05 They propose that the deposit go into the agency's account. If it is not in writing who receives it, on whose behalf, for what purpose and under what refund conditions, you receive third-party funds without your position being documented.

Condition 06 Advertising already circulates with amenities, profitability and delivery dates, and there is no signed technical fact sheet. Publish only what the fact sheet contains.

Reject 07 Buyer or seller who avoid identifying themselves or explaining the origin of the funds. Law 155-17 and DGII General Rule 03-18 impose due diligence duties on real estate agents who participate in purchases and sales for their clients. This is not your preference.

5 Present and reserve

This is where the commission is truly protected. Every time you present a buyer, there must be a record of the property, the identity of the prospect, the date, the means by which he or she was presented, the broker who presented him or her and the applicable protection period.

An email sent the same day to the owner serves that purpose. Nothing more is needed.

Offers and changes of conditions

Do not present as final a condition that the owner or developer has not authorized. If the price, payment method, delivery date, included furniture, an incentive or availability changes, ask for written confirmation before communicating it. What you state is attributed to you.

Before receiving a deposit

It must be defined who receives the money, on whose behalf, under what concept, for what amount, under what refund conditions, within what term and what happens if the transaction does not proceed. And the corresponding receipt must be issued. Receiving funds in personal accounts is not a prudent option in any scenario.

The message you do not send today is the evidence you will lack six months from now.

Co-brokerage

When two brokers are involved, define before the first showing who represents each side, how the commission is split, who registers the prospect, what happens if he or she was already registered and when each part is paid. A message with those five points, accepted by the other broker, avoids the dispute that usually appears on closing day.

Signals to stop and escalate

Whoever avoids identifying themselves.
Opaque corporate structures without explanation.
A third party intending to pay without apparent reason.
Unusual instructions about the handling of money.

6 Renting

In renting, the first question is no longer what the property is worth. It is who pays your commission. Law 85-25 replaced Law 4314 of 1955, and the "two plus one" stopped being a burden that can be automatically imposed on the tenant: two months of deposit, one month of commission to the intermediary and, frequently, the cost of drafting and notarizing the contract.

These are two different rules and they should not be confused. Article 7 provides that the brokerage commission is paid by whoever hires the broker, while the legal costs of the contract are split equally between owner and tenant. And that same article adds something that works in your favor: every publication or rental offer is deemed ordered or contracted by the owner.

If you get to closing without having defined who pays your commission, you arrived late.

The practical consequence is simple: agree your commission with the owner before showing the property, and put it in writing. The broker who keeps assuming the tenant pays his month will find out on signing day, when he has no room left.

What should be documented

Written contract, with the parties' details, description of the property, term and conditions. The law admits an oral contract and, in that case, presumes a minimum term of one year for housing and two for commercial premises.
Deposit of no more than two months' rent for housing. For commercial premises, whatever the parties agree.
Inventory and condition of the property at the time of handover.
Registration of the contract with the Civil Registry and Mortgage Conservation Office of the municipality, so it is enforceable against third parties.
The guarantee may be deposited, by prior agreement between the parties, at Banco Agrícola or Baneservas of the locality, with interest in favor of the tenant. It is the bank that notifies the Ministry of Housing, Habitat and Buildings.
Adjustment as agreed. For housing, if not expressly agreed, it may not exceed ten percent.
Express authorization if subletting or assignment will be allowed. Without it, it is prohibited.

Realistic expectations about eviction

Every eviction must be authorized by a judge. Housing corresponds to the Justices of the Peace, and commercial premises or non-profit entities to the Courts of First Instance. For anyone managing a portfolio, the direct consequence is that any promise to remove a tenant quickly commits you, not the judge.

7 The evidence you will need

The minimum file you should keep in every transaction:

The engagement, with the commission defined.
The property and the identity of the prospect.
The date of presentation.
The notice sent to the owner.
The showings carried out.
The offers made.
The relevant communications.
The applicable protection period.
Evidence of the closing.

The document does not create your right. It makes it collectable.

8 2026 regulatory radar and case law

The bill that would regulate real estate intermediation, with licensing, public registry and prior written contract, is in legislative process. It was approved by the Senate and is not binding law. Whoever professionalizes their documentation today will reach that moment without changing anything.

If you operate as an agency or company, there are also corporate, tax and compliance obligations that require their own review and are not covered in this guide.

Lessons from Dominican case law

Lesson one. It is not enough to prove work. You must prove the connection between the engagement, the prospect you introduced and the transaction finally concluded. The Joint Chambers of the Supreme Court of Justice, in its judgment no. 8 of December 2010, B.J. 1201, required proving that the property was sold to one of the clients suggested by the broker during the term of the contract or the period in which it extends its effects.

Lesson two. Closing directly does not necessarily extinguish the commission. In judgment no. 1103-BIS of June 29, 2018, the First Chamber heard a case with a sale and rental authorization in which the owner sold without the agency's involvement, and the order to pay was confirmed, rejecting the cassation appeal.

If it already happened: preserve and organize the evidence, formally demand payment when applicable, and evaluate the action that lies. In that order, and without improvising the first one.

9 We document it for you

Every week that you list, show and negotiate without these documents is a commission that depends on someone else's goodwill. We prepare the complete system for your operation: intermediation agreement with prospect protection, listing acceptance sheet, presentation notice, rules for working with other brokers and deposit protocol. It is done once and works for all the listings of the year.

Write to us at contact@legalhubrd.com · www.legalhubrd.com · Lic. Carlos Romero Polanco.

10 Legal note

This guide is based on Law 85-25 (which replaced Law 4314 of 1955), Law 155-17 and DGII General Rule 03-18, as well as the cited Supreme Court of Justice case law. The content is informative and does not constitute legal advice. The specific application to each transaction must be analyzed case by case before listing, presenting or closing a property.