BIC TIP #1117 – Protection Periods Have Limits
Protection periods are often misunderstood, and BIC TIP #1117 is the reminder brokers need when emotions start driving expectations instead of the contract language.
If your former client enters into a new agency agreement with another firm, your protection period is effectively cut off. No commission is owed to your firm, even if your firm originally introduced the buyer or property during the term of your agreement.
On the listing side, this means that if your seller lists the property with another broker after your listing expires, your firm does not get paid just because your buyer shows up later. The protection period does not survive a new listing agreement with another firm.
On the buyer agency side, the same logic applies. The Exclusive Buyer Agency Agreement (Form 201) clearly states that the firm earns a fee if the buyer contracts on a property introduced by the firm unless the buyer has entered into another agency agreement with another real estate agent or firm. Once that happens, your contractual right to compensation is gone.
This is not a loophole. It is how the forms are written and how agency law works in North Carolina. Protection periods protect relationships, not monopolies.
Notorious BIC Tip:
Protection periods are not force fields. Once a client lawfully hires another firm, your protection ends. Contracts mean what they say, not what we wish they said.
