Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Connecticut

We own a house in Connecticut. We had house listed with realtor and recently rented the house with an option to buy. The realtor took a month's rent as a fee. The realtor now wants us to sign a (new) one year contract, keeping them as realtor. Are we required to sign a new contract and if so, how would the fee/percentage for reator be determined. We are allowing part of the rent as going toward the purchase of the house, so at the time of closing, the $$ will have decreased. Since the realtor has already taken a fee, are they also entitled to the percentage of the sell of home a year later too. Thank you for your assistance


Asked on 11/03/09, 10:49 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Linda Subbloie Linda A. Subbloie, Esq.

You are not required to sign a new contract with the same realtor. Furthermore, it doesn't even have to be a year contract. You can negotiate a contract for as short as one day, several months or whatever you all agree on. You have the right to seek out another realtor and negotiate whatever contract you want. Remember, there are a lot of realtors out there. I'm sure they don't want to lose the potential sale so you are pretty much sitting in the driver seat!

I don't know what your other contract said so I don't have all the facts. If the old contract merely gave the realtor the one month fee for renting it, and you don't have a contract pending with a realtor if/when the renters purchase the house, then you don't necessarily owe the realtor or any realtor, for that matter any fee. You may not want to sign a contract with a realtor at the moment if you think the renters may buy your house because then you may owe the realtor a fee.

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Answered on 11/08/09, 12:05 pm


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