Of all the changes in the July 2026 forms, this is the one I spend the most time on in class. It changes how buyer-agent compensation gets negotiated, and it settles a question that never should have been a question: are we under contract or not?
Why Form 220 had to change
After the 2024 NAR settlement and the MLS rule changes that followed, Form 220 became the main way North Carolina brokers documented cooperative compensation. It was a separate agreement. It had a checkbox for whether the seller or the listing firm would pay. Some listing agents had sellers sign it at the listing appointment, and some buyer agents sent it along with the offer.
That second habit caused the real trouble. Say the seller changed the compensation on the 220 but signed the contract exactly as written. Did you have a contract? On the NC REALTORS® legal hotline, the honest answer was sometimes “maybe.” Our whole business turns on whether we’re under contract, so “maybe” isn’t good enough.
The fix took a change in state law. Until 2025, license law didn’t allow compensation terms in a preprinted offer form. Session Law 2025-52 (Senate Bill 690) changed that, and with the July 2026 forms, Form 220 became the Buyer Agent Compensation Addendum, attached to the contract like any other addendum.
What’s different about the new form
| Old Form 220 (2024–2026) | New Form 220 (July 2026) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A stand-alone agreement | An addendum that becomes part of the contract |
| Who pays | Seller or listing firm (checkbox) | Seller only, at closing |
| Who receives it | The buyer’s firm | The buyer, as a credit toward what the buyer owes their own agent |
| Who signs | Buyer, seller and listing firm | Buyer and seller only. No firm is a party. |
| When it’s signed | Often at the listing appointment | With the offer, negotiated like any other term |
| Expiration | Had its own expiration date | None. It lives and dies with the contract. |
Fill in one blank on the new form: a dollar amount or a percentage of the price, never both. It also applies to new construction (Form 800-T) and vacant land (Form 12-T) contracts. The old Form 220G guidelines are gone. NC REALTORS® says to list the 220 in the part of the contract that identifies other attorney- or party-drafted addenda.
The 220 can never be more than your buyer agency agreement
If you remember one thing from this article, make it this: the amount on the 220 can’t exceed what your buyer agreed to pay you in Form 201. The seller’s credit can equal it or be less than it, but it can’t be more.
So before you draft a 220, open your signed buyer agency agreement and check two things. First, is this property within its scope? Watch for a geographic limit, a property-type exclusion or an expired term. Second, what compensation does the 201 say for this kind of property? On the 220, your buyer confirms both of those points, so they need to be true.
A change to the 220 is a counteroffer
Because the 220 is now part of the contract, the normal offer-and-acceptance rules apply to it. If the seller signs the contract but writes a lower number on the 220, that isn’t acceptance. It’s a counteroffer on the whole contract. No more “maybe.” Either everyone signed the same terms, or there’s no contract yet.
Keep compensation and closing costs separate
The July forms moved seller concessions to page one of the contract, in Paragraph 1(e). Those concessions are in addition to whatever is on the 220. Don’t combine them.
Say your buyer needs $6,000 toward closing costs and is also asking the seller to help with compensation. The $6,000 goes in Paragraph 1(e). The compensation goes on the 220, by itself. Two numbers, two places, and the closing attorney sees exactly what each one is for.
One more point about 1(e) to share with sellers: the contract leaves it to the buyer and the buyer’s lender to decide how concessions are used, as long as they’re costs tied to the purchase. A seller who later objects to how the money was spent has already agreed to let the buyer decide.
Advertised isn’t promised
On the listing side, Paragraph 7(c) of the revised listing agreement (Form 101) lets the seller authorize the listing firm to advertise that the seller may provide a credit toward buyer-agent compensation. The seller can name any amount, including zero. That’s permission to advertise, not a promise to pay. Offers of compensation still can’t go in the MLS, so buyer agents learn about them by asking.
For buyer agents, the lesson is simple. Just because a seller says they’ll consider a certain amount doesn’t mean you’ll get it. The seller can negotiate it down like any other term. What counts is the number on the signed 220.
A listing firm that wants to keep offering firm-to-firm compensation can still do it, but it needs its own addendum, drafted or reviewed by the firm’s attorney. The residential forms library no longer has a form for that. And don’t have the seller sign a 220 at the listing appointment. It belongs with the offer.
What to tell your seller
The 220 is a contract term, so the buyer can enforce the seller’s promise like any other part of the contract. But the seller no longer has a direct contract with the buyer’s firm, which made a lot of sellers uneasy under the old form. The buyer’s firm isn’t a third-party beneficiary. If the seller doesn’t provide the credit, that’s the buyer’s claim, not the firm’s.
From my classroom: what about a builder bonus?
A student asked me this in Post 302. The buyer’s 201 fee is fully covered by the seller’s credit on the 220, and the builder also offers the buyer’s firm a $2,000 bonus. Can the firm take it?
Only if the buyer agreed in writing. All compensation has to be disclosed to your buyer, and the buyer has to give written permission for you to accept it. Form 201 has a place for that. If the bonus is listed there, the firm can accept it, and it shows up on its own line on the closing disclosure. If it isn’t, go back with your BIC’s guidance and amend the 201 before you accept anything. Your buyer doesn’t have to agree.
Here’s how I’ve handled bonuses since I started selling real estate: I let the buyer have it. If the seller is willing to pay $2,000 that they don’t have to pay me, then my buyer can have the house for $2,000 less, or get $2,000 more in concessions. If I take the bonus, my buyer is really the one paying it. You don’t have to do it my way, but think about whose money it is.
I’ve never liked bonuses meant to steer which homes we show. My loyalty is to the person I represent, and a bonus shouldn’t change which houses I put in front of them.
I teach the whole July 2026 contract, paragraph by paragraph, in my elective 2-T Gone Wild: Professional Edition, live in person at Pitt Community College and live online.
This article explains the forms in my own words. It isn’t legal advice and doesn’t reproduce the forms. Read the current forms from NC REALTORS®, and for a question about a specific transaction, talk with your broker-in-charge or a real estate attorney.