Changing Sponsoring Brokers
What TREC Requires After a Team Changes Sponsoring Broker
Updated
Bottom line: Once TREC shows the change as effective, your team may update its IABS and advertise under the new broker, which registers your team name; signs and promotional items show that broker's name at least half as large.
When does TREC treat the new sponsorship as done?
TREC's sponsorship-change guidance puts the whole step in its online licensing portal. Brokers and sales agents can both send and accept sponsorship change requests there.
The same guidance says the update may need a few hours to show in the portal and in TREC's license holder search. Check the search for each member before anyone on the team treats the move as live.
Once the change is effective, TREC says a license holder can then update the IABS, name the new sponsoring broker in contracts and advertise under that broker. Everything below starts from that point.
Who registers the team name after the move?
According to the FAQ that TREC publishes with its Name Management Tool, the broker a team associates with registers the team name the team uses while associated with it. After a move, that filing is the new sponsoring broker's job.
The same FAQ sets the form of the name: it has to finish with the word team or group, and words such as brokerage, company or associates, or similar terms, are off limits. A name that sat with the old broker is worth checking against that rule before the new broker files it.
The FAQ also lets a sales agent advertise her own name with Team or Group, provided the ad carries the broker's name and the broker has registered that team or group name with the Commission.
What has to change on signs and promotional items?
The advertising FAQ that TREC publishes on name types under Rule 535.154 says a building sign carrying a sales agent's name or a team name must show the broker's name too, at no less than half the size.
The same FAQ applies that half-size rule to promotional items and sponsorships that carry an agent or team name. For a Houston team, that means every building sign and giveaway showing the team name gets the new broker's name once the move is effective.
One thing can stay put. The FAQ says a phone number or email address in an advertisement does not have to belong to the broker, so the team's numbers and inboxes can carry over.
What changes on the team's websites?
In its IABS form FAQ, TREC cites Rule 531.20(b): every broker and every sales agent must put a link to the IABS form on their homepage, and the link has to carry the label Texas Real Estate Commission Information About Brokerage Services.
The FAQ adds that the link is set in 10 point font or larger and placed where it is readily noticeable on the business website's homepage.
It also allows a license holder to reproduce the form to prefill the Broker Contact Information section, which is where the new broker's details go after the move.
How are commissions paid on deals from before the move?
TREC's licensing FAQ, published with its Relationship Management Tool guide, answers this with Commission Rule 535.3: an agent may receive compensation through the sponsoring broker they have now or through the broker who sponsored them when they earned the right to it.
The same FAQ states that all commissions are paid through the agent's sponsoring broker, so a commission reaches a member only by way of a sponsoring broker.
What order does a team work this list in?
Start with the portal, because TREC's permissions to update the IABS, change contracts and advertise under the new broker begin once the change is effective. Then have the new broker register the team name, update each member's IABS and homepage link, and change contracts, signs and promotional items to show the new broker's name at the required size.
If you want a second pair of eyes on that list for your team, ask for Sibel Caliskanlar Cope, our Concierge Director.
Filed in The team, for agents who are team leaders.
Questions & answers
What do Houston agents ask about this?
What does TREC require after my team moves to a new sponsoring broker?
Start by confirming the change shows as effective in TREC's portal and license holder search, which TREC says can take a few hours. After that, TREC's guidance lets license holders update their IABS, name the new broker in contracts and advertise under that broker. TREC's FAQs add that the new broker registers the team name, and that signs and promotional items showing an agent or team name also show the broker's name at half the size or larger.
The website rule sits beside those. In the FAQ on its IABS form page, TREC cites Rule 531.20(b), which has every broker and sales agent link to the IABS form from their homepage, labeled Texas Real Estate Commission Information About Brokerage Services, in 10 point font or larger and in a readily noticeable place. The form's Broker Contact Information section may be prefilled. Commissions follow Commission Rule 535.3, under TREC's licensing FAQ: an agent may be paid through the current sponsoring broker or the broker who sponsored them when they earned the right to the compensation, and every commission is paid through a sponsoring broker.
Who registers our team name after we change sponsoring brokers?
Under the FAQ that TREC publishes with its Name Management Tool, the broker a team associates with registers the team name used while the team is associated with that broker, so after the move the filing belongs to the new sponsoring broker. The name has to end in team or group, and it cannot include brokerage, company, associates or similar terms.
The same FAQ lets a sales agent advertise her name with Team or Group only where the ad also carries the broker's name and the broker has registered that team or group name with the Commission. Under the new broker, that second condition is met once the new broker's registration is in place, so get the filing done before new team material goes out.
Do our team signs need the new broker's name on them?
Yes. Under Rule 535.154, the FAQ that TREC publishes on advertising name types says a building sign showing a sales agent's name or a team name must also show the broker's name, at least half the size, and the FAQ applies the same rule to promotional items and sponsorships. Once the sponsorship change is effective, the broker whose name belongs on those pieces is the new one.
The phone numbers and email addresses on those pieces can stay as they are: the same FAQ says a number or address included in an ad does not have to belong to the broker. Any team name on the new material also follows TREC's naming rule and ends in team or group.
How do we get paid on deals we earned before the team changed brokers?
TREC's licensing FAQ points to Commission Rule 535.3, which lets an agent receive compensation through their current sponsoring broker or through the broker who sponsored them at the time they earned the right to that compensation. The same FAQ says all commissions are paid through the agent's sponsoring broker, so the money reaches the agent by way of one of those two brokers.
The rule permits either route. Confirm with both brokers which one a given payment will run through, so every commission on the file moves through a sponsoring broker.