Our firm’s Web site contains the Information About Brokerage Services form (TAR 2501), which can be read and downloaded by anyone visiting the site. If we meet with a prospective buyer at one of our listed homes, and the buyer says that he found the home on our Web site and read the form while on the site, are we still required to give him a copy of the form when we meet him for the first time at the listed home?

While it is proactive for you to provide the form on your Web site, Section 1101.558(c) of the Real Estate License Act requires that a licensee furnish the written statement contained in the form to a party to a real estate transaction at the time of the first substantive dialogue with the party. The Real Estate License Act defines “substantive dialogue” to mean a meeting or written communication that involves a substantive discussion relating to specific real property. The term does not include a meeting at an open house or a meeting or written communication that occurs after the parties to a transaction have signed a contract or lease. In the situation you describe, the Real Estate License Act would require you to provide the form to the prospective buyer when you first meet him at the listed home. Note: A licensee is not required to provide the written statement (the form) if the proposed transaction is for a residential lease for not more than one year and no sale is being considered, or the licensee meets a party who is represented by another licensee.

Source: TAR