Sign Up for NAR & Real Estate Brokerages Class Action Lawsuit
NAR & Real Estate Brokerages class action lawsuit is currently open:
Those who meet eligibility criteria should apply before the deadline October 23, 2026. NAR homebuyer settlement: a $120,334,500 fund over real estate commissions for people who bought a home listed on an MLS. See who can claim and how much.
NAR & Real Estate Brokerages Class Action Lawsuit
If you bought a home with an agent's help, you may have been told the agent's services cost you nothing because the seller pays. The homebuyer lawsuit says that was never true. According to the complaint, a seller typically agrees to a 6% commission and the listing broker offers about 3% of the sale price to whichever agent brings a buyer. Both come out of the price the buyer pays, and the commission lines are on your own closing statement.
The lawsuit claims the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and its member brokerages kept that arrangement in place through rules for the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS, the shared database where agents list homes for sale. The complaint points to what it calls the Mandatory Commission Rule, to rules that allegedly kept total commissions from being disclosed to buyers, and to an ethics standard that let agents present their services as being "without cost." It says average commissions held between 5% and 5.4% from 2000 to 2017.
James Tuccori filed the first case in Cook County, Illinois on December 8, 2023. It is now joined with six related cases before Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, as case number 1:24-cv-00150. The claims are brought under the Sherman Act, the main federal law against price-fixing, along with state antitrust and consumer protection laws and unjust enrichment. The court appointed McGuire Law, P.C. and Justice Jagher London & Millen LLC to represent buyers. NAR and the brokerages deny doing anything wrong, and no court has decided who is right.
NAR & Real Estate Brokerages Class Action Settlement - $120,334,500
The homebuyer settlement creates a fund of $120,334,500, paid by 26 parties: NAR and 25 real estate brokerage companies. NAR is paying the most, $52,250,000. HomeServices of America and its affiliates are paying $30,000,000, Anywhere Real Estate $9,602,500, Hanna Holdings $8,250,000 and Compass $7,331,250. None of the money goes back to the companies. They also agreed to keep or extend certain changes to their commission practices.
The fund is smaller than the home seller settlements, and the buyers' lawyers explained why to the court. Those cases followed a 2023 jury verdict of nearly $1.8 billion, and by the lawyers' figures about 76% to 79% of homebuyers also sold a home and were already covered there. The same companies committed $957,023,154 to sellers. This settlement equals 12.57% of that amount, for the buyers who were left out.
Before any claim is paid, the court will be asked to approve $37.9 million for the buyers' lawyers, which is 31.5% of the fund and includes their expenses. It will also be asked to approve $32,500 in total awards for the six buyers who brought the case and an estimated $6,318,058 for notice and administration. That would leave about $76.1 million for claims. Any balance left after payments is to be shared among claimants again if that is feasible, and after that given to a nonprofit the court approves.
The settlement covers home purchases through June 25, 2026. The court holds its final approval hearing on November 2, 2026. The deadline to file with Chimo is October 23, 2026.
Deadline for filing a claim: October 23, 2026
NAR Homebuyer Commission Class Action Payout: $240 - $300 (estimate)
There is no fixed payment in the homebuyer settlement. Each approved claim gets a share of the fund in proportion to the commission paid to the buyer's broker, a method lawyers call pro rata. The proposed plan, which the court has not yet approved, multiplies the purchase price by the buyer-broker commission rate. The expert report filed with the plan gives the example of a $100,000 home with a 3% buyer-broker commission, which counts as $3,000. A buyer whose commissions total $12,000 would receive twice as much as a buyer with $6,000.
Our estimate is about $240 to $300 for an average claim. About $76.1 million would be left after the requested fees and costs. The buyers' lawyers told the court the home seller settlements covered eight to ten times as many claims as this case. More than 2.5 million sellers had filed claims in those settlements by June 2025, according to the administrator's court declaration as reported by HousingWire. One-eighth to one-tenth of 2.5 million is 250,000 to 312,500 claims, and $76.1 million divided across them comes to $243 to $304. Fewer claims, or a larger commission than most, would mean more. More claims would mean less, and very small awards may be replaced by a flat minimum payment.
The companies are paying into the fund in installments. Because of that, the notice says eligible payments will be sent in several rounds over a period of several years after the settlement becomes final. The claim form offers a mailed check or a digital payment sent to your email address.
Settlement funds in the home seller commission cases
NAR Homebuyer Commission Class Action Eligibility
You may qualify for the homebuyer commission settlement if you bought a home in the United States that was listed on a Multiple Listing Service, or MLS, and a commission was paid to any brokerage in the sale. An MLS is the shared database agents use to list homes for sale. It does not matter whether the MLS was tied to NAR. The purchase has to fall inside the date range for the state where the home was listed, shown in the table below. Every range ends June 25, 2026.
Selling a home does not make you part of this settlement, and it can take you out. The earlier home seller settlements (Burnett, Gibson, Keel and Hooper) already released the homebuying claims of the people they covered, and the notice says those people may not receive a payment here. That is why the claim form asks whether you sold a home between April 29, 2014 and October 14, 2025, and on what dates.
The form also asks for the purchase date, the purchase price, the total broker commissions and the amount paid to the buyer's broker. You need to attach a closing document: a closing statement, settlement statement, HUD statement, settlement letter or other paperwork from the sale. It is usually in the packet you signed at closing, and the title company, escrow company or attorney that handled the closing can often supply a copy. You sign to certify that the information is true to the best of your knowledge, and the administrator can verify it, so enter the figures exactly as your closing document shows them.
Class periods by state (all end June 25, 2026)
Where the home was listed
Purchased on or after
Puerto Rico
January 25, 2006
Louisiana, Rhode Island
January 25, 2011
Wyoming
January 25, 2013
Alabama, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Wisconsin
January 25, 2015
Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Utah, West Virginia
January 25, 2016
Arizona, California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Virginia
January 25, 2017
Minnesota
December 8, 2017
Alaska, Colorado, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Washington
January 25, 2018
Texas and anywhere else in the United States
January 25, 2019
NAR Homebuyer Commission Class Action Claim Form
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FAQ
Anyone who bought a home in the United States that was listed on a Multiple Listing Service, where a commission was paid to a brokerage, within the date range for the state where the home was listed. Every state's range ends June 25, 2026.
It depends on where the home was listed. The earliest start is January 25, 2006, for Puerto Rico. Most states start between January 25, 2015 and January 25, 2018, and Texas starts January 25, 2019. The table on this page lists every state.
Maybe not. The notice says people covered by the earlier home seller settlements are excluded and may not receive a payment, and that selling a home is not a basis for joining. The claim form asks for any sale dates between April 29, 2014 and October 14, 2025.
There is no fixed amount. Each claim gets a share based on the commission paid to the buyer's broker. We estimate about $240 to $300 for an average claim, from roughly $76.1 million spread over 250,000 to 312,500 claims. Yours could be higher or lower.
A closing document from the purchase, such as a closing statement, settlement statement or HUD statement, showing the price and the commissions. It is usually in your closing packet, and the title or escrow company that handled the sale can often send a copy.
The deadline to file with Chimo is October 23, 2026. Chimo helps you file: we prepare your claim and mail it to the settlement administrator, and filing is included in a membership. Leave yourself time to find your closing document first.
Not quickly. The final approval hearing is November 2, 2026. Because the companies pay into the fund in installments, the notice says eligible payments will be sent in several rounds over a period of several years after the settlement becomes final.
No. The National Association of Realtors and the brokerages deny the lawsuit's claims, and no court or jury has decided who is right. They agreed to pay $120,334,500 and to keep certain changes to their commission practices to end the case.
The settlement counts every qualifying purchase, and the paper form uses a separate page and closing document for each home. A claim filed through Chimo covers one home purchase, so enter the home whose closing document you have on hand.
You receive no payment. The deadline to leave the settlement was September 17, 2026, so buyers who stayed in are bound by it and give up the right to sue these companies over the same commission claims, whether or not they file a claim.
Sources
These are the court's own records for this case. They are hosted here unchanged, so you can check anything on this page against the documents themselves.
- Class Settlement Agreement (PDF) Settlement agreement · Filed October 13, 2025 · U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois · Case 1:24-cv-00150
- Preliminary Approval Order (PDF) Court order · Filed October 16, 2025 · U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois · Case 1:24-cv-00150
- Preliminary Approval Order for the Opt-In Agreements (PDF) Court order · Filed May 26, 2026 · U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois · Case 1:24-cv-00150
- Order Approving the Form and Manner of Class Notice (PDF) Court order · Filed June 29, 2026 · U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois · Case 1:24-cv-00150
The full case file is on the court docket: view the docket.