Real estate broker commission in Brazil: what is published

What the law says about the fee

The broker’s contract is regulated by articles 722 to 729 of the Civil Code:

• Article 722: the broker undertakes to obtain one or more deals for the client, without being tied to the client by agency, service or employment.
• Article 724: if the fee is not set by law or agreed, a court sets it “according to the nature of the business and local usage”.
• Article 725: the fee is due once the result in the brokerage contract has been achieved, even if the deal is not completed because the parties change their minds.
• Article 726: if the deal is concluded directly between the parties, no fee is due; but if an exclusive brokerage was agreed in writing, the broker is owed the full fee even if the sale is made without their involvement, unless the broker was inactive.
• Article 727: if the owner dismisses the broker without a fixed term and the sale later happens as a result of the broker’s work, the fee is still due.
• Article 728: when several brokers take part, the fee is shared equally unless agreed otherwise.

These rules apply to the seller’s contract with the broker: read the term, the exclusivity and the fee before signing.

What a CRECI table says

The CRECISP page “Tabela Referencial de Honorários” lists, for sales:

The page also gives notes: in a swap, each owner pays the broker they hired, calculated on the value of their own property; where the buyer takes over a loan, the fee is calculated on the whole transaction; and when several brokers take part, fees go to all of them in equal parts unless the parties agree otherwise in writing.

Is it indicative? The page is titled “referential” and says that its values were approved at an assembly of the broker union on 27 January 2009 and homologated by the council. The council page cites article 17, item IV, of Lei 6.530/1978, under which the regional councils homologate fee tables prepared by the unions. The table is therefore a published reference of the profession, not a federal price control, and the Civil Code leaves the parties free to agree. The page also reproduces a rule of the broker’s code of ethics: the broker may not receive fees or advantages that do not correspond to services actually and lawfully rendered. A council in another state may publish a different table; check the one for the state where the property is located. The competition authority (CADE) wrote on 25 October 2023 that COFECI and 22 regional councils undertook in 2018 “a não mais elaborar, divulgar ou aplicar tabelas de honorários em todo o território nacional” (to stop preparing, publishing or applying fee tables across the country), and the same decision condemned one regional council and ten unions over compulsory fee tables. Payotte could not establish whether CRECI-SP signed that undertaking, nor why its 2009 table remains online: treat it as a historical reference, and agree the commission in writing.

In a new-build contract

For a sale of a unit in an incorporação (a development sold before or during construction), Lei 4.591/1964 article 35-A requires the contract to start with a summary box (quadro-resumo) stating the broker’s commission, its payment conditions and the exact identity of who receives it. If the buyer cancels, article 67-A lets the developer keep the whole broker’s commission from the refund. See cancelling an off-plan purchase.

Tax treatment for the seller

Under the Receita Q&A 671, the commission paid by the seller at the sale is deducted from the sale value when the capital gain is computed, and a commission paid by the seller at purchase may be added to the acquisition cost, if documented. For a sale in instalments, the deduction applies to the instalment received in the month the commission is paid. See capital gains tax on property.

The consumption-tax reform also names intermediation: Lei Complementar 214/2025, article 252, includes administration and intermediation services for real estate in the specific regime, and article 263 makes the provider the taxpayer. This concerns the broker’s own tax, not a new charge on the seller, and 2026 is a test year; see tax reform: IBS, CBS and real estate.

Which professional to consult

Brokering is a regulated trade: a corretor de imóveis must be registered with a CRECI. The reader checks the registration on the council’s official register and reads the contract. A lawyer registered with the OAB can review an exclusive brokerage clause. See real estate brokers and, for the sale as a whole, selling a home in Brazil.