Changing real estate agents mid-campaign: when you can, what it costs, and how to avoid paying two commissions

Six weeks in, the open homes are thin, the feedback is "the market", and the agent who promised $950,000 is now talking about $870,000. Sellers in that position ask the same question: can I just change agents? The answer depends on which state you are in, what your agreement says, and how much of the term is left. Done well, a switch costs you the marketing already spent and a few weeks. Done badly, it costs a second commission.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Read it with your agency agreement open, because that document, not the law, is usually the deciding factor.

First: is it the agent or the price?

Before you blame the agent, separate the two things that stall a campaign. If buyers are coming through and not offering, the price is wrong and a new agent will hear the same feedback. If buyers are not coming through at all, or offers are arriving late, or the guide sits below the estimate on your agreement, the campaign is being run badly. A short list of questions settles it: how many groups at each open home, how many contracts requested, what the written feedback says, and whether the guide has moved. An agent who cannot answer those in writing has told you what you need to know. Our page on complaints and red flags lists the signs in order.

Can you leave? The four situations

1. The agreement gives you an exit

Many exclusive agreements allow termination on written notice (often 14 or 30 days) after an initial period, and some agents will write one in if you ask before signing. In NSW, any fixed term longer than 90 days must by law let you terminate without penalty on 30 days' written notice at any time after the first 90 days. Read the termination clause before anything else.

2. The term is about to end

In Queensland a sole or exclusive appointment for a residential sale cannot exceed 90 days and cannot be renewed earlier than 14 days before it ends. In South Australia the sales agency agreement is capped at 90 days, and unless the agent serves a notice of expiry it simply ends on the date. In Victoria the default statement on a sole authority is 60 days from signing for a private sale or 30 days after an auction, unless a longer period was agreed. In NSW and WA there is no cap; it is whatever you signed. If the end is within a few weeks, the cleanest course is usually to let it lapse rather than fight.

3. The agent agrees to release you

This is the most common outcome. Write to the principal, explain why, and ask for a written release. Most agencies will agree, usually on two conditions: that you pay the marketing costs incurred, and that the tail clause survives for buyers they introduced. Both are reasonable, and both are negotiable.

4. The agent has forfeited the right to commission

Each state's law removes the agent's entitlement to commission if the paperwork is defective: no written agreement, no copy served within 48 hours in NSW or SA, no estimated selling price, a Queensland Form 6 missing required content or exceeding 90 days, or in SA any breach of section 20. An agreement that never entitled the agent to commission is one you can walk away from, though you should have a lawyer confirm it before you act on it. Our guide to agency agreements by state lists the requirements.

If none of the four applies, you are bound until the term ends. An agent whose seller has stopped cooperating cannot sell the property, so most will still negotiate a release; but they can also hold you to the agreement and claim commission if the property sells during the term, however it sells.

The double-commission trap

The real risk in switching is not the first agent's anger; it is paying twice. Two mechanisms produce it.

Overlapping exclusive agreements. If you sign a new exclusive agreement while the old one is still running, and the property sells, both agents may be entitled to commission: the first because their exclusive term had not ended, the second because they sold it. NSW requires every agency agreement to carry a printed warning about exactly this. Never sign the second agreement until the first has ended or you hold a written release.

The tail clause. Almost every agreement provides that commission is payable if, after the term ends, the property sells to a buyer the agent introduced during the term. The period varies from 30 days to indefinite, and the definition of "introduced" ranges from "made an offer" to "attended an open home". If your new agent sells to someone who inspected under the old agent, the old agent may claim commission and the new one certainly will. The protection is procedural: when the first agreement ends, ask the agent in writing for the list of buyers they claim to have introduced, and give that list to the new agent. A buyer not on the list cannot later be claimed; a buyer on it is one to handle carefully, and most new agents will agree to a reduced fee or a referral split if that buyer is the one who buys.

What the first agent can still charge

• Marketing and advertising actually spent or committed under the schedule you signed. This is payable in every state whether or not the property sells, and usually on withdrawal. Ask for the invoices; you are paying for what was bought, not what was planned. In Victoria any rebate the agent received must come off the bill.
• Commission, if the property sells during the term under an exclusive agreement, whoever sells it. Under a sole agency, not if you find the buyer yourself.
• Commission under the tail clause, as above.
• Nothing else. "Withdrawal fees", "administration fees" and similar charges are payable only if the agreement provides for them, and in Queensland and SA only if they were disclosed in the appointment. Ask to see the clause.

How to switch cleanly, step by step

1. Read the agreement: the end date, the termination clause, the tail clause and its period, the marketing schedule, and any fees on withdrawal.
2. Decide whether to wait it out. If the term ends within about three weeks, letting it lapse avoids the negotiation and the risk. Tell the agent in writing now that you will not be renewing; in SA reply to the notice of expiry saying so, or the agreement may extend automatically.
3. Write to the principal. State the facts, ask for a written release effective on a date, and ask for the introduced-buyers list and the marketing invoices. Offer to pay the invoices on receipt of the release.
4. Get the release in writing, signed by the licensee, before you speak to another agent about listing. A phone assurance is not a release.
5. Interview the next agent properly. The reasons the first campaign failed should shape the second: a different price strategy, a different method of sale, a different buyer database. Our guide to choosing a selling agent and the questions to ask apply with more force the second time.
6. Give the new agent the introduced-buyers list and agree in writing what happens if one of them buys.
7. Reset the campaign. Take the listing down for at least two weeks if you can, refresh the photography, and relaunch with a guide that reflects the feedback. A property that reappears with the same photos and a slightly lower price tells buyers it has been sitting; one that reappears looking new does not.

The state rules in one place

State	Maximum term	Statutory exit during the term	Cooling-off on the agreement
NSW	None	Fixed terms over 90 days: 30 days' notice after day 90	Until 5 pm next business day or Saturday
Victoria	None (60-day private-sale and 30-day post-auction default on sole authorities unless varied)	None	None
Queensland	90 days for a sole or exclusive residential appointment	Open listings: any time. Sole or exclusive: none unless the Form 6 provides	None
South Australia	90 days; one extension only	Any time during an extension, by written notice	None
Western Australia	None	None	None

Frequently asked questions

Can I sell privately after leaving the agent?

Once the agreement has ended and subject to the tail clause, yes. Under a sole agency you may be able to sell privately even during the term to a buyer you found yourself; under an exclusive agency you cannot without owing commission. Our guide to selling privately covers the process.

The agent says I owe a "withdrawal fee". Do I?

Only if the agreement says so in terms. Ask for the clause. Marketing actually spent is payable; a penalty for leaving is not, unless you agreed to one.

Can the old agent still bring me a buyer after I switch?

Yes, and if the buyer is on the introduced list and the tail period has not expired, they can claim commission on that sale. Route the buyer through the new agent, tell both agencies in writing, and settle the fee split before contracts are exchanged rather than after.

What if the agent refuses to release me and refuses to work?

That is a conduct matter for the regulator, and a complaint to the licensee in charge usually resolves it. Document the requests for feedback and open homes that went unanswered; an agent who is not performing the services in the agreement is in breach of it, which is grounds to terminate at common law even where the agreement is silent, though get advice before relying on it.

Where this fits

Switching agents is a repair. The campaign you relaunch should follow the full sequence in how to sell a house in Australia, and if the method of sale was part of the problem, auction vs private treaty explains when each works. If the underlying issue was the guide, our page on underquoting laws by state shows what the first agent should have done.

Sources

• Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 (NSW), sections 55 and 59, and Property and Stock Agents Regulation 2022 (NSW), Schedule 6, clauses 1, 2 and 4: legislation.nsw.gov.au.
• Estate Agents Act 1980 (Vic), sections 49A and 50; Consumer Affairs Victoria, Authorities, rebates and commission.
• Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld), sections 103, 108, 110, 112 and 114: legislation.qld.gov.au.
• Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Act 1994 (SA), section 20, and Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Regulations 2025 (SA), regulation 18: legislation.sa.gov.au.
• Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 (WA), sections 60 and 63: legislation.wa.gov.au.
• Tail-clause periods, release practice and relaunch tactics are described as market practice, not rules.