An inquiry arrives from a listings portal, the agent schedules a viewing, shows the apartment that same week — and the brokerage agreement gets signed "whenever, once we know we're a good fit." A few weeks later, nobody's quite sure what the actual terms of the collaboration were, whether the broker's liability insurance was even valid, or whether the client could have withdrawn from the agreement at all.
This article explains what form a brokerage agreement legally requires, what the broker's mandatory liability insurance means in practice, how the right of withdrawal works for an agreement concluded at a distance, and why collecting copies of clients' ID documents isn't the way to keep any of this organized.
Where an agency loses control: inquiry, viewing, agreement "later"
An inquiry from a portal reaches an agent, the agent calls, schedules a viewing, and drives over — the whole sequence can take a day, maybe two. In that rush, the brokerage agreement often gets pushed back: "let's show the place first, we'll sort the paperwork once they decide." The trouble is that without a signed agreement, there's no clarity about what scope of work the agency actually took on, or whether the client even knows the broker carries mandatory liability insurance against a mistake.
This isn't about distrust of the client — it's that a verbal understanding of "we'll view it now, sign later" doesn't carry the same weight as a document signed before the first viewing.
The agreement's form: written or electronic, or it's void
The scope of real estate brokerage services is defined by the brokerage agreement, and that agreement requires a written or electronic form, on pain of invalidity — that's exactly what Article 180(3) of Poland's Act on Real Estate Management states (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2026 item 399). "On pain of invalidity" means an agreement concluded purely verbally simply doesn't exist in a legal sense — it's not a formality to fix later, it's a condition without which there's no agreement at all.
An electronic form offers a practical solution here: the document can be signed remotely before the client and agent even meet on site, instead of waiting to sign it on viewing day.
Mandatory broker liability insurance: a policy copy as an attachment
A real estate broker is subject to mandatory liability insurance — that's protection for the client in case of an error during the transaction, not an optional add-on to the service.
A policy copy attached to the agreement
A copy of the current insurance document forms an attachment to the brokerage agreement, and the broker must promptly report any changes to that insurance (Article 181(3a)). That means the client sees proof the coverage exists right when the agreement is signed — no need to ask about it separately or take it on faith.
What happens if the policy lapses
If the obligation to report insurance changes isn't met, once a formal demand has gone unanswered for 7 days, the other party may terminate the agreement with immediate effect (Article 181(3b)). That's a specific, short deadline — not "whenever it comes up," but seven days from the formal demand.
An agreement concluded at a distance: 14 days to withdraw
Many brokerage agreements today are concluded remotely — by email or electronic signature, without a physical meeting at the office. That brings the rules on distance contracts into play. Using real estate brokerage services as an example: a consumer can terminate such an agreement by withdrawing within 14 days of concluding it, without giving a reason (UOKiK, Consumer Rights).
When the service can start earlier
The brokerage service can start being provided before those 14 days pass, but only at the consumer's explicit request made on a durable medium — in that case, if the client still withdraws from the agreement, they pay only for the services actually performed up to the moment of withdrawal. Once the service has been fully performed with the client's consent, the right of withdrawal expires. The exact consequences in an individual case — say, exactly how much a client would owe for a partially performed service — is a question for a lawyer, not something a universal formula can settle.
Copies of ID documents: what the data protection authority says
A real estate agency has the right to verify a client's identity, but the right to process data from an identity document isn't the same as the right to make a copy of it. Poland's data protection authority (UODO) states directly that in most cases showing the document for visual inspection is enough, and under the purpose limitation and data minimisation principles in Article 5 of the GDPR, personal data must be adequate and limited to what's necessary (UODO, 16 August 2022).
In practice, that means the ID is shown when the agreement is signed, and the agency records only the data needed for the agreement itself — instead of keeping a scan in an agent's inbox that nobody later checks should still be there.
The process before the first viewing: a checklist
Before an agent ever schedules an apartment viewing, it's worth having a complete package ready: the brokerage agreement signed in writing or electronically, a copy of the current liability insurance policy attached, the client's consents for data processing, and — if the service needs to start before the 14-day withdrawal period ends — the client's explicit request made on a durable medium. Order matters here: all of this should be ready before the viewing, not after it.
Storing documents: where, and who has access
The signed agreement, the insurance policy copy, client consents and notes from discussions should sit in one organized place, not scattered across several agents' inboxes. The more people in the agency who can access a given client's full document set without a specific reason, the harder it becomes to answer who saw them and when, if that ever needs explaining.
Check this on your own website
In other words, even before the question of the agreement's form comes up, a good share of inquiries are already being lost at the website stage itself — because there's no easy way to leave contact details on it.
Do it yourself: a document package and a "no agreement, no viewing" rule
First step — put together a ready-made package template: an electronic brokerage agreement template, a current liability insurance policy copy ready to attach, and a consent checklist. Second step — a simple office rule: an apartment viewing only gets scheduled once the document package comes back signed, not before. Third step — review agents' inboxes for previously collected scans of clients' ID documents and delete them, in line with the data minimisation principle described by UODO.
How it looks when a system manages the document package
Instead of manually tracking whether the agreement came back signed before a viewing, the CRM and automations service runs this process: one pipeline with a reminder when the agreement doesn't come back, while the client enters the details needed for the agreement in a short multi-step form, which is what Lead forms builds.
- 01Inquiry from a portal
- →02package with policy copy sent
- →03electronic signature
- →04viewing scheduled on the calendar
- →05withdrawal deadline recorded
The system offers no legal guarantees and doesn't replace an agreement drawn up in line with the law — it only tracks the sequence of steps and dates. Once the document package comes back signed, Booking Systems let the client pick a convenient viewing time themselves, and Automatic messages send reminders about the appointment without calling each client individually. A "check whether the liability insurance is still current" task lands on the list in the Tasks module with a specific deadline, instead of depending on whether anyone happens to remember.
Each client's data — the agreement, contact history, appointments — stays in one place through the Customer Data module, instead of spreading across individual agents' inboxes.
The broader picture of what happens to a property inquiry from the first contact onward is covered in real estate office automation. The mechanism for bringing inquiries from different sources into one queue is described in query handling automation, and where client data physically ends up in a process like this is explained in automation and GDPR. What happens to an inquiry that doesn't get an immediate answer is covered in follow-up automation, and why a quote can take three days instead of an hour is explained in quote automation.
Frequently asked questions
Does a real estate brokerage agreement have to be in writing?
It must be in written or electronic form, on pain of invalidity — an agreement concluded purely verbally has no legal effect, no matter how precisely the parties agreed on the terms between themselves.
Does a broker have to carry liability insurance?
Yes, a real estate broker is subject to mandatory liability insurance, and a copy of the current insurance document is a mandatory attachment to the brokerage agreement.
What happens if a broker's liability insurance lapses during the collaboration?
The broker must promptly report any change to the insurance; if they don't, once a formal seven-day demand has gone unanswered, the other party may terminate the agreement with immediate effect.
Can a client withdraw from a brokerage agreement concluded online?
Yes, using real estate brokerage services as an example, a consumer can withdraw from an agreement concluded at a distance within 14 days of concluding it, without giving a reason.
Can an agency make a copy of a client's ID document?
The right to process data from an identity document isn't the same as the right to copy it — according to the data protection authority's position, showing the document for visual inspection and recording only the necessary data is usually enough.
Can the brokerage service start before the withdrawal period ends?
Yes, but only at the client's explicit request made on a durable medium — in that case, on withdrawal the client pays only for services actually performed up to that point, and the details of a specific settlement are worth checking with a lawyer.