The Ministry of the Interior's rule is that the total remuneration an agent collects from one or both parties to a sale or lease may not exceed 6% of the actual transaction price (for a sale) or one and a half months of rent (for a lease). This is a "maximum cap", not a fixed rate, and it does not set how much the buyer and the seller each pay. That depends on how the sales entrustment contract and the offer letter you sign with the agent are written, and the Ministry of the Interior requires agents to write the fee standard and the proportion for one or both parties into these documents in advance. On overcharging, under Article 19 of the real estate brokerage management law (《不動產經紀業管理條例》), the price difference or other remuneration already collected must be returned at double the amount with interest added, and Article 29 separately provides for a fine of NT$60,000 to NT$300,000. A claim such as "buyer 2%, seller 4%" appears in no Ministry of the Interior document reviewed for this article; this article treats it only as an arrangement that needs to be written into the contract, not as a rule or a market rate. This article is based on the laws and public Ministry of the Interior documents verified on 2026-11-07.
How the cap on remuneration is set
Article 19, paragraph 1 of the real estate brokerage management law provides that a brokerage business or its brokers may not collect price differences or other remuneration, and that those operating brokerage business must charge according to the remuneration standard set by the central competent authority, based on the actual transaction price or rent. The Ministry of the Interior's provisions on the remuneration standard for real estate brokerage (《不動產仲介經紀業報酬計收標準規定》), issued in 2000 (amended July 19, 2000), state the standard; the table below is a summary of the meaning of the original text.
| Item | Content |
|---|
| Cap | The total remuneration collected from one or both parties to the sale or lease may not exceed 6% of the actual transaction price of the real estate, or one and a half months of rent |
| Nature | The cap is the "maximum cap" on charges, not a fixed charging rate set by the competent authority; brokerage businesses and brokers should still, in line with the principle of fair competition in a free market, set clear fee standards individually, and must not engage in collusive monopoly, deception or conduct that is clearly unfair |
| Services covered | The brokerage services that the remuneration standard must provide may not be less than the scope set by the Ministry of the Interior's "matters to be recorded in a real estate description document" (不動產說明書應記載事項), and this does not include lease cases |
| Advance recording | The remuneration standard to be charged, and the proportion for one or both parties to the sale or lease, should be recorded in the real estate entrusted sales contract or offer letter, or in the lease entrustment contract or offer letter, so that both sides understand it fully in advance |
| Display at the business premises | Article 20 of the real estate brokerage management law: those operating brokerage business must display the remuneration standard and the method of collection in a prominent place at the business premises |
The explanation "What rules govern real estate brokerage remuneration?" on the websites of the Taipei City Government land administration department (臺北市政府地政局) and the New Taipei City Government land administration department (新北市政府地政局) has the same content as the above; the New Taipei page shows a last-update date of July 23, 2026, and the Taipei page shows a data update date of May 12, 2023. Note that this standard speaks of "those operating brokerage business"; this article covers only brokerage and does not cover presale-home sales agencies.
How much the buyer and the seller each pay
The law governs only the combined cap. How the buyer and the seller split it is a matter of contract agreement. In the Ministry of the Interior's documents you can see two layers:
- The seller (principal) side: Article 5 of the Ministry of the Interior's real estate entrusted sales contract template (《不動產委託銷售契約書範本》) says that where the sale is concluded, the entrusted party may collect a service fee from the principal, in an amount of ___ percent of the actual transaction price (not exceeding the maximum set by the central competent authority). The "matters to be recorded and not to be recorded in standardized real estate entrusted sales contracts" (《不動產委託銷售定型化契約應記載及不得記載事項》) further provide that if this blank is not filled in, the entrusted party may not collect a service fee from the principal, and that it may not be agreed that the service fee exceeds the central competent authority's rule.
- The buyer side: The Ministry of the Interior's offer letter (《要約書》) template reviewed for this article has no service fee field, so whether the buyer pays and how much depends on whether the documents the agency provides state it; this article has not confirmed the document formats of individual companies. The remuneration standard above requires the proportion for one or both parties to be written in the offer letter or the entrustment contract, which means that what the buyer will pay should be visible before signing.
The table below uses a sale price of NT$15,000,000 for the arithmetic (an assumed value, only to show the relation between the sum and the cap; the proportions are purely illustrative, do not represent common or recommended proportions, and do not represent any company's charging method).
| Assumed arrangement | Seller | Buyer | Total | Within the 6% cap? |
|---|
| Seller 4%, buyer 2% | NT$600,000 | NT$300,000 | NT$900,000 | Exactly equal to the cap |
| Seller 3%, buyer 2% | NT$450,000 | NT$300,000 | NT$750,000 | Within the cap |
| Seller 5%, buyer 2% | NT$750,000 | NT$300,000 | NT$1,050,000 | Exceeds the cap by NT$150,000 |
The cap for a lease is one and a half months of rent. Taking monthly rent of NT$30,000 (an assumed value), the combined cap for both parties is NT$45,000. Article 5 of the Ministry of the Interior's house entrusted lease contract template (《房屋委託租賃契約書範本》) states that when the lease is formed, the entrusted party may collect a service fee from the principal, in an amount of ___ months of the actual transaction rent (not exceeding the maximum set by the central competent authority); the principal pays part when signing the lease and pays the rest when the house is delivered, with the proportions left blank for the two parties to fill in. The cap on rental deposits and the refund rules are a separate set of rules; see How many months can a rental deposit be at most? When it is refunded, what can be deducted, and what to do if it is not returned.
When to pay, whom to pay, and whether to pay if the deal does not close
| Question | What the Ministry of the Interior templates say |
|---|
| Paid to whom | The templates' counterparty is the "entrusted party" (the brokerage company or business) |
| Sales: when to pay | Article 5 of the entrusted sales contract template: when the principal signs the sales contract with the buyer, it pays ___ percent of the service fee to the entrusted party and pays the remaining ___ percent when the house is handed over; the proportions are blank for the two parties to fill in, and the template sets no proportion |
| Lease: when to pay | Article 5 of the lease entrustment contract template: part is paid when the lease is signed and the rest when the house is delivered; the proportions are blank for the two parties to fill in |
| If the deal does not close | The template's remuneration presupposes that the "sale is concluded" or the "lease is formed". If before the deal closes the entrustment is terminated for a reason attributable to the principal, the principal pays the entrusted party the necessary brokerage sales service expenses, which the entrusted party claims with receipts, at most half of the agreed service fee (Article 10 of the entrusted sales template) |
| Sold by the principal or through someone else during the entrustment period | Article 11 of the entrusted sales template: the entrusted party is deemed to have completed its brokerage obligation, and the principal must still pay the agreed service fee; the same applies where, after a written sales contract is signed, the sales contract is rescinded for a reason attributable to the principal |
| Buyer breaches and the deposit is forfeited | The principal pays the entrusted party a certain percentage of the forfeited deposit (blank for the two parties to fill in, but not more than 50% of the agreed deposit and not more than the agreed service fee) as the expenses of that entrusted sales service, and the entrusted party may not collect a further service fee for that matter (Point 7 of the matters to be recorded and not to be recorded in standardized real estate entrusted sales contracts) |
The above is the template wording; the actual terms follow the contract you sign. The templates themselves are versions announced by the Ministry of the Interior, and the latest version of the entrusted sales type was announced in 2003; this article has not confirmed the additional terms that individual agencies set separately. Whether an invoice is issued and how the amount is booked, this article did not find a Ministry of the Interior rule, so it does not state it. On the contract review period, the Ministry of the Interior's matters to be recorded require that the review period of an entrusted sales contract may not be less than 3 days.
How negotiation deposits, offer letters and earnest money differ
- Offer letter (要約書): The document the buyer signs when wanting to buy. The Ministry of the Interior's standardized offer letter contract states that once the seller has personally recorded the time of acceptance, signed and sealed the offer letter, and it has been delivered to the buyer, both parties are obliged to negotiate and sign the main contract; the buyer has a right of withdrawal within the offer period, except where the seller has accepted the buyer's offer terms and the entrusted party has delivered that to the buyer.
- Negotiation deposit (斡旋金): The matters not to be recorded in the offer letter standardized contract state that it may not be agreed that, before the contract is formed, the entrusted party may collect a negotiation deposit, a reservation deposit (訂金) or fees under any other name from the consumer. This sentence comes from the offer letter standardized contract and governs the arrangements when the offer letter route is taken; other types of documents and practice are not confirmed in this article.
- Earnest money (定金): The deposit the buyer pays to the seller. The signing notes of the Ministry of the Interior's real estate entrusted sales contract template say that according to general market sales custom, after the buyer pays the earnest money the sales contract is deemed formed, and if the buyer does not buy, the seller may forfeit the earnest money and rescind the contract. The matters to be recorded for entrusted sales also provide that the entrusted party must hand earnest money it receives to the principal within 24 hours; if the principal has not agreed to authorize collecting the earnest money on its behalf, it is deemed not to have authorized it.
To learn what taxes and fees follow signing, see Which taxes and fees apply when buying a home? Deed tax, stamp duty, registration fees and scrivener fees summarized; for contract review and performance guarantees on presale homes, see What to watch for when buying a presale home: the 5-day contract review period, 5 major performance guarantees, floor-area error settlement and contract replacement rules. To check the building age of a house first, you can use the building age calculator.
What to do if you were overcharged
- First check the contract: whether the service fee field, the proportion for one or both parties and the payment timing are the same as what you signed.
- Add it up: add together the amounts collected from the buyer and the seller, and compare with 6% of the transaction price or one and a half months of rent.
- Claim against the agent: Article 19, paragraph 2 of the real estate brokerage management law provides that for a violation of the preceding paragraph, the price difference or other remuneration already collected shall be returned to the payer at double the amount with interest added.
- Report to the competent authority: Article 29, subparagraph 1 provides that where a brokerage business violates Article 19, paragraph 1, the municipal or county (city) competent authority imposes a fine of NT$60,000 to NT$300,000; the authority also orders those fined to correct within a time limit, and if they have not corrected by then, they are penalized per occurrence.
- Complaint and mediation: the "consumer dispute handling" page of the Taipei City Government land administration department (data update date May 5, 2023) says you may first complain to the business, the trade association, consumer groups or the local government consumer service center, and if not satisfied apply to the consumer dispute mediation committee for mediation; if the place of the consumer transaction or the business operator is in Taipei City, you can dial 1950 directly to complain to the Taipei City consumer service center, or use the online complaint system of the Executive Yuan Consumer Protection Committee (行政院消費者保護會) (as stated on the Taipei land administration department's 2023 page; the agency name and URL should be checked against the current official website). The website of the New Taipei City Government land administration department has an "online complaint for real estate consumer disputes" link.
The national laws and regulations database page for the real estate brokerage management law shows its latest amendment date as January 27, 2021.
Frequently asked questions
Is "buyer 2, seller 4" (買 2 賣 4) a legal proportion?
No. The Ministry of the Interior's documents have only the cap that the total may not exceed 6% of the transaction price, and state expressly that the cap is not a fixed charging rate. How much the buyer and the seller each pay must be written in the entrusted sales contract, the offer letter or the lease entrustment contract. This article found no Ministry of the Interior document that records "buyer 2, seller 4".
Must an agent charge the full 6%?
No. The Ministry of the Interior explains that 6% is the maximum cap, and brokerage businesses and brokers should, in line with fair competition, set clear fee standards individually; how much is actually charged is an agreement made when signing, and can also be negotiated with the agent.
If the buyer signed an offer letter and later does not buy, must they pay a service fee?
Under the Ministry of the Interior's standardized offer letter contract, the buyer has a right of withdrawal within the offer period, except where the seller has accepted the buyer's offer terms and the entrusted party has delivered that to the buyer. Whether any fee must be paid after withdrawal, and how much, depends on whether the specific documents the buyer signed contain related terms. The matters not to be recorded in the Ministry of the Interior's standardized offer letter contract prohibit agencies from collecting a negotiation deposit, a reservation deposit or fees under other names from consumers before the contract is formed.
How much is the rental agent fee?
The Ministry of the Interior's rule is that one or both parties combined may not exceed one and a half months of rent. In the Ministry of the Interior's lease entrustment contract template, what is collected from the lessor (the principal) is some months of the transaction rent. Whether the tenant also has to pay depends on the documents the agent provides; this article has not confirmed it.
Sources
- National laws and regulations database (全國法規資料庫): real estate brokerage management law Article 19 (verified 2026-11-07) (in Chinese): charging according to the remuneration standard, double return for violations; Articles 20 and 29 of the same law
- Ministry of the Interior shared system for regulations under its charge (內政部主管法規共用系統): provisions on the remuneration standard for real estate brokerage (verified 2026-11-07) (in Chinese): cap of 6% or one and a half months of rent, nature as a maximum cap, advance recording of proportions
- New Taipei City Government land administration department (新北市政府地政局): What rules govern real estate brokerage remuneration? (verified 2026-11-07) (in Chinese): explanation of the cap, last updated July 23, 2026, link for online complaints on real estate consumer disputes
- Taipei City Government land administration department (臺北市政府地政局): What rules govern real estate brokerage remuneration? (verified 2026-11-07) (in Chinese): explanation of the cap, data updated May 12, 2023
- Taipei City Government land administration department (臺北市政府地政局): How to complain once a real estate consumer dispute arises? (verified 2026-11-07) (in Chinese): complaints, mediation, 1950
- Ministry of the Interior real estate information platform (內政部不動產資訊平台): contract templates (verified 2026-11-07) (in Chinese): matters to be recorded and not to be recorded in standardized entrusted sales contracts and the contract template (announced in 2003), list of pre-owned home sales contract templates
- Ministry of the Interior shared system for regulations under its charge (內政部主管法規共用系統): house entrusted lease contract template (verified 2026-11-07) (in Chinese): lease service fee clause (2002)
