The short version: On the old TREC resale contract (20-18), 12A(1)(b) is the seller’s contribution to the buyer’s broker fees and 12A(1)(c) is the closing cost credit. The new contract and new Amendment use 12A(1)(b) for the credit. Use the new Amendment’s Box 4 on an old contract and you change broker compensation instead of creating a credit. Check every paragraph reference by hand.
I thought I’d seen every way an amendment can go sideways. This week a file handed me a new one, and it’s a direct product of TREC’s July 1 form changes. That means it’s almost certainly sitting in other pending files around town right now. If you have a deal that went under contract in late June on the old forms, read this.
TREC renumbered Paragraph 12
On the old One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale) 20-18, Paragraph 12A(1)(b) is the amount the seller applies to the brokerage fees the buyer agreed to pay. The seller’s credit toward the buyer’s other expenses (the closing cost credit) is 12A(1)(c).
On the new contract, 20-19 (adopted May 4, 2026, mandatory July 1), broker compensation moved to its own paragraph, 12B “Brokerage Compensation,” and 12A(1)(b) became the closing cost credit line: “an amount not to exceed $___ to be applied to Buyer’s Expenses.” There is no 12A(1)(c) anymore.
The new Amendment was written for the new numbering
The new TREC Amendment (39-11) follows the new contract. Box 4 says “The amount in Paragraph 12A(1)(b) of the contract is changed to $___,” and Box 5 changes the 12B broker compensation amounts. On the old Amendment (39-10), Box 4 changed 12A(1)(b) as a dollar amount or a percentage, and Box 5 changed 12A(1)(c). TREC hasn’t published guidance on pairing the new Amendment with old-form contracts, which is exactly why you have to read the references yourself.
So if your contract is still on the old form, and you check Box 4 on the new Amendment to give your buyer a $2,000 closing cost credit, the amendment doesn’t say what you think it says. Read literally, you just changed the seller’s contribution to the buyer’s broker fees to $2,000, and you never created the credit at all.
The buyer’s credit doesn’t exist on paper.
Pull your files
Anything that was effective on the old contract and amended after July 1 is worth a second look. Here’s the quick checklist:
- Old-form contract + new-form amendment: verify every paragraph reference by hand.
- Old 12A(1)(b) is broker compensation. New 12A(1)(b) is the credit. Not the same line.
- On old-form contracts, the closing cost credit lives in 12A(1)(c), “an amount not to exceed.”
- If an amendment already went out wrong, talk to your broker about fixing it now, before the closing disclosure is final.
Sources
General information, not legal advice. TREC says I can’t practice law, and I like my license. Run your specific situation past your broker or a real estate attorney.
← All broker notes · Get The Debrief monthly → · Talk with us →