How Much Is the Brokerage Fee for Presale Home Transfers? The Government Sets Only a 6% Cap

The Ministry of the Interior's Real Estate Brokerage Fee Standards state that the total fee an agent collects from one or both parties to a sale or lease may not exceed 6% of the actual sale price, and for leases may not exceed one and a half months' rent. The Ministry of the Interior says this 6% is a maximum cap, not a fixed fee rate, and that agents should still set clear fee standards individually in line with the principle of fair competition in a free market.

The fee standard and the rate each of the buyer and seller pays must be written in the real estate sales commission contract or offer form, so that both sides understand them fully in advance. In other words, how much is actually charged depends on the rate written in the contract.

591 News reports that if a contract-transfer property is handled through an agent, the original buyer pays a brokerage fee of 4% of the sale price and the new buyer pays 2%, and it explains that this is what experts say, not a fixed rate set by regulation. Guorenjia's fee table also states that when a deal is made through an agent, the new buyer pays 2% of the total transfer price and the original buyer pays 4%, and that no brokerage fee is due if the deal is made without an agent.

Besides the brokerage fee, 591 News notes that the contract transfer fee is generally paid by the original buyer, at most one-thousandth (0.1%); Guorenjia explains that the transfer handling fee is collected by the developer from the original buyer at the time of the transfer, and under the standard presale contract it may be at most 0.1%.

The transfer itself is also restricted. Starting July 1, 2023, buyers of presale homes or newly built homes may in principle not assign or resell the contract to a third party, nor advertise it themselves or through a commissioned party. Transfers between spouses, lineal blood relatives, or collateral blood relatives within the second degree, contract transfers when an heir inherits after the buyer's death, and cases of a private legal entity's merger or dissolution and liquidation can proceed without an application. Cases such as involuntary job loss with more than 6 months of unemployment, serious injury or illness, or damage to the home from a disaster must be reviewed by the competent authority, and such transfers are limited to 1 unit every 2 years; a transfer or resale in violation of the rules is fined NT$0.5 million to NT$3 million per unit (building) traded.