Authority to Sell in the Philippines: What It Is + Sample

Before a broker can market your property, one document has to exist: the Authority to Sell. Skip it and you invite the two classic disputes of Philippine real estate, the broker who claims a commission on a sale you closed yourself, and the owner who refuses to pay after the broker produced the buyer. Both fights are avoidable with one page of clear writing.

Here is what an Authority to Sell is, what it must contain, the exclusive versus non-exclusive decision, and a free sample you can generate and print.

What it is, and what it is not

An Authority to Sell is the written authorization from a property owner to a licensed real estate broker to find a buyer for the property on the owner's terms. Under the Real Estate Service Act (RA 9646), brokering is a licensed profession, and a serious broker will not spend marketing money on a property without written authority; many portals and developers will not accept a broker's listing without it.

Two boundaries matter:

• It is not a Special Power of Attorney. The Authority to Sell lets the broker market the property and negotiate; it does not let them sign the deed or receive the price on your behalf. That requires an SPA, a different document with heavier consequences.
• It is not needed to sell your own property. If you are selling directly, owner to buyer, no authority is required from anyone. Plenty of owners now list directly and skip the commission entirely; the document only enters the picture when a broker does.

Exclusive or non-exclusive

The single biggest choice in the document:

Non-exclusive (open) authority lets you engage several brokers at once and still sell on your own. Sounds safer, and for an easy-to-sell property it can be. The cost is commitment: no broker spends real marketing budget on a listing four competitors also hold.

Exclusive authority gives one broker the sole right to sell for a defined period. You get their full effort and accountability, and typically better marketing. The risk sits in the tail: under most exclusive terms the commission is owed even if you find the buyer yourself during the period. Grant exclusivity for a defined window to a broker you have vetted, not by default.

What the document must contain

A clean Authority to Sell fits on a page or two and answers every question a dispute would raise:

• The parties: your details as registered owner, the broker's name and PRC license number.
• The property: address and title number (TCT or CCT), enough to identify it beyond argument.
• The price and terms: your asking price, what is negotiable, who shoulders which taxes; align this with the real numbers in our seller's guide.
• The commission: the percentage (customarily 3% to 5%), and exactly which event earns it.
• The validity period: a defined term, commonly 30 to 90 days, renewable in writing. Open-ended authorities are how brokers you have forgotten about surface years later with claims.
• A holdover clause, bounded: brokers fairly ask for commission if a buyer they registered during the term buys shortly after it ends. Fair, if the window is short (30 to 60 days) and limited to buyers named in writing before expiry.
• Signatures. Notarization is not legally required, but it hardens the document and most brokers prefer it.

The red flags are the mirror image: no expiry date, automatic renewal, commission "on any sale to any buyer" without a registered-buyer list, or a broker who cannot show a PRC license. Under RA 9646, unlicensed practice is the broker's legal problem, but the messy sale it produces becomes yours.

Get a sample

Our free contract generator produces a fill-in Authority to Sell, in English or Tagalog, alongside the lease, Deed of Absolute Sale and Contract to Sell templates. Fill in the parties, property, commission and validity, print it, and read it once more before signing, specifically the validity and holdover lines, because that is where the money hides.

If you are earlier in the process, start with what the whole sale costs in our selling guide, and check what your property should ask against the price per square meter tool. This is a general template and general information, not legal advice; for a high-value property or an unusual arrangement, have a lawyer look at the final text.