North Carolina buyers get one banking day to pay the Due Diligence Fee

North Carolina revises its jointly approved contract forms every July, and most years the changes are housekeeping. This year's set moves a deadline, defines a day, adds a reporting clause and turns a standalone compensation agreement into an addendum. Each of those is a checklist edit, and one of them is a checklist edit that will not fire for now.

The forms are published by NC REALTORS and, in the case of the purchase contracts, jointly approved with the North Carolina Bar Association. The association's summary of the residential changes carries a release date of 27 May 2026, and its notice states that the changes 'took effect July 1'. Marked-up versions of every changed form are public. The clean forms sit in the member library, and TC Bulletin has not opened them.

The Due Diligence Fee gets a banking day

Under paragraph 1(i) of Form 2-T, Offer to Purchase and Contract, the Due Diligence Fee remains due on the Effective Date, and the paragraph now continues: 'it must be delivered to Seller no later than the next banking day following the Effective Date.' The association's summary explains the intent: a buyer who has not paid on the Effective Date 'is not in breach the next day, as has otherwise been the case in the past. Instead, the buyer has until the end of the next banking day following the Effective Date to pay before they will be in breach.'

Paragraph 22 supplies the definition the deadline needs: 'A "banking day" in this Contract is every Monday through Friday and excludes Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays observed by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.' Ordinary 'days' in the contract remain consecutive calendar days.

The remedy sequence is unchanged in structure. A late fee does not by itself let the seller terminate. The seller serves written demand using Form 355-T, which now gives the buyer until 'no later than one (1) banking day following this Notice' to deliver cash, official bank cheque, wire or electronic transfer, and only on failure may the seller terminate by written notice.

Access can wait for the fee

Paragraph 8(c), the seller's obligation to give access for due diligence, gains a final sentence: 'Until the Due Diligence Fee is delivered, physical access to the Property may be limited or denied by Seller.' The summary describes the problem it answers: buyers who go under contract, do not pay the fee, inspect immediately after the Effective Date and terminate before the seller can issue a demand. The seller's option is limited to physical access. Other due diligence is unaffected.

A reporting clause that names a vacated rule

New paragraph 6(e), Information for Governmental Reporting, reads: 'If applicable, Buyer must provide the closing attorney with any information necessary to comply with governmental reporting requirements, including, but not limited to, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's (FinCEN) reporting rule to prevent illegal financial practices.' The summary notes that the clause is broader than FinCEN and reaches any reporting to the IRS or a court official. Forms 12-T, 101 and 201 carry parallel language.

The clause is conditional, and for FinCEN purposes it is currently dormant. FinCEN's residential real estate page states that on 19 March 2026 the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued an order vacating the Residential Real Estate Rule, that FinCEN and the Department of Justice have appealed, and that 'while the court's order remains in force, reporting persons are not required to file Real Estate Reports with FinCEN and are not subject to liability if they fail to do so.' ALTA reported the ruling on 20 March 2026 and described the cautious approach as continuing to collect the information. The form language will bind the moment an appeal restores the rule. Until then, what a closing attorney asks for is the closing attorney's call.

Form 220 becomes an addendum

Form 220 has been redrafted. The marked-up version is titled Buyer Agent Compensation Addendum and says in its heading that it is only to be used 'when Seller is providing a credit to Buyer in Form 2-T, Form 12-T, or Form 800-T'. Paragraph 1 provides that the seller 'will pay at Closing $___ or ___% of the Purchase Price toward Buyer's obligation to pay their real estate agent', and the buyer affirms that the agency agreement covers the property and that the amount is not more than the buyer has agreed to pay their agent.

The association's summary spells out the operational change. Form 220 is now 'an addendum to a purchase contract instead of a standalone agreement', it reflects that buyer agent compensation is paid by the seller with no option for the listing firm to pay, and 'agents should not have the seller sign it at a listing appointment in advance'. It is to be 'included and written in as an addendum in the section of the purchase contract that asks for identification of any "other attorney or party drafted addenda."' Form 220G, the guidelines form, is eliminated. The summary's own heading still calls the form the Cooperative Compensation Agreement; the form carries the new title, and the form governs.

The legal footing is Session Law 2025-52, ratified on 26 June 2025, whose section 4(c) provides that a broker acting as an agent 'may use a preprinted offer or sales contract form containing provisions concerning the payment of a commission or compensation, including the forfeiture of earnest money, to a broker or firm', and which directs the Real Estate Commission to conform its rule 21 NCAC 58A .0112. The association's Form 101 listing agreement, paragraph 7(c), was adjusted to match.

New forms and moved deadlines

• Form 2A10-T, Additional Parcel Exhibit, adopted July 2026, attaches to Forms 2-T, 12-T, 101 or 103 where several parcels are sold in one transaction, one exhibit per parcel, with a checkbox recording whether the parcel's deed is attached.
• Form 2A15-T, Judicial Sale Addendum, provides among other things that any Due Diligence Fee 'must be paid within 2 days after the end of the final upset bid period with time being of the essence'.
• Form 2A13-T, Vacation Rental Addendum, now requires the seller to deliver copies of the identified vacation rental agreements within seven days of the Effective Date rather than within ten days after closing, and a buyer keeping the seller's rental manager must sign a management agreement before the end of the Due Diligence Period.
• Form 12-T, the vacant lot and land contract, mirrors the 2-T edits, and Form 800-T for new construction was edited to accommodate the same changes.
• Form 101 gains a 'Limited Distribution or Exposure (Medium Publication)' option beside office exclusive, a fee line for an unrepresented buyer, and a seller undertaking to provide valid identification on request. Forms 101 and 201 add a FinCEN disclosure paragraph.

What changes on the desk

1. For any contract with an Effective Date on or after 1 July 2026, calendar Due Diligence Fee delivery for the next banking day, computed with the paragraph 22 definition, and calendar the 355-T demand and one-banking-day cure behind it.
2. Do not book inspections ahead of fee delivery without checking whether the seller intends to use paragraph 8(c).
3. Where the seller is paying buyer agent compensation, attach Form 220 (Revised 7/2026), write it on the other-addenda line, and keep it separate from the paragraph 1(e) concessions figure. The two are additive on the closing statement.
4. Add 2A10-T for multi-parcel files, 2A15-T for judicial sales, and the seven-day rental agreement delivery on 2A13-T to the checklist.
5. Treat paragraph 6(e) as conditional. Ask the closing attorney what, if anything, they are collecting for FinCEN while the vacatur stands.