A federal court in Chicago is overseeing a $120.3 million settlement resolving claims that the National Association of Realtors and roughly two dozen brokerage firms conspired to keep buyer-broker commissions artificially high on homes listed through multiple listing services. Homeowners who purchased a property listed on an MLS and paid a commission during a qualifying window, which for most of the country runs from 2017 through June 25, 2026, can now file a claim against the fund. The deadline to submit that claim is October 27, 2026, and standard closing paperwork is the only documentation required.
The $120.3 Million Tuccori Commission Settlement
The fund, formally $120,334,500, resolves Tuccori et al. v. At World Properties, LLC et al., a case first filed in December 2023 in Cook County, Illinois, and later moved to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The National Association of Realtors is contributing the largest single share, $52,250,000, with the balance split among roughly two dozen firms, including HomeServices of America and its BHH and HSF affiliates, Anywhere Real Estate, Compass, eXp World Holdings, Hanna Holdings, Douglas Elliman and a group of smaller regional brokerages. None of the defendants have admitted wrongdoing.
The case is part of a broader wave of litigation accusing Realtor-affiliated listing rules of forcing home buyers to effectively help cover both sides of a transaction through commissions baked into the sale price. According to case tracking published by Open Class Actions, the court granted preliminary approval to the deal in the spring of 2026, clearing the way for the claims process that opened this summer. Beyond the cash payments, the defendants also agreed to maintain or extend a set of business practice changes designed to keep commission negotiations competitive going forward, a non-monetary term that stands separate from the money any individual claimant might receive.
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Which Home Purchases Qualify
Eligibility turns on two facts: the home had to be listed on a multiple listing service, a category that includes MLS platforms unaffiliated with the National Association of Realtors, such as the Real Estate Board of New York’s listing service and the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, and a commission had to be paid to some brokerage in connection with the purchase. The qualifying purchase window then depends on which defendant group is involved and where the home was located. For a group of regional brokerage defendants, most states carry a class period beginning December 8, 2017, 2018 or 2019 and running through June 25, 2026. For the National Association of Realtors and the larger national defendants, the lookback stretches further in several states, reaching back to January 2006 in Puerto Rico and January 2011 in Louisiana and Rhode Island.
The settlement covers buyers only, not sellers. Homeowners who sold a property and already recovered money through the earlier Burnett, Gibson, Keel or Hooper seller settlements are excluded from this buyer fund as to the defendants covered by those cases. That distinction matters because the Realtors’ better-known $418 million settlement, covered in earlier reporting by Open Class Actions, resolved seller claims and closed its own claim window months ago. This is a separate fund for the buyer side of the same underlying dispute.
Filing a Claim Before October 27
Claims are filed through the official settlement site, HomebuyerSettlement.com, administered by Epiq. The form asks for the address and purchase date of the home, the purchase price, the total broker commissions paid and, where known, which MLS was used to list the property. Buyers must attach proof of the purchase, such as a closing statement, settlement statement or HUD statement, and each qualifying purchase is reported separately if a buyer closed on more than one home during the class period.
A separate and earlier deadline applies to anyone who wants to exclude themselves from the settlement or object to its terms: September 17, 2026. Mailed claim forms must be postmarked, not simply dropped in the mail, by October 27, and Top Class Actions reports the settlement administrator has warned that postmarks are applied when mail reaches a processing facility rather than when it is deposited, making early filing the safer option. A related but separate settlement involving Keller Williams and RE/MAX, worth a combined $28.5 million, required no supporting documents but closed its own claim window on August 25, 2026, so buyers weighing both funds needed to act on that one first.
What Happens After the Claim Window Closes
The next scheduled milestone is a final approval hearing on November 2, 2026, before Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins at the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse in Chicago. At that hearing, the court will weigh whether the deal is fair and reasonable, and it will rule on class counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees of up to one-third of the fund, along with litigation costs and administration expenses. Those deductions come out of the $120,334,500 before any money reaches claimants.
No per-claimant payment amount has been set, and none can be calculated until the claims window closes and the total number of valid submissions is known. Payments are distributed on a pro rata basis, weighted by each buyer’s purchase price and commissions paid, and the defendants are funding the settlement in installments rather than a lump sum, meaning claimants should expect multiple payments spread over several years once the settlement becomes final. An appeal of the November ruling would push that timeline out further. A larger pool of valid claims will shrink each individual share, which is why the administrator has emphasized filing every qualifying purchase rather than just one.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Financial Wire editorial team.
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David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
