If a landlord and tenant renew directly, does the original agent definitely have no right to commission?

Not necessarily — and not definitely the opposite either. It depends entirely on what your original Form 6 agreement actually says. If the agreement explicitly addresses commission on renewal, and your renewal genuinely falls within what it covers, the agent may have a contractual basis to claim. But if the agreement only covers "a transaction completed within the validity period" and says nothing about renewal, or your renewal clearly falls outside that period, that's exactly the point you can raise in a dispute. The answer always comes back to the actual wording of your agreement, not to the fact that the agent introduced you originally.

How much commission is typically owed on a renewal?

Hong Kong law doesn't set or cap the commission rate an estate agent may charge, and a renewal commission arrangement — including whether one applies at all — is likewise a matter for the parties to agree, not a fixed rate. If your original agreement never addressed renewal, there's no "standard renewal fee" to fall back on; whatever applies has to be actually agreed and, ideally, confirmed in writing.

I can't remember whether my agreement mentions renewal — how do I find out?

Contact the agency that handled your original transaction and ask for a copy of the agreement you signed, paying particular attention to Schedule 3 and the validity period. If they refuse or stall, that actually works in your favour later — the party pursuing commission bears the burden of showing there's a contractual basis for the claim, not just that you once dealt with them.

The person chasing me for renewal commission no longer works at that agency — can they still collect?

Any right to claim (if the agreement actually supports one) generally belongs to the agency that signed the agreement, not the individual salesperson — that person leaving the company doesn't make the right disappear, nor does it automatically transfer to them personally. If someone is pursuing you in their own personal capacity rather than on the agency's behalf, that's worth questioning directly — check their current licensing status and who they're actually representing before deciding your next step.

Estate Agency Disputes8 min

Renewed a Hong Kong Tenancy Directly? Do You Still Owe the Agent Commission

EasyDebt Editorial

A cardboard-style man and woman shaking hands across a kitchen table, a completely blank sheet of paper between them, a green paper-craft lion sitting on a stool beside the man watching them

A landlord and tenant meet through an estate agent, the tenancy runs a year or two, things go smoothly, and as the lease nears its end they decide to skip the agent entirely and renew directly between themselves. A few weeks later, a letter arrives: the original agent says the renewal still counts as a deal they facilitated, and wants a commission.

This is a different situation from signing a viewing form and later completing your first deal through a second agent or the owner directly, but the two get conflated constantly. This article covers: how a direct renewal differs from switching agents, why Form 6's "validity period" is the whole question, what to do when your agreement never mentions renewal, how to check whether the person chasing you is even still the original agent, and which dispute route fits once you've checked. Based on public guidance from the Community Legal Information Centre (CLIC) and the Estate Agents Authority.

If you want the mechanics of what a viewing form commits you to at signing, see Signed a Viewing Form in Hong Kong? What It Commits You To — this article is specifically about renewal.

Key takeaways

When a landlord and tenant who met through an agent go on to renew directly between themselves, whether a further commission is owed comes down to what your original Form 6 agreement actually says — and a lot of agreements simply never address renewal at all.

A direct renewal between the same landlord and tenant is a different situation from completing a first deal through a second agent or the owner directly — the two shouldn't be reasoned about the same way
Under Form 6's Schedule 3, the commission obligation is tied to the agreement's own validity period — once that period has passed, the clause no longer automatically binds either side
Many standard agreements simply don't address whether a renewal triggers a further commission — ask before you renew, not after a demand letter arrives
If you receive a renewal-commission demand, the first step is checking whether the person chasing you is still the licensed agent who signed the original agreement — the EAA's public register lets you verify this
For disputes up to HK$300,000, both sides can agree to a free EAA determination; for an enforceable money judgment, HK$75,000 or under goes to the Small Claims Tribunal

A direct renewal is not the same as switching to a second agent

Worth separating these clearly, because they get mixed together constantly in discussions of agent commission.

"Switching to a second agent" is when you sign Form 6 with Agent A, then — while that agreement is still valid — complete your first transaction through Agent B or directly with the landlord instead. In that case, under Schedule 3 of the agreement you signed, Agent A generally still has a right to claim commission, because you did complete a transaction they facilitated, just through a different route.

This article covers something else: a landlord and tenant who already completed their first transaction through the same agent, with no second party involved at all — the lease simply comes up for renewal, and the same two original people continue directly. There's no "second agent" here, and no "going around the landlord" either, since the landlord is one of the two parties involved. The real question is narrower: does the original agent still have a contractual right to a further commission on this renewal transaction specifically.

A cardboard-style woman sitting at a home desk, pointing to a completely blank sheet of paper on the desk, a green paper-craft lion sitting on the desk in front of a computer monitor watching the paper — Whether a renewal owes anything further comes down to what your original Form 6 agreement actually says.

Why Form 6's validity period decides whether you owe anything

Under section 45 of the Estate Agents Ordinance (Cap. 511), a licensed estate agent must sign a written estate agency agreement with a prospective tenant before arranging a viewing — that's Form 6. It sets out the agent's duties, the commission you'll owe, and the agreement's validity period.

Here's the key point: per CLIC's guidance, a tenant who completes a transaction through another agent or directly with the landlord within the agreement's validity period still owes commission under Form 6's Schedule 3 — but that obligation is tied to the agreement's own validity period. Once that period has passed, the "complete a transaction within the validity period and owe commission" clause no longer automatically binds either side. In other words, the validity period of your original agreement (typically a matter of months, depending on what your specific document says) and the point at which you're renewing today may be a year or two apart — well past whatever period the original agreement actually specified.

This is exactly where most readers get confused — "the agent who introduced us" and "does this agent have a contractual right to charge on this specific renewal transaction" are two different questions. The first is a fact. The second is the legal question that actually decides whether you owe anything, and the answer sits in your own agreement, not in general practice.

Your agreement says nothing about renewal — now what

Here's the honest part: Hong Kong law doesn't set or restrict the commission rate an estate agent may charge, and there's no statutory requirement that every Form 6 spell out whether a renewal triggers a further commission. In practice, many standard agreements simply don't address this scenario at all — the agreement only covers the commission calculation for a transaction completed within the validity period, and stays silent on what happens when the same two people renew directly after that period ends.

This gap has two practical consequences:

First, if you haven't renewed yet. This is the best moment to act — before renewing, ask the agent directly whether a further commission applies if you renew between yourselves, and get their answer in writing (WhatsApp or email), not verbally. This is the same discipline as reading Schedule 3 before you sign in the first place — the renewal trap, like the original one, is much easier to handle before you sign than after a dispute starts.

Second, if you've already renewed directly and a demand has just arrived. Start by pulling out your original agreement and checking Schedule 3 and the validity period carefully — does it say anything at all about "renewal," "extension," or "commission still payable after the agreement expires on a subsequent renewal"? If it says nothing, the person demanding payment needs to explain what contractual basis they're relying on, given the original validity period has already passed.

A cardboard-style woman sitting on a sofa holding a phone with a completely blank screen, a green paper-craft lion sitting on the sofa beside her, a paper-craft Hong Kong skyline visible through the window — A demand letter is a reason to verify, not a reason to pay immediately.

Is the person chasing you even still the original agent

Another point worth verifying: who exactly is chasing you for renewal commission. It's not unusual for the original salesperson to have since left that agency, moved to a different one, or even let their licence lapse — yet still pursue commission on the basis that "I'm the one who introduced you."

Any right to claim commission (if it exists at all) generally belongs to the agency company named in the agreement, not the individual salesperson — a salesperson changing jobs doesn't automatically transfer that right to them personally, absent a separate written arrangement. So when a demand arrives, it's worth checking two things: whether the person is actually acting on behalf of the agency that signed your original agreement, and whether they currently hold a valid licence. The Estate Agents Authority maintains a public register of licensed practitioners, searchable by name or licence number — checking this before you respond, or even consider paying, is far more useful than judging the situation by the tone of a letter alone.

Disputing the amount — EAA determination or the Tribunal

Once you've checked both the agreement and the other side's status, and a dispute genuinely remains, there are two different routes available.

Estate Agents Authority determination. Under section 49 of the Estate Agents Ordinance, where a licensed estate agent and client disagree on the amount, calculation method or payment terms of commission, both sides can agree to have the EAA determine the dispute. This applies to amounts up to HK$300,000, with a HK$500 submission fee per party and an arbitration fee of 10% of the disputed amount (minimum HK$2,000); neither side may be represented by a solicitor or barrister. Once registered with the District Court, a determination becomes enforceable as a District Court judgment. The catch: this route needs both sides to agree — the agent isn't obliged to accept it.

Small Claims Tribunal. If the agent won't agree to EAA determination, or you'd rather pursue an enforceable money claim directly, and the disputed amount is HK$75,000 or under, you can file at the Small Claims Tribunal. Filing fees run in four bands: $20 up to $5,000, $40 up to $25,000, $70 up to $50,000, and $120 up to $75,000 — the process generally doesn't require legal representation. For the actual filing steps, see How to Fill In a Small Claims Tribunal Claim Form.

To see what actually decides a case like this once it reaches the Tribunal — particularly how the agreement's own wording and the timeline of events become the deciding factors — our agency commission case walks through a different fact pattern, but the same lesson applies here: a properly signed prescribed-form agreement plus a clear timeline is the most practical thing you can bring to a renewal-commission dispute. If you'd like help assessing whether a dispute like this is worth pursuing, our filing support service covers exactly that; estate agency disputes also sit within our agency commission case type.

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EasyDebt is not a law firm. This article is for general procedural information only and does not constitute legal advice; individual cases are subject to Hong Kong law and the relevant body's determination.

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