Your Agent’s Brokerage Might Own the Title Company They Just Recommended. Here’s What Colorado Law Now Requires Them to Tell You.

By Prerna Kapoor, CLHMS | REAL Brokerage | September 8, 2026

A buyer I was working with in Parker last month asked me something I don’t get very often. Her lender kept steering her toward one specific title company, and she wanted to know if that was even allowed. It turned out the lender and the title company were part of the same ownership group. That’s not illegal in Colorado. It’s called an affiliated business arrangement, and disclosing it has been required for years. What changed this month is when you’re supposed to find out about it.

What an Affiliated Business Arrangement Actually Is

Colorado law defines an affiliated business arrangement, or ABA, as a setup where one settlement service provider, a title company, a lender, a home inspector, an insurance agency, has an ownership stake of more than 1% in, or an affiliate relationship with, another settlement service provider, and one of them refers business to the other. In plain terms: if your agent’s brokerage owns part of the title company they just recommended, or your lender and your homeowners insurance agent share a parent company, that’s an ABA.

These arrangements are common and legal in Colorado. A brokerage that owns a title company, a builder with a preferred in-house lender (if you’ve read my piece on builder preferred lenders, you’ve already seen one common example of this), an insurance agency affiliated with a mortgage broker. None of that is automatically a problem. What the law cares about is whether you know about it before you decide whether to use that provider.

Why This Has to Be Disclosed in the First Place

Colorado Revised Statutes 12-10-218 lays out the rules, and two of them matter most to you as a buyer or seller. First, a licensee can never require you to use an affiliated provider as a condition of working with them. You can always ask for a title company, lender, or inspector of your own choosing, and nobody can make using the in-house option a condition of the deal. Second, nobody can pay or accept a kickback tied to referrals within an ABA beyond a legitimate return on an actual ownership investment. Title companies also typically hold your earnest money in escrow until closing, so whoever is recommending one has real influence over where a meaningful chunk of your transaction sits for weeks. The disclosure requirement exists so you can see that relationship clearly enough to decide for yourself whether to shop it or stick with the recommendation.

What Changed on August 12, 2026

Governor Polis signed HB26-1287 on June 4, 2026, after it passed the House 49-14 in April. Most of it is a routine bill that keeps the Colorado Division of Real Estate operating for another 11 years, but Section 17 makes a real change to how ABA disclosures work. Under the old rule, the disclosure only had to reach you once the purchase contract was fully executed, which meant it could show up buried in a stack of paperwork you were signing alongside everything else. As of August 12, 2026, the disclosure has to be made to the client the broker represents at the time the referral is actually made. If your agent is about to recommend a lender or title company they’re affiliated with, you’re supposed to hear about that relationship when the recommendation happens, not weeks later once you’re already elbow-deep in closing documents. That same date also brought a separate law requiring a signed agreement before your agent can represent you, so both changes landed on Colorado brokers’ desks the same week.

What This Means If You’re Buying or Selling in Colorado Right Now

Practically, this gives you an earlier and clearer moment to ask questions. If your agent recommends a specific title company or lender, it’s a fair question to ask whether there’s an affiliated business relationship behind that recommendation. You’ve always been allowed to ask. As of this law, you’re supposed to be told without having to. That doesn’t mean you should assume every recommendation is self-interested. A lot of the referrals I make, to title companies I’ve worked with for years, to lenders who close on time, come from actually watching them perform well on other people’s transactions. It’s the same transparency instinct behind how Colorado handles dual agency: conflicts aren’t banned, they just have to be visible to you. You should always feel free to compare, get a second quote, and use whoever you trust most.

You’re Never Required to Use an Affiliated Provider

This is worth repeating because it’s the part people misunderstand most. Colorado law is explicit that a licensee cannot require you to use an affiliated business as a condition of representing you. If anyone tells you that you have to use a specific title company or lender to work with them, that’s not how this is supposed to work, and it’s worth a direct conversation, or a call to the Colorado Division of Real Estate, which posts the disclosure form and the full requirement on its site.

Quick answers

Do I have to use the title company or lender my agent recommends?
No. Colorado law is explicit that using an affiliated provider can never be a condition of your agent representing you. You can always choose your own.

Is it illegal for my agent’s brokerage to own a title company?
No. Affiliated business arrangements are legal in Colorado as long as they’re disclosed and you’re never required to use them.

When am I supposed to find out about an affiliated business arrangement now?
As of HB26-1287, effective August 12, 2026, the disclosure has to reach the client the broker represents at the time the referral is made, not whenever the purchase contract happens to get signed.

Prerna Kapoor | REALTOR® | Luxury Home Specialist
REAL Brokerage | 720-949-5450 | info@prernakapoor.com
CLHMS • RENE • PSA • ABR | International Sterling Society Award Winner

Prerna specializes in residential real estate across Parker, Aurora, Lone Tree, Castle Pines,
Highlands Ranch, Cherry Creek, Greenwood Village, and Centennial. She speaks English, Japanese,
and Hindi.