In a memorandum opinion, a United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama has held that a real estate broker that charges its customers a percentage based commission and a separate administrative brokerage commission of $149 that is not shared with its sales agents violates Section 8(b) of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), because the additional $149 fee was not for services actually performed. JRHBW Realty, Inc. (d/b/a RealtySouth) split its real estate brokerage charge into two components, and showed them on separate lines of the HUD-1 Settlement Statement. The District Court held that the $149 portion of the charge (the administrative brokerage commission) was in essence charged for the same services for which RealtySouth charged its percentage based commission, and therefore was not charged for "services actually performed," and was an unearned fee that violated Section 8(b) of RESPA.

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