Note: This is part 1 of our articles on the Utah REPC 2027 updates. See the continuing articles for more details.
Article by Danny Naylor, President of the Institute of Real Estate Education
Introduction
Utah has approved a new Real Estate Purchase Contract, commonly called the REPC. The new form was approved on August 19, 2026, may be used during the transition period, and becomes the required state-approved form for new offers beginning January 1, 2027.
Before examining the contract page by page, it is helpful to understand where a state-approved form comes from. The approval process explains why the contract contains some ideas, omits others, and attempts to balance consumer protection with a document ordinary buyers and sellers can understand.
The Division of Real Estate’s Public-Protection Role
The Utah Division of Real Estate is part of the state’s regulatory structure. Its mission includes protecting the public and promoting responsible business practices. That role is especially important in real estate because a purchase or sale brings together contract law, property rights, financing, title, disclosures, inspections, and deadlines. A person can be highly capable in another field and still have little experience with the legal transfer of real property.
State licensing rules, education requirements, and approved forms are intended to reduce preventable harm. A well-designed form cannot eliminate every dispute, but it can identify the issues most transactions share, require important disclosures, and create a common vocabulary for the parties and their professionals.
The Real Estate Commission
The Utah Real Estate Commission is the body that approves forms used by real estate licensees. Its members are appointed by the governor and include experienced industry practitioners along with a public member who can contribute a perspective from outside day-to-day brokerage practice.
Commission meetings are public. The public may attend, and meeting procedures provide opportunities for comment. That gives brokers, agents, attorneys, educators, consumers, and other interested people a way to raise concerns before the Commission acts.
Why the Utah Association of REALTORS Was Involved
The Utah Association of REALTORS is different from the Division of Real Estate and the Real Estate Commission. The Division regulates the industry under state law; the Association is a professional membership organization. Their roles and priorities are not identical, but both have extensive information about how real estate forms operate in actual transactions.
One valuable source of information was the Association’s legal hotline. Over time, calls from members revealed recurring questions involving contract language, deadlines, cancellation rights, earnest money, included items, disclosures, possession, and other common disputes. Those repeated questions helped identify provisions that could be reorganized or clarified in the next major revision.
A Year of Drafting and Debate
The Association assembled a committee in 2025 that included experienced brokers, practitioners, and real estate attorneys. The committee considered many more proposals than ultimately appeared in the final form. Members drafted language, evaluated its consequences, tested alternatives, and revised the document repeatedly over roughly a year.
The central drafting challenge was scope. A purchase contract must address the situations most buyers and sellers are likely to encounter, but it should not become an encyclopedia of every unusual arrangement. Specialized transactions—such as complex new construction, unusual financing, development projects, or sophisticated business acquisitions—may require addenda or a contract prepared by the client’s attorney.
Keeping a standard form understandable is itself a consumer-protection goal. More language is not always more protection if the result is a document that clients cannot meaningfully review.
Commission Review, Public Comment, and Attorney General Review
By June 2026, the drafting group had a version ready to present to the Real Estate Commission. The Commission received public comment and discussed the proposal. After considering the committee’s work, the Commission approved the draft without undertaking a new rewrite.
Approval by the Commission was not the final step. The Utah Attorney General’s Office reviewed the form as a legal document and requested three relatively small changes. The revised form returned for final consideration, and the Real Estate Commission approved it on August 19, 2026.
This layered process matters. Industry practitioners contributed experience from actual transactions; attorneys evaluated legal consequences; the public could comment; the Commission considered regulatory and consumer-protection concerns; and the Attorney General’s Office performed legal review.
What ‘State-Approved Form’ Means
When the Division has an approved form for a transaction, Utah real estate licensees generally must use that form when preparing documents for clients. A buyer or seller may have that client’s own attorney prepare a different legal form, and a licensee may use the attorney-prepared form for that client. A brokerage cannot ordinarily bypass an existing approved form by having the brokerage’s attorney create a routine substitute for its clients.
People acting for themselves have broader freedom to make their own agreements, although using an improvised contract for a real estate purchase creates obvious risk. The approved-form requirement is especially relevant when a licensed agent or broker prepares the offer as part of a representation relationship.
Not every real estate agreement has a state-approved form. Where no approved form exists, the analysis is different. The 2027 REPC, however, is the approved residential purchase contract addressed by this series.
The Transition to January 1, 2027
The new form was approved on August 19, 2026. During the transition through December 31, 2026, the new form and the prior approved form may be available for use. Beginning January 1, 2027, licensees must use the new REPC for new offers unless a lawful exception applies.
A contract does not have to be rewritten merely because the calendar changes while the transaction is pending. An offer properly formed on the prior version may proceed under that version even if settlement or closing occurs in 2027.
Brokerages should use the transition period to update transaction-management systems, document templates, training materials, checklists, and client explanations. Agents should practice completing the form before using it in a live transaction.
Why the Process Matters
The final form reflects accumulated experience, but it is not intended to answer every question. New language will generate new interpretations, and unusual facts will continue to require broker supervision or legal advice. Understanding the approval process helps licensees use the REPC for what it is: a carefully developed standard form, not a substitute for professional judgment.
The remaining articles in this series examine the approved form page by page, beginning with the deal terms and buyer conditions gathered on page one.
Official references: Utah State Approved Forms and Utah Code 61-2f.
Educational disclaimer: This general educational summary is not legal or tax advice. Consult the final approved form, the principal broker, and qualified legal or tax counsel as appropriate.