US telemarketing rules for real estate agents: calls, texts and AI

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Kooky

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A phone call to a homeowner who might sell, or a text to a buyer who filled in a form last spring, is ordinary prospecting. In the United States it is also regulated activity, and by two federal bodies at once. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) writes the Telemarketing Sales Rule, found at Part 310 of Title 16 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) writes the rules made under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, found at section 64.1200 of Title 47. The two sets overlap on the National Do Not Call Registry and on calling hours, and differ on scope, on text messages and on who may bring a case.

None of the federal pages read for this guide mentions real estate by name. The rules reach an agent through their general definitions, which is why those definitions come first here. The guide then covers the registry and its fees, the 31-day check, the established business relationship, the safe harbour, calling hours, automated and prerecorded calls and texts, voices generated by artificial intelligence, the rule known as one-to-one consent, and the penalties. It describes federal rules only. State telemarketing laws are outside its scope.

FTC guidance for telemarketers and sellers, last modified 8 October 2026, and 16 CFR 310.8 as current on 7 October 2026. The fee applies from 1 October 2026.

Two rulebooks, and why a local call is still covered

The FTC's rule defines telemarketing as a plan, programme or campaign conducted to induce the purchase of goods or services, involving more than one interstate telephone call. A seller, in the FTC's words, provides, offers to provide or arranges for others to provide goods or services to the customer in exchange for payment. A telemarketer calls on a seller's behalf. The FTC's guidance adds a third party, the service provider, which helps with telemarketing by supplying or scrubbing call lists.

The interstate condition matters to a trade that mostly calls people nearby. An agent who only ever phones numbers in the same state might seem to sit outside the FTC's rule. The FTC's own guidance closes that gap: it says the National Do Not Call Registry covers intrastate telemarketing calls under the FCC's rules, and that the registry is enforced by the FTC, the FCC and state officials.

The FCC's definition also speaks more directly to property. Its rule defines a telephone solicitation as the initiation of a call or message for the purpose of encouraging the purchase or rental of, or investment in, property, goods or services. Three kinds of call fall outside that definition: calls made with the person's prior express invitation or permission, calls to someone with whom the caller has an established business relationship, and calls by tax-exempt non-profit organisations.

The FTC's compliance guide lists the bodies its rule does not cover: banks, federal credit unions, federal savings and loans, common carriers, and non-profits.

Who must use the National Do Not Call Registry

According to the FTC, sellers, telemarketers and service providers must access the registry before calling consumers. The prohibition itself is in section 310.4(b)(1)(iii)(B) of the FTC's rule: it is an abusive practice to call a number on the registry unless the seller has the person's express written agreement, or has an established business relationship with that person and has not been asked to stop.

The FTC's guidance lists the calls that fall outside the registry provision: informational messages, calls whose sole purpose is a survey or poll, political calls, business-to-business calls, charitable solicitations, calls to consumers with an established business relationship, and calls made with written permission. Truly non-profit organisations are exempt, and the FTC notes that tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service is not enough on its own to prove it.

Two exemptions in the FTC's rule are worth reading closely in a trade built on meetings. Section 310.6(b)(7) exempts calls between a telemarketer and a business. Section 310.6(b)(3) exempts calls where the sale is not completed, and payment is not required, until after a face-to-face presentation. The FTC's compliance guide says the test is direct, substantive and personal contact between consumer and seller. It also says that certain provisions still apply to those calls, and names the Do Not Call and Caller ID rules among them. On the FTC's own account, then, a business that closes its sales in person is not released from the registry by that exemption. How the exemption applies to a given brokerage's calls depends on its facts.

On the FCC's side, the registry rule protects residential subscribers who have registered, and section 64.1200(c)(2) says a registration must be honoured indefinitely, until the consumer cancels it or the administrator removes the number.

Subscribing: the account, the fee and the 31-day check

The FTC's guidance describes the route into the registry. An organisation registers, pays where a fee is due, and subscribes to the area codes it will call. It then receives a unique Subscription Account Number. The number is not sent by email; it is found in the organisation's registry account. It expires with the subscription. A seller may share its number with the telemarketers or service providers that call on its behalf.

The fee is set by section 310.8 of the FTC's rule. As current on 7 October 2026, it is US$85 for each area code of data accessed, up to a maximum of US$23,425, with no charge for the first five area codes. The FTC's guidance gives the same figures and says they apply from 1 October 2026. A subscription runs for twelve months from its start date. Renewal is possible up to 30 days before expiry, in which case the new period begins the day after the current one ends. An organisation that renews after expiry starts a new twelve-month period on the first day of the month of renewal.

A worked example, with assumed numbers: a brokerage whose prospects' phone numbers carry eight different area codes subscribes to all eight. Five are free, so it pays for three: 3 × US$85 = US$255 for the year. A solo agent who calls numbers in four area codes pays nothing, but still has to subscribe and check the list.

Area codes added partway through the year are priced differently, and here the sources do not agree. Section 310.8(d) of the rule sets US$43 for each area code added in the second six months of the subscription year. One answer in the FTC's guidance still shows earlier amounts, US$82 for a code added in the first six months and US$41 in the second. The regulation, as current on 7 October 2026, also sets US$85 for a code added in the first six months. On the regulation's figure, the eight-code brokerage adding two more codes in the second half of its year would pay 2 × US$43 = US$86.

The check itself has one fixed interval. The FTC's guidance says call lists must be synchronised with an updated version of the registry at least every 31 days. The FCC's rule uses the same number: a caller must use a version of the registry obtained no more than 31 days before the date of the call.

The established business relationship and its two clocks

The exception an agent is most likely to rely on is the established business relationship. It has two time limits, one for customers and one for enquirers, and the two agencies express them in different units.

The FTC's guidance describes a relationship lasting 18 months after the consumer's last purchase, delivery, payment or financial transaction, and three months after an inquiry or application. The text of its rule, at section 310.2(q), counts in days: a purchase or financial transaction within the 540 days immediately before the call, or an inquiry within the 90 days immediately before it. The FCC's rule, at section 64.1200(f)(5), speaks of a voluntary two-way communication, with a purchase or transaction within the previous 18 months or an inquiry or application within the previous three months.

A worked example, with assumed dates: a client's last transaction with a brokerage took place on 1 April 2025. Counting 540 days forward gives 23 September 2026. A call to that client's registered number on 10 October 2026 would fall outside the FTC's window. A prospect who asked about a listing on 1 July 2026 is inside the 90-day window until 29 September 2026, and outside it on 10 October 2026.

Both agencies add the same limit. The relationship ends, whatever the calendar says, once the consumer asks the company not to call. Under the FCC's rule a seller-specific do-not-call request terminates it.

The other route past the registry is written permission. The FTC's guidance describes an express written agreement to receive calls from a specific seller, which includes the phone number to be called and the consumer's signature. An electronic signature is acceptable, and the consumer can revoke the agreement. The FCC's rule has a parallel exception for a prior express invitation or permission evidenced by a signed written agreement, and a further one for calls to a person with whom the caller has a personal relationship.

The company list and the safe harbour

The national registry is not the only list. Section 310.4(b)(1)(iii)(A) of the FTC's rule bars a call to any person who has previously said they do not wish to receive calls from that seller. The FTC's guidance spells out the consequence: a consumer whose number is not on the national registry can still stop one company's calls by asking, and the company must honour the request.

The FCC's rule turns that into a set of standing duties at section 64.1200(d). A caller must have a written do-not-call policy, available on demand, and must train the personnel involved in its use. Requests must be recorded and honoured within a reasonable time that may not exceed ten business days. The caller must give the called person the name of the individual calling, the name of the entity on whose behalf the call is made, and a telephone number or address at which that entity can be reached. A request generally binds the specific caller and not its affiliates, unless the consumer would reasonably expect them to be included. A request must be honoured for five years from the date it is made.

A mistaken call to a registered number is not automatically a violation. Both agencies offer a safe harbour, and both require the caller to show that compliance is its routine practice.

The FTC's guidance adds the condition that gives the safe harbour its meaning: the call that broke the rule must have resulted from an error.

Calling hours, caller ID and what to say first

The hours are the same in both rulebooks. Section 310.4(c) of the FTC's rule limits calls to a person's residence, without that person's prior consent, to the period between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. local time at the called person's location. Section 64.1200(c)(1) of the FCC's rule bars telephone solicitations to a residential subscriber before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., again by local time at the called party's location. The reference point is the person called, not the caller. A worked example: an agent in New York who rings a prospect in California at 10 a.m. Eastern time reaches that prospect at 7 a.m. Pacific time, an hour before the window opens.

On caller ID, section 310.4(a)(8) of the FTC's rule makes it an abusive practice to fail to transmit the telephone number to a caller identification service. The seller's name and a customer service number answered during regular business hours may be transmitted instead of the telemarketer's own.

Section 310.4(d) sets the opening disclosures for a sales call. The caller must state truthfully, promptly and clearly the identity of the seller, that the purpose of the call is to sell goods or services, and the nature of those goods or services.

Autodialled and prerecorded calls and texts

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act regulates technology as well as lists. Section 64.1200(a)(1) of the FCC's rule bars calls made with an automatic telephone dialling system, or with an artificial or prerecorded voice, to mobile numbers and certain other lines, unless the call is an emergency or the called party has given prior express consent. Where such a call is an advertisement or telemarketing, paragraph (a)(2) raises the standard to prior express written consent. Paragraph (a)(3) applies the same written standard to prerecorded telemarketing calls to residential lines.

The rule defines an automatic telephone dialling system as equipment with the capacity to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator, and to dial them. Whether a particular dialling or texting tool meets that definition is a question about that tool, and the pages read here do not settle it for any product.

Prior express written consent has a fixed content, set out at section 64.1200(f)(9). It is a written agreement bearing the signature of the person called. It clearly authorises the seller to deliver advertisements or telemarketing messages using an automatic telephone dialling system or an artificial or prerecorded voice. It states the telephone number to which those messages may be sent. It discloses that the person is giving that authorisation and is not required to sign as a condition of buying anything. An electronic or digital signature counts where federal or state law recognises it.

The FTC's rule reaches prerecorded sales calls from its own side. Section 310.4(b)(1)(v) prohibits them unless conditions are met, among them a signed written agreement, letting the phone ring for at least 15 seconds or four rings, and an opt-out mechanism. The FTC's guidance says the consent must be obtained directly from the consumer and not through third parties.

Texts come into the FCC's rule in two places. Section 64.1200(e) applies the calling-hour, registry and company-list rules to telephone solicitations and telemarketing calls or texts to wireless numbers. The revocation rules name texts expressly. The FTC pages read for this guide do not say whether its own rule covers text messages.

A prerecorded message carries its own identification duties under section 64.1200(b). It must state at the beginning who is responsible for the call, using the business name registered with the state authority, and give a callback number. A telemarketing message must offer an automated opt-out mechanism within two seconds of that identification.

Callers who use predictive dialling face the abandoned-call rule. Under section 64.1200(a)(7), no more than 3 per cent of answered telemarketing calls may be abandoned in each 30-day period of a campaign, and a call is abandoned when no live sales representative is connected within two seconds of the called person's completed greeting. The FTC's rule uses the same two-second test.

Consent can be taken back. Under section 64.1200(a)(10), a person may revoke consent by any reasonable method. Some methods are reasonable by definition, including the opt-out mechanism on a call, specified reply words sent in answer to a text, and a website or telephone number the caller has designated. A caller may not name one exclusive method for revoking consent to texts. The request must be honoured within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days from receipt.

AI-generated voices count as artificial voices

Voice tools that sound like a person raised the question of whether they are an "artificial or prerecorded voice" at all. The FCC answered in Declaratory Ruling FCC 24-17, adopted on 2 February 2024 and released on 8 February 2024 in CG Docket No. 23-362. The FCC's announcement says the Commission adopted it unanimously, and the ruling took effect on release.

The practical result is that the consent table above applies. According to the ruling, a caller needs the called party's prior express consent before placing such a call, and prior express written consent if the call includes an advertisement or is telemarketing. The message must identify at its start the business, individual or entity responsible for the call, and a telemarketing message must offer a way to opt out. The ruling sets no penalty of its own. The statements attached to it say state attorneys general can pursue those behind such calls and seek damages under the Act, and record that the FCC has a memorandum of understanding with 48 state attorneys general.

The one-to-one consent rule never took effect

In 2023 the FCC adopted a revised definition of prior express written consent, as part of its Second Text Blocking Report and Order. The FCC's own document title calls it the one-to-one consent rule. It is not in force, and never was.

The sequence is set out in an order of the FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, DA 25-621, dated 14 July 2025. On 24 January 2025 the Commission postponed the effective date of the revised rule. The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Insurance Marketing Coalition Limited v. FCC, vacated the part of the 2023 order that contained it, and the court's mandate issued on 30 April 2025. The July order then repealed the revised wording and reinstated the earlier version in the codified rules, effective on publication in the Federal Register.

The text of section 64.1200 as current on 7 October 2026 confirms the outcome. The definition of prior express written consent is the one described above, and it contains no one-to-one language. The Bureau's order does not restate what the vacated rule would have required, and this guide does not go beyond it.

Penalties, private claims and records

The FTC's guidance puts the maximum civil penalty at US$53,088 per violation and says each call may count as a separate violation. A worked example of the ceiling: ten calls each found to be a violation would carry a maximum of 10 × US$53,088 = US$530,880. That is a cap, not a tariff, and the amount in any case is for the court. The FTC's compliance guide says a party that substantially assists a violation can also be liable.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act adds something the FTC's rule does not rely on: a claim by the person called. Under section 227(b)(3) of Title 47 of the United States Code, a person who receives an unlawful autodialled or prerecorded call may sue for actual monetary loss or US$500 for each violation, whichever is greater, and a court may award up to three times that amount for a wilful or knowing violation. Section 227(c)(5) gives a similar claim, of up to US$500 per violation, to a person who has received more than one telephone solicitation within any 12-month period from the same entity in breach of the do-not-call regulations. It is a defence to that claim that the caller established and implemented reasonable practices and procedures to prevent such calls. A state attorney general may sue on residents' behalf under section 227(g), on the same US$500 basis.

A worked example, with assumed numbers: 40 telemarketing calls made in breach of the autodialler rule, at US$500 each, come to US$20,000. If a court found the violations wilful or knowing and applied the full multiple, the figure would be 3 × US$20,000 = US$60,000.

The same list of numbers can cost nothing to check and US$500 a call to get wrong.

Records are what turn a safe harbour from a claim into a defence, and the two FTC sources differ on how long to keep them. Section 310.5 of the rule, as current on 7 October 2026, requires records to be kept for five years from the date they are produced, including details of each call, scripts and prerecorded messages, records of consent and do-not-call requests. The FTC's compliance guide, first published in 2011, still refers to two years. The regulation is the binding text. The FCC's five-year period for honouring a company-specific request points the same way.

Which of these rules bites on a given call depends on who is called, on what line, with what equipment and on what basis. The federal texts describe the general rule; how they apply to one brokerage depends on the facts of its own practice.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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