TCPA Texting Rules for Real Estate Agents in 2026: What Changed and What Didn't

What changed and what didn't

Most texting rules for agents are the same as last year, and three things moved in 2026.

In July, a federal appeals court ruled that texts aren't calls for Do Not Call lawsuits. The FCC had pushed one opt-out rule to 2027, and on September 30 it adopted an order that replaces it.

Why April 11, 2026 isn't the date

If a page says a texting rule starts April 11, 2026, it's out of date: the FCC moved that deadline to January 31, 2027.

On April 11, 2025, new opt-out rules took effect. People can revoke consent "by using any reasonable method."

You have no more than 10 business days to honor it, and you may send one confirmation text.

Replies like stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel and unsubscribe always count. Other words count too, if a reasonable person would read them as an opt-out.

One piece, called revoke all, was delayed to April 11, 2026. On January 6, 2026 the FCC delayed it again, to January 31, 2027.

Revoke all means that an opt-out from one kind of automated informational message counts for all your automated messages on unrelated topics.

What the FCC decided on September 30

On September 30, 2026 the FCC adopted an order that replaces the revoke-all rule, and it released the order on October 1.

The new rules start 30 days after the order is published in the Federal Register, which hadn't happened as of early October, per the law firm Manatt. Here's what changes for agents who send marketing texts.

• Marketing is one category: an opt-out from any of your marketing texts ends all your marketing calls and texts to that person.
• Informational messages are split by type: opting out of one kind, like appointment reminders, doesn't stop the others.
• You can name the opt-out method people must use, like replying STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL or UNSUBSCRIBE, and you still have to honor all of those words.
• If you name a method, you have to say it clearly in every text. Putting one of those words, like STOP, in each message is enough.
• If you don't name a method, you still have to honor an opt-out made by any reasonable means.

Are texts calls? The court split

In July, a federal appeals court ruled that texts aren't telephone calls for Do Not Call lawsuits, but the ruling binds only three states.

The case is Steidinger v. Blackstone Medical Services, decided July 14, 2026. The Seventh Circuit wrote that "modern-day text messages are better understood as messages, not calls."

The ruling covers Do Not Call lawsuits, and it binds federal courts in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Elsewhere it's contested. The Ninth Circuit held in January that texts are calls under a different part of the law, the robocall section on prerecorded messages.

In September, trial courts in North Carolina, Alabama and Colorado sided with Steidinger, and the Eleventh Circuit has the question in front of it.

A 2025 Supreme Court decision lets courts decide what the law means for themselves, instead of deferring to the FCC. That's why these rulings carry so much weight.

None of this is a reason to relax: state laws, FCC enforcement and the autodialer rules still reach texts.

The Do Not Call list and your leads

The Do Not Call rules cover sales texts to cell phones, with exceptions that matter for people who contacted you.

Cold texts to FSBOs and expired listings on the registry are the risky ones. NAR says not to call expired-listing owners whose numbers are on the registry.

Florida Realtors says you can contact a FSBO for a buyer client, but "you may not contact the owners/sellers if you are trying to solicit the listing."

• An inquiry: someone who asked about your services in the last three months. Neither the FCC nor the FTC says how that applies to a listing inquiry specifically.
• A past client: someone who did business with you in the last 18 months, counted from the last transaction.
• Written permission: a signed, written agreement that says the person agrees to be contacted by you and includes the number you're texting.
• A personal relationship: family, friends and acquaintances you actually know. This one is in the FCC's rule, and the FTC's rule has no matching exception.
• Any of these ends when the person asks you to stop. The FTC puts it plainly: then "the company may not call, even if it has an established business relationship."

State laws that are stricter

After the July ruling, state laws carry more of the weight, and several are tighter than federal law on texts.

This isn't every state. Check your own state's law, or ask your broker's compliance lead.

Real estate cases to learn from

The big real estate cases are about calls and texts to numbers on the Do Not Call list, and brokerages get named for what agents sent.

• Keller Williams settled a class action over agents' prerecorded calls for $40 million in 2023.
• A Keller Williams franchise office in New York agreed to a $400,000 settlement over texts to numbers on the registry.
• A court certified a class against eXp Realty in March 2026 over agents' calls to Do Not Call numbers.
• In another March 2026 ruling, a court said eXp could be liable for one agent's texts about an expired listing.
• Realogy, then Coldwell Banker's parent company, agreed to a $20 million settlement over agents' calls to registered numbers.

Pennsylvania's stricter rules start October 18, 2026

From October 18, 2026, sales calls and texts to Pennsylvania numbers are allowed only 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., never on Sundays or legal holidays.

The new law also counts texts and voicemails as solicitations, requires written consent, and fines up to $1,000 per violation, or $3,000 when the person is 60 or older. Clients you worked with in the last 12 months and people who signed consent are outside it.