How to use a confidentiality agreement so that it actually protects

The answer, straight away

A confidentiality agreement is needed before the other side sees anything. Signed afterwards it does not protect the property: it protects you in a possible lawsuit, in two years, when the damage is done and the news has already travelled.

The order that works: first you say a property with certain characteristics exists, with no address and no recognisable photographs. Whoever declares an interest signs. Only then do they receive the full sheet.

What it has to contain

Identify the property between the parties without making it public, in a form recognisable only to those who have signed.

Bind whoever receives it on behalf of a client. An agent who signs must also answer for their own buyer, otherwise the agreement covers half the risk.

Last beyond the negotiation. Twenty-four months is the standard we use, because a breach is almost always discovered later.

The clause almost nobody includes

Non-circumvention: whoever learns of the property through you cannot then deal directly with the owner and cut you out.

Without it the agreement protects the information but not your work. Those are two different things and you need both.

When it is signed

After the first conversation, once there is genuine interest, and before any identifying material is sent.

Not with the first email, because asking somebody who has only asked a question to sign drives away the serious along with the rest.

What can be said before signing

Municipality or approximate area, type, rough size, price band, and what is required to see more.

If you cannot make a property interesting with those five, the problem is not confidentiality.

Why an agreement alone is not enough

Because it only works if you keep a record of who signed what and when. An agreement in a drawer with no register of introductions does not let you prove anything.

The register is one line per introduction: date, person, property, channel. Ten seconds, and it is worth more than the document.

What to do when somebody refuses to sign

Almost always it is not distrust: it is that you asked for a signature without telling them enough to know whether they are interested.

Go back a step, give them the five pieces of information, and ask again. Somebody who still refuses is telling you something useful.