Usually yes, and more easily than people fear — but you talk to the brokerage, not just the agent, and there is one clause worth reading first.
This is the part most people get wrong. Your agreement is with the brokerage, not with the individual REALTOR®. The agent is designated to represent you under it, but the contract sits with the firm.
Which means two things. If your problem is with the individual, the brokerage can often simply assign you to someone else — you do not necessarily have to end the relationship. And if you do want out entirely, the conversation is with the broker or managing broker, not only with your agent.
Most agreements can be ended by mutual agreement, and most brokerages will release a client who genuinely wants to leave — an unhappy client is not an asset. Ask for the release in writing, and make sure it is signed by someone with authority to give it.
Whether you can end it unilaterally depends on what the agreement says, so read it or have someone read it with you. If you are being refused a release and cannot resolve it, the Real Estate Council of Alberta is the regulator to ask about your options.
Start with a direct conversation. A surprising number of these situations are a communication problem rather than a competence problem, and both sides usually prefer fixing it to unwinding it.
Most agreements contain a holdover provision. In broad terms it means that if you transact after the agreement ends with someone the brokerage introduced you to during it — a buyer who saw your listing, or a property you were shown — compensation may still be owed for a defined period afterwards.
This is not a trap; it exists so an agent who did the work is not cut out at the last moment. But you should know the length of the period and what it covers before you sign, and before you leave.
Same principle: the listing agreement is with the brokerage. Beyond the release itself, ask what happens to the listing history — a cancelled listing remains visible to other REALTOR®s, so relisting elsewhere does not erase it. What relisting does and does not hide →
Also settle who owns the photography, video and floor plans. Those were commissioned by the brokerage in most cases, and a new agent may not be able to use them.