Agents paying fees to unlicensed people for vacant house leads

[Jonathan C.]

For the wholesalers out there who have Realtor license- it's typical to have various business cards/etc saying will pay $XXXX for vacant house leads or otherwise for deals. 

Some agents in my area (DC) are saying it's not allowed because a licensed person can't pay any sort of money to an unlicensed person as that constitutes a 'referral fee.' 

Anyone have any experience with this?