Agency disclosure

It is a writing explaining whom the licensee represents or does not represent. The required content and timing depend on designated agency, customer nonrepresentation or dual agency. It is distinct from a complete brokerage agreement and from property-condition, ownership-interest and other transaction disclosures.

No later than beginning to work as the consumer's designated agent. Section 15-35(a) requires the relationship and designated-agent names in writing. The notice may be inside the brokerage agreement or separate; a copy goes to the consumer or client and a copy is retained by the sponsoring broker for licensee and company records.

Do not import one universal signature rule into every notice. Section 15-35(a) requires the stated written notice, names, copy and retention. The brokerage agreement and informed dual consent have their own requirements, and company forms may request acknowledgment. A signature on an acknowledgment also does not prove that notice was timely if the underlying events occurred earlier.

Section 15-35(c) requires written nonrepresentation notice at a time intended to prevent the customer from disclosing confidential information under a mistaken understanding of agency, and never later than preparation of an offer to buy or lease. Current .770(i)(1) separately requires that writing before the described licensed seller-side assistance with an unrepresented buyer or tenant. Do not wait for offer signing, acceptance or closing. An oral warning alone does not satisfy the written-notice requirement.

No. A customer is not represented by the licensee in question. That person might be a client of a different designated agent. Identify whose relationship the problem asks about before concluding that the person needs or lacks representation. The specific .770(i)(1) situation expressly involves an unrepresented buyer or tenant.

Yes, if it satisfies both legal functions and their requirements. A status notice alone is not automatically a complete engagement agreement. Section 15-50 and Rule .770 address written terms and designation; .770(g)-(i) have distinct seller, buyer and dual-route timing conditions. A document's title does not determine whether the necessary content and timing are present.

No automatic conclusion follows. Section 15-10 supplies the designated-agency default for the consumer the licensee is working with unless the sponsor and consumer agree in writing to a different relationship. Section 15-50(a-5) preserves oral-agreement claims and remedies and rejects the stated absence-of-writing defense. This does not excuse omitting an agreement that the law requires in writing.

A licensee offering dual representation presents the statutory disclosure at brokerage-agreement entry. A client may sign then or later, but informed written consent from all clients must be obtained before the licensee acts as dual agent. Merely presenting the form, one client signing or an oral assurance is insufficient.

Section 15-45(c) requires written confirmation of prior consent for the actual transaction. It says the confirmation should be obtained at the time the clients execute an offer or purchase or lease contract. That should wording does not make confirmation optional, nor does later confirmation replace the separate prior-informed-consent requirement. A confirmation embedded in another document requires signing that document and initialing its confirmation provision.

Yes. The statutory disclosure makes consent voluntary. Section 15-45(f) permits the stated withdrawal from a client who has not consented to disclosed dual agency while preserving the ability to represent the other client. For the referral-fee situation in that subsection, written fee disclosure must be made to both the withdrawing client and the client who remains represented. Refusal is not permission to proceed anyway.

No. The statutory disclosure permits factual help such as comparable-sale information but prohibits recommending the buyer's offer price or terms or the seller's counteroffer or acceptance terms. Permission to disclose a particular client's confidential fact is not a general waiver of those advice limits. Clients negotiate in their own interests and may seek independent advice.

No in the prohibited situation: Section 15-45(g) and Rule .820 bar dual agency when the licensee, or an entity in which the licensee has or will have an ownership interest, is a transaction party. The rule expressly includes direct and indirect interests. Disclosure and consent do not create a small-interest exception.

No. Section 15-50 permits specific designations excluding other affiliated licensees and addresses the sponsor's status where those designated licensees do not each represent multiple parties. Determine the individual licensee's actual representation. Protect confidential information rather than assuming everyone in the firm represents every client.

Under Section 15-35(b), the representing licensee discusses the sponsoring broker's compensation policy, including compensation terms and amounts offered to cooperating brokers representing other parties. The discussion does not replace required agreement terms. Under Section 15-40, payment or promised payment is not determinative of who is represented.

No. Section 15-25 requires honest treatment and prohibits negligently or knowingly giving false information. For the specified seller-agent duty, disclose actually known latent material adverse physical facts that the prospective buyer could not discover through reasonably diligent inspection. The Act excludes material physical-condition information from confidential information. Do not turn that into a guarantee of unknown defects or permission to hide required facts.

Section 15-30 preserves accounting for transaction money and property and confidentiality of information received during the agreement, subject to the statute's written-agreement qualification. Section 1-10 also specifies exceptions to confidential information, including permitted or legally required disclosure and information becoming public from another source. Ending representation is not blanket permission to disclose former-client strategy.

Do not backdate or describe a later writing as proof of an earlier notice. Identify the actual relationship and timing, obtain the required current documentation and involve the sponsoring broker. If the designation changes, the notice and agreement must accurately identify the actual agents and relationship. This guide does not decide the remedy for a past violation or approve a particular substitution or form.