520-1-.10
Handling Real Estate Transactions.
(1) Presenting
Offers. A licensee shall promptly tender to any customer or client any
signed offer to
purchase, sell, lease, or exchange property made to such client or
customer. In a
transaction in which the offeror is not a client or customer of the licensee,
the licensee
receiving an offer must provide a copy of the offer to the licensee working
with or
representing the offeree. However, a licensee who obtains an offer may
negotiate
a sale,
exchange, or lease directly with an owner, a lessor, a purchaser, or a tenant
if the
licensee who
obtains the offer knows that such offeree has a written outstanding
agreement in
connection with such property that expressly provides the other licensee
will not provide
negotiation services to the offeree.
(2) License
Numbers in Offers. A licensee preparing or signing a brokerage
engagement or an
offer to purchase, sell, lease, or exchange real property shall include
the license
number issued by the Commission of each firm and of each licensee
participating in
the transaction. The licensee shall include the six digit license number
issued by the
Commission.
(3) Responsibility
to Distribute Copies. A licensee shall provide a copy of any
document
utilized in a real estate transaction to any individual signing such document.
If
any offer to
purchase, sell, lease, or exchange is accepted and signed by all parties, copies
of that document
shall be properly distributed, one to each person signing the document
and one to each
brokerage firm involved in the transaction.
(4) Retention
of Copies of Records and Documents . Copies of sales contracts,
brokerage
engagements, closing statements, leases, and other documents related to a real
estate transaction
required by law to be maintained in a broker’s file for three years shall
be made
available to authorized agents of the Commission upon reasonable request and at
a reasonable
cost to the Commission. Brokers that must keep copies of the documents
cited in this
paragraph include:
(a) any broker
identified in a sales contract, brokerage engagement, closing statement,
lease, or other
document related to a real estate transaction;
(b) any broker
firm that participates in the negotiations involving a sales contract,
brokerage
engagement, lease, or other contractual document related to a real estate
transaction; and
(c) any broker
required by O.C.G.A. Section 43-40-20 to maintain a trust account.
Copies of
documents and other records which licensees are required by law and the
Commission’s
rules to maintain may be maintained in any records storage system that
utilizes paper,
film, electronic, or other media provided that: (a) the licensee can produce
true and correct
copies of such documents and records and (b) copies of such documents
and records can
be made available to an authorized representative of the Commission
upon reasonable
request and at reasonable cost to the Commission.
(5) Falsification
of Transaction Documents and Misleading Representations
Prohibited. No licensee
shall falsify or be a party to the falsification of a document
involved in a
real estate transaction or knowingly represent, either verbally or in writing,
to a principal
or any interested third party:
(a) an amount
other than the true and actual sales, lease, or exchange price;
(b) an amount
other than the true and actual downpayment;
(c) an amount
other than the true and actual earnest money, security deposit, or other trust
funds or that
such trust funds have been tendered in any form other than its true and
actual form;
(d) a payment of
trust funds in cash when in fact some other method of such is made; or
(e) an artifice,
contrivance, or machination with the intent to deceive.
Any or all such
practices shall constitute a misrepresentation.
(6) Disclosure
of Commissions, Fees, Rebates, or Other Valuable Consideration.
(a) Settlement
Statements and Settlement Documents
Any fee, charge,
rebate, profit, commission, referral fee, or other valuable consideration
that is related
to a purchase, sale or exchange transaction of real property shall be
disclosed on the
settlement statement for that transaction or on a supplemental document
given to the
licensee’s principal at or before the closing of the transaction. So long as a
copy of such
disclosure is maintained in the broker’s records, no additional disclosure is
required to
comply with O.C.G.A. Sections 43-40-25 (b) (6) and (29).
Notwithstanding
the above, no disclosure shall be required of any the following:
1. ordinary
business expenses incurred on behalf of a licensee’s principal in performing
the services of
a broker;
2. gifts,
products, services or other things of value given to the licensee, provided that
the
receipt of any
of the same is not contingent upon any of the following: a) the purchase,
sale or exchange
of specific real property; b) the referral by the licensee of products,
services or
other business related to a specific real estate transaction, or c) the
licensee
performing
services, other than the real estate brokerage services, related to a real
estate
transaction;
3. gifts,
products , services or other things of va lue given to the licensee’s principal,
provided that
the receipt of any of the same is not contingent upon the purchase, sale or
exchange of real
property;
4. how a real
estate commission, fee charge, profit, referral fee or other valuable
consideration of
the same is shared with the affiliated licensees of the broker or with any
licensed and
unlicensed assistants of those affiliated licensees.
(b) Leases
A lease, or
accompanying document, may establish the terms under which a licensee may
pay a referral
fee, or offer other valuable consideration related to the real property being
leased. So long
as payment or other offering of valuable consideration is made by the
licensee
pursuant to the pre-established terms and recorded in the brokers file, no
additional
disclosure is required to comply with O.C.G.A. Sections 43-40-25 (b) (6) and
(29).
(c) Management
Agreements
A management
agreement, or accompanying document, may establish the terms under
which a licensee
may pay a referral fee, or offer other valuable consideration related to
the management
of the real property on behalf of an owner. So long as payment or other
offering of
valuable consideration is made by the licensee pursuant to the pre-established
terms and
recorded in the broker’s file , no additional disclosure is required to comply
with O.C.G.A.
Sections 43-40-25 (b) (6) and (29).
(d)
Miscellaneous
For the purposes
of this regulation, the term “licensee’s principal” shall mean the
following:
1. a client of
the broker in the specific real estate transaction for which disclosure is
being
made provided,
however, that if the broker is practicing dual or designated agency the
required
disclosures to each client shall only be those disclosures that would be have
been
given had the
broker only been representing that client; or
2. the customer
of the broker, provided that the customer is not being represented by or is
not primarily
working with another broker.
Authority
O.C.G.A. Secs. 43-40-2, 43-40-7, 43-40-11, 43-40-14, 43-40-25. History. Original
Rule entitled
“Salesman”
adopted as ER. 520-1-0.1-.10. F. and eff. July 12, 1973, the date of adoption. Amended:
Permanent Rule
entitled “Business Name” adopted. F. Dec. 7, 1973; eff. Dec. 27, 1973. Amended:
F. Feb.
14, 1977; eff.
Mar. 6, 1977. Repealed: New Rule of same title adopted. F. Apr. 16,
1979; eff. May 6, 1979.
Amended: F. Nov. 16,
1979; eff. Dec. 6, 1979. Amended: Authority changed. F. Aug. 5, 1982;
eff. Nov.
1, 1982, as
specified by the Agency. Amended: F. May 9, 1985; eff. July 1, 1985, as
specified by the
Agency. Amended:
F. July 19, 1994; eff. Aug. 8, 1994. Repealed: New Rule entitled
“Handling Real
Estate
Transactions” adopted. F. Nov. 12, 2003; eff. Dec. 2, 2003. Amended: F.
Sept. 21, 2004; eff. Oct.
11, 2004. Amended:
F. Jan. 14, 2005; eff. Feb. 3, 2005. Amended: F. Aug. 15, 2007; eff.
Sept. 4, 2007.
Amended:
F.
Oct. 16, 2009; eff. Nov. 5, 2009.
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