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Make Certain No Other Agency Agreements Are in Place Holly Rawson
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By Holly Rawson
Scenario
A Buyer entered into a buyer-broker agreement with Realtor A in August. The buyer was not satisfied with the relationship. The Buyer was introduced to a new agent, Realtor B, and told the agent he was not working with the previous brokerage any more. The buyer signed a buyer-broker agreement with Realtor B. The agreement was signed, but the date was left blank. The Buyer looked at properties with Realtor B and eventually went under contract on a home, but canceled the contract and broke off communication with the agent for one month. The Buyer asked Realtor B’s broker to be released from his buyer-broker agreement. After reviewing the file, Realtor B and his broker noticed that there was no date on the buyerbroker agreement. They claimed this was an oversight. At some point after the agreement was signed with Realtor B, Realtor B and his broker became aware of the unexpired buyer-broker agreement between the Buyer and Realtor A, which predated the second agreement. Realtor B and his broker did not attempt to deal with the competing agency agreement. Realtor B and his broker decided not to release the Buyer from their buyer-broker agreement and did not contact the Buyer until an ethics complaint was filed.
Findings
The Professional Standards hearing panel found that Realtor B was in violation of Articles 1, 9, and 16 of the Code of Ethics. Realtor B violated Article 1 by not looking out for the client’s best interest. This was clearly shown by the lack of effort to contact the Buyer after the request to be released from the agency agreement was made, and by the violation of Article 16 – failure to investigate the status of the agency relationship the Buyer previously had with another brokerage. Realtor B was also found in violation of Article 9 for not dating the buyer-broker agreement at the time of signing.
Conclusion
When taking on a potential new client, take an extra step in ensuring there are no other agency agreements in place.
Holly Rawson is the professional standards administrator at the Salt Lake Board of Realtors ® .
