In Georgia, the Brokerage Relationships in Real Estate Transactions Act (“BRRETA”) governs relationships between real estate brokerages and consumers.
BRRETA re-writes traditional, fiduciary, agency law relating to representation. BRRETA clearly states that, unless the brokerage and client agree otherwise, brokerages and their agents DO NOT owe clients fiduciary representation. BRRETA, substitutes the concept of fiduciary representation with a limited list of duties that brokerages owe to a client; the list falls far short of fiduciary representation. BRRETA’s faux agency standard actually encourages brokerages and their agents to quietly engage in conflicting and self-serving practices that benefit them at the expense of their unwary homebuyer and seller clients.
BRRETA does allow brokerages to commit to fiduciary (True Agency) representation; Sage does so in our form Listing Agreement and Buyer Agency Agreement. Effectively every other Atlanta brokerage, however, adopts the non-fiduciary BRRETA representation standard, as reflected in the Listing Agreement and Buyer Agency Agreement that they have their clients sign.
READ: See Examples of conflicted agent practices permitted by BRRETA