Quick answer
Under BRRETA, a dual agent is one broker representing opposing clients in the same transaction. O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-12 permits it only with written consent from all clients containing six required disclosures. Designated agency is different. Under § 10-6A-13, the broker assigns different affiliated licensees to different clients, and neither the broker, firm, nor affiliated licensees are deemed dual agents when the statute is followed.
Decision rule. Identify the broker, both clients, and every affiliated licensee. If the same broker represents both clients, test the six-part written dual-agency consent. If different affiliated licensees are assigned to opposing clients, test designation, supervision, advocacy, and the confidentiality wall.
Georgia's agency law lives in Title 10, Chapter 6A of the Official Code of Georgia, the Brokerage Relationships in Real Estate Transactions Act, which everyone shortens to BRRETA. Agency is 13 percent of the national portion and it also runs through the Georgia supplement, so the same ideas get tested twice with different rules attached.
Client and customer, first
Nothing else here makes sense until this distinction is solid.
A client has entered into a brokerage engagement with the broker. The client receives the role-specific duties in BRRETA, plus any additional duties expressly agreed in a signed writing. Section 10-6A-4 goes further and says the broker is not a fiduciary to any party at all.
A customer does not. O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-3 defines a customer as someone the broker is not representing in an agency capacity but for whom the broker may perform ministerial acts.
Ministerial acts are the mechanical helpful things: unlocking a door, passing along a document, giving out published information, arranging an appointment. They are not advice. Doing one does not create agency, and that is the whole point of naming them in the statute.
Exam trap
Being nice to someone does not make them your client. A scenario where a listing agent shows a buyer three houses, answers questions and drives them around is still describing a customer, unless a written brokerage engagement appears somewhere in the facts.
A customer is not a client, but that does not mean the broker has no duties. A transaction broker must timely present offers, account for money and property, and disclose the specified adverse material facts actually known to the broker. The precise duty depends on the statutory role.
Dual agency
One broker, both sides, both as clients. Georgia permits it, with conditions.
- All clients must give written consent. O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-12 specifies six statements that the consent must contain.
- A consent that meets those statutory requirements is conclusively deemed given and informed.
- The dual agent cannot disclose to either side what the other told them in confidence. That includes the top price a buyer will pay and the lowest a seller will take.
- The dual agent still owes both parties honesty, accounting and reasonable care.
The practical effect is that a dual agent loses the ability to advocate. They can facilitate and they can be scrupulously fair, but they cannot advise the buyer to offer less while advising the seller to hold firm.
Designated agency
Designated agency gives opposing clients separate affiliated licensees inside one firm without making the broker or firm a dual agent when § 10-6A-13 is followed.
The broker appoints one licensee to represent the seller and a different licensee to represent the buyer. Each designated agent represents their own client with full duties, including advocacy. The broker supervises both and must keep confidential information from moving between them.
| Dual agency | Designated agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Who represents each side | The same broker represents both | A different licensee for each side |
| Advocacy | Neither side gets it | Each client gets it from their own agent |
| Governing requirement | Written consent from all clients containing six statutory disclosures | Assignment by the broker or under a compliant company policy |
| Confidentiality | Held by the one agent for both | Walled between the two agents |
| Broker's role | Is the dual agent | Supervises and maintains the wall |
Worth knowing
The broker in a designated agency arrangement is not a dual agent. That is the distinction the exam is looking for. The firm has clients on both sides, but no individual licensee is trying to serve two masters.
The strongest distractor says the firm must be a dual agent merely because it has clients on both sides. Section 10-6A-13 rejects that result when designated agency is properly established. Another distractor calls different licensees dual agents because they share an office. The key fact is not the office. It is who each licensee is appointed to represent and whether confidential information remains protected.
The transaction broker question
Georgia expressly recognizes transaction brokers. Section 10-6A-14 permits a transaction broker with no client in the transaction to perform ministerial acts, timely present offers, account for money and property, and disclose specified actually known adverse facts. A Georgia question offering "transaction broker" is not automatically a distractor.
What happens when it goes wrong
Undisclosed dual agency is a serious problem. If a broker represents opposing clients without the written consent required by § 10-6A-12, the broker has not satisfied BRRETA and may face civil and licensing consequences. The exam-ready conclusion is the missing consent violation, not a guessed remedy unsupported by the facts.
The other frequent failure is confidentiality leaking. A designated agency arrangement that exists on paper but not in practice, where two agents in the same office discuss both clients' positions over lunch, is a breach whatever the file says.
The BRRETA pillar works through the full duty list, and the glossary entries for dual agency and designated agency carry the specific traps each term sets.
Check yourself
1. A Roswell broker has a written listing agreement with a seller. A buyer with a written buyer brokerage engagement with the same firm wants to make an offer. The broker assigns one licensee to the seller and another to the buyer. What is this?
Show the answer
Answer: B. Assigning a different licensee to each client, with the broker supervising and maintaining confidentiality between them, is designated agency.
2. What does BRRETA require before a broker may act as a dual agent?
Show the answer
Answer: A. O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-12 permits dual agency only with written consent from all clients, and the writing must contain the six disclosures listed in the statute.
3. A listing agent unlocks a house for an unrepresented buyer and gives them a copy of the published property tax figure. What has the agent done?
Show the answer
Answer: B. Unlocking a door and passing on published information are ministerial acts. Performing them for a customer does not create agency.
4. Which duty does a Georgia licensee owe to a customer as well as a client?
Show the answer
Answer: C. The precise scope depends on the role and statute, but specified actually known adverse material facts cannot be hidden merely because the other person is a customer. The loyalty and obedience shorthand is not BRRETA's statutory test.
FAQ
Is dual agency legal in Georgia?
Yes, with written consent from all clients containing the six disclosures in O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-12. A compliant consent is conclusively deemed informed.
Can a single licensee be a designated agent for both sides?
No. Designated agency works precisely because two different licensees are appointed. One person appointed to both sides is a dual agent, and needs the consent that role requires.
Does a buyer become a client just by signing an offer?
No. A client relationship comes from a written brokerage engagement. A buyer can make an offer through a listing agent and remain a customer throughout.
What is the difference between informed consent and disclosure?
Disclosure supplies information. Consent is the client's written agreement. For dual agency, Georgia avoids a vague test by listing what the written consent must contain and declaring compliant consent informed.
Sources
- O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-3, BRRETA definitions
- O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-12, broker acting as dual agent
- O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-13, designated agency
- O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-14, transaction brokers and ministerial acts
- PSI Georgia Candidate Information Bulletin, 7/1/2026
Recommended next lesson
Continue with Georgia transaction brokers and ministerial acts to see what a broker may do without representing either party as a client.