Quick answer
Under BRRETA, a dual agent is one broker representing both sides of the same transaction as clients, and it is lawful in Georgia only with the written informed consent of every party. Designated agency is different: the broker assigns one licensee to each side, and those two licensees each represent their own client fully while the broker supervises both.
Georgia's agency law lives in O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-3, 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 a written brokerage engagement with the broker. They get the full set of duties: loyalty, obedience to lawful instructions, confidentiality, accounting, and reasonable skill and care.
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.
What every party gets, client or customer, is honesty and the disclosure of adverse material facts the licensee actually knows. That floor does not move.
Dual agency
One broker, both sides, both as clients. Georgia permits it, with conditions.
- All parties must give written informed consent. O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-12 is explicit that the consent has to be there.
- Informed means they were told what they were giving up before they agreed, not that a paragraph appeared in a form they signed.
- 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
This is Georgia's answer to the problem dual agency creates, and it is the arrangement most brokerages actually use.
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 |
| Consent | Written consent from all parties | Disclosure and consent per BRRETA |
| 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 transaction broker question
Some states have a third category, variously called a transaction broker or facilitator, where nobody is represented and the licensee simply moves the deal along. National material teaches it.
Georgia's structure is client, customer, dual agent and designated agent. When a Georgia question offers "transaction broker" as an option, treat it with suspicion. A licensee working with an unrepresented party is working with a customer.
What happens when it goes wrong
Undisclosed dual agency is the classic violation. If a broker ends up representing both sides without written consent from everyone, the consequences are real: the engagement can be voidable, commission can be forfeited, and it is a matter for the Georgia Real Estate Commission under its licence law.
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 the written informed consent of all parties to the transaction.
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. Honesty and disclosure of adverse material facts the licensee actually knows are owed to everyone. Loyalty, obedience and confidentiality belong to clients.
FAQ
Is dual agency legal in Georgia?
Yes, with written informed consent from all parties. Some states ban it outright, which is why national material can be misleading here.
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 is telling someone the arrangement exists. Informed consent means they understood what representation they were giving up and agreed to it in writing. The exam treats consent as the higher bar, because it is.