What does BRRETA require of the buyer's agent?
- ANothing, because the buyer is responsible for their own inspection
- BDisclosure only if the listing agent agrees
- CTimely disclosure to the buyer, because it is an actually known adverse material fact
- DDisclosure only after the buyer is under contract
Pick an answer before you read on.
Answer: C
Timely disclosure to the buyer, because it is an actually known adverse material fact. A buyer's broker must promote the buyer's interests, which includes disclosing to the buyer adverse material facts the broker actually knows about the transaction. BRRETA defines material facts as facts a party does not know, could not reasonably discover, and would reasonably want to know. Separately, the seller's broker owes every buyer disclosure of actually known adverse physical defects that a reasonably diligent inspection would not reveal.
Why each choice is right or wrong
A. Nothing, because the buyer is responsible for their own inspection
A buyer's inspection responsibility does not erase their own broker's duty to disclose known adverse material facts about the transaction.
B. Disclosure only if the listing agent agrees
The listing agent's permission is not the trigger. This agent owes the disclosure to their buyer client under section 10-6A-7.
C. Timely disclosure to the buyer, because it is an actually known adverse material factCorrect answer
The agent confirmed the flooding, so this is more than a suspicion. The buyer needs timely disclosure of the known adverse material fact.
D. Disclosure only after the buyer is under contract
Waiting until after contract formation is not the rule. Timely disclosure allows the buyer to use the information in deciding whether and how to proceed.
The trap
"Buyer beware" answers ignore that the agent here represents the buyer. The inspection is the buyer's backstop. It does not excuse the agent from passing on what they already know.
The Rule
A buyer's broker discloses actually known adverse material facts to the buyer. Seller-side duties to buyer customers are narrower.
What would change the answer
- If the agent only suspects a problem, the disclosure duty turns on actual knowledge, but § 10-6A-7 also lists advising the buyer to get expert advice on matters beyond the broker's expertise.
- If the flooding would be obvious on a reasonably diligent inspection, the seller's broker's duty to buyers under § 10-6A-5 does not reach it. The buyer's own agent still tells their client what they know.
Where the rule comes from
- O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-7, Duties of broker engaged by buyer. A buyer's broker must perform the engagement, promote the buyer's interests (seeking a property at acceptable price and terms, timely presenting all offers to and from the buyer even when the buyer is under contract, disclosing actually known adverse material facts concerning the transaction, advising expert help, and accounting for money), use ordinary skill and care, obey the law, and keep confidences the buyer expressly requests; in a seller-financed sale or loan assumption it must also disclose to the seller actually known adverse material facts about the buyer's financial ability and, in a residential sale, whether the buyer intends to occupy the property as a principal residence.
- O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-5, Duties and responsibilities of broker engaged by seller. A seller's broker must perform the engagement, promote the seller's interests (including timely presenting all offers to and from the seller even when the property is under contract, though it need not seek more offers then unless the engagement says so), exercise reasonable skill and care, obey the law, keep requested confidences, and disclose to all parties actually known adverse material facts about the property's physical condition and conditions within one mile that a diligent inspection would not reveal.
- O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-3, BRRETA definitions. Defines client, customer, brokerage engagement and ministerial acts. A customer is someone the broker is not representing in an agency capacity but may perform ministerial acts for.
This is an original teaching question written from the statute. It is not a PSI exam item, and it is not copied or reconstructed from one. On the exam, BRRETA sits inside the Georgia agency and listing content. The BRRETA guide covers the client and customer table and the dual and designated agency rules in one place.