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BRRETA practice question 4 of 31 · Clients, customers, and transaction brokers

Does a Georgia real estate broker owe fiduciary duties?

A seller has read online that a listing agent owes "OLDCAR" fiduciary duties: obedience, loyalty, disclosure, confidentiality, accounting, and reasonable care. They ask their Georgia listing broker to confirm it.

Facts checked against the current PSI Candidate Information Bulletin and GREC sources.

How does BRRETA describe the broker's legal relationship with the seller?

  1. AA fiduciary relationship carrying all six OLDCAR duties
  2. BNot a fiduciary relationship; the broker owes only BRRETA's duties plus any added in a signed writing
  3. CA fiduciary relationship with clients only, not with customers
  4. DA fiduciary relationship that ends when the listing is signed

Pick an answer before you read on.

Answer: B

Not a fiduciary relationship; the broker owes only BRRETA's duties plus any added in a signed writing. Section 10-6A-4 says a broker is not deemed to have a fiduciary relationship with any party. It sets the duties owed to clients and customers through BRRETA, while allowing the parties to expressly agree to other duties in a writing they sign. The broker must exercise reasonable care in performing those specified duties, including the client duties in the brokerage engagement. A national mnemonic cannot replace that Georgia rule.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  1. A. A fiduciary relationship carrying all six OLDCAR duties

    OLDCAR describes a traditional fiduciary model. It is not a substitute for Georgia's statutory duties and the parties' signed agreement.

  2. B. Not a fiduciary relationship; the broker owes only BRRETA's duties plus any added in a signed writingCorrect answer

    Section 10-6A-4 rejects automatic fiduciary status. The broker must use reasonable care to perform BRRETA's duties and any duties expressly added in a signed writing.

  3. C. A fiduciary relationship with clients only, not with customers

    The statute's rejection of automatic fiduciary status applies to any party, including a client. Client status still brings the duties specified for that role.

  4. D. A fiduciary relationship that ends when the listing is signed

    Signing the listing creates the brokerage engagement. It does not end a fiduciary relationship that BRRETA never automatically imposed.

The trap

National textbooks teach OLDCAR as common-law agency. On a Georgia question, BRRETA replaces it. There is, for example, no general duty of obedience in the statute.

The Rule

BRRETA does not make a Georgia broker a fiduciary. Duties come from the statute and any express agreement in a signed writing.

What would change the answer

  • If the seller and broker sign a writing that adds a duty, such as a weekly marketing report, the broker owes that duty as well.
  • Reasonable care measures how the broker performs the listed duties. It does not add duties that the statute leaves out.

Where the rule comes from

  • O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-4, Broker's legal relationship to customers or clients. A broker owes a client or customer only the duties set out in BRRETA unless the parties expressly agree otherwise in a signed writing, is not deemed to have a fiduciary relationship with any party, and is responsible only for reasonable care in performing those duties; a broker who enters a new brokerage relationship with an existing customer or client must timely disclose it to everyone involved in the transaction.

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.

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