What does BRRETA require of the tenant's broker?
- AKeep it confidential, because the tenant is the client
- BDisclose to the prospective landlord the actually known adverse facts about the tenant's financial ability
- CDisclose it only if the landlord runs a credit check
- DNothing, because commercial leases are outside BRRETA
Pick an answer before you read on.
Answer: B
Disclose to the prospective landlord the actually known adverse facts about the tenant's financial ability. Section 10-6A-8 requires a tenant's broker to disclose to a prospective landlord actually known adverse material facts about the tenant's financial ability to perform the lease. Losing the only source of income, with no way to pay, is exactly that.
Why each choice is right or wrong
A. Keep it confidential, because the tenant is the client
Confidentiality yields when the statute requires disclosure. Section 10-6A-8 specifically addresses adverse material facts about the tenant's financial ability to perform.
B. Disclose to the prospective landlord the actually known adverse facts about the tenant's financial abilityCorrect answer
The broker knows the tenant has lost their only income and cannot cover rent. Those are adverse financial facts the prospective landlord must receive.
C. Disclose it only if the landlord runs a credit check
The broker's duty depends on actual knowledge, not on whether the landlord orders a credit check. The required disclosure cannot wait for one.
D. Nothing, because commercial leases are outside BRRETA
BRRETA's tenant-broker duties apply to this office lease. Commercial use does not remove the transaction from the stated rule.
The trap
Client confidentiality covers negotiating information. It does not cover a fact the statute directs the tenant's broker to disclose to the landlord.
The Rule
A tenant's broker tells the landlord about known problems with the tenant's ability to pay.
What would change the answer
- If the broker only suspects money is tight, with no actual knowledge of an inability to pay, the statute's trigger is not met.
- The tenant's preferred rent ceiling is ordinary negotiating information and stays confidential if the tenant asks.
Where the rule comes from
- O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-8, Duties of broker engaged by tenant. A tenant's broker must perform the engagement, promote the tenant's interests by seeking a property to lease on acceptable terms, timely presenting offers, disclosing known adverse material facts, advising expert help, and accounting for money, use ordinary skill and care, obey the law, keep requested confidences, and disclose to a prospective landlord actually known adverse material facts about the tenant's financial ability.
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.