Where this fits on the exam
| Official syllabus topic | Non-Agency, Customers, Ministerial Acts, and Authority |
|---|---|
| Official PSI area | Agency |
| Published area weight | 13% of the national portion |
| Exam portion | National salesperson portion |
| Source edition | PSI Georgia Candidate Information Bulletin dated July 1, 2026 |
The Rule
PSI publishes the weight for the complete content area, not a fixed question count for this lesson. Learn the rule well enough to apply it when PSI changes names, numbers, or parties in a new scenario.
The lesson
Clients and customers
The brokerage advocates within lawful duties for a client. A customer may receive property facts, forms, scheduling, and other neutral assistance without receiving fiduciary representation.
Ministerial acts
Examples can include identifying available property, providing preprinted information, scheduling appointments, and conveying communications without advice or discretion.
Actual authority
Express authority is directly granted. Implied authority includes acts reasonably necessary to perform the express assignment, within legal and contractual limits.
Apparent authority and ratification
Apparent authority depends on what the principal causes a third party reasonably to believe. Ratification occurs when the principal knowingly affirms an unauthorized act.
Powers of attorney
A power of attorney grants the powers stated in the instrument, subject to governing law. It may be limited to one transaction and is not automatically universal agency. Confirm execution, scope, continuing effectiveness, and the attorney-in-fact's authority with the closing professional before relying on a signature.
Decision rule
Georgia-specific distinction
Worked example
Scenario. A listing licensee gives an unrepresented buyer a property flyer and schedules a showing without advising what price to offer.
Reason it through. The tasks are factual and administrative and do not show advocacy for the buyer.
Answer. These can be ministerial acts and do not alone create buyer representation.
Common exam traps
- Treating courtesy as agency automatically
- Giving strategic advice while calling it ministerial
- Basing apparent authority only on the agent's claim
- Withholding material facts from a customer
Original practice questions with detailed explanations
These questions were written for instruction and mapped to the current outline. They are not copied from PSI or any live examination. Choose an answer before opening the explanation.
Question 1A seller tells a buyer, "Talk to my cousin Ray, he handles all my property business," though the seller never actually gave Ray any authority. The buyer reasonably negotiates with Ray. What kind of authority may Ray have?
- A. Express authority
- B. Implied authority
- C. No authority of any kind
- D. Apparent authority
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: D. Apparent authority
Apparent authority comes from what the principal leads a third party to reasonably believe, and here the seller's own words created that belief. No authority is the wrong answer because the seller granted Ray nothing, but the seller's statement to the buyer is what matters.
- A. Incorrect. The owner did not expressly authorize the act in question.
- B. Incorrect. The facts rule out actual authority; the issue is the owner's appearance of authorization.
- C. Incorrect. A principal's conduct can create apparent authority despite a lack of actual authority, subject to applicable legal requirements.
- D. Correct. The owner's conduct led the buyer reasonably to believe Ray was authorized.
Question 2A listing licensee is helping an unrepresented buyer. Which act would most likely go beyond ministerial assistance?
- A. Scheduling a showing of the home
- B. Handing over the property flyer
- C. Advising the buyer what price to offer
- D. Listing other homes for sale nearby
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: C. Advising the buyer what price to offer
Ministerial acts are factual or administrative tasks that need no advice or advocacy. Advising a buyer on price is strategic judgment for that buyer's benefit, while identifying other available homes is simply locating property, which is why it is still ministerial.
- A. Incorrect. Scheduling a showing is ordinarily a ministerial act.
- B. Incorrect. Sharing objective listing facts ordinarily does not exercise negotiating judgment.
- C. Correct. Advising on an offer price uses professional judgment and goes beyond ministerial assistance.
- D. Incorrect. Identifying available properties can be ministerial when it supplies objective information without advising on strategy.
Question 3An unrepresented buyer asks the listing licensee whether the basement has ever flooded. The licensee knows it flooded twice last year. What must the licensee do?
- A. Answer truthfully, since customers are owed honesty
- B. Decline to answer, since the buyer is not a client
- C. Tell the buyer to ask the seller directly
- D. Answer only after the buyer signs an agreement
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: A. Answer truthfully, since customers are owed honesty
A customer is not represented but is still owed honest dealing and the disclosure of known material facts. Declining because the buyer is not a client is the common trap: lack of representation limits advocacy, not honesty.
- A. Correct. The broker must answer honestly about the known material flooding issue.
- B. Incorrect. Customer status does not authorize a dishonest or misleading response.
- C. Incorrect. Referring the question away does not excuse concealing a known material fact.
- D. Incorrect. A written client engagement is not a prerequisite for truthful dealings with a customer.
Question 4A seller's power of attorney authorizes the attorney-in-fact only to sign closing documents for 10 Pine Street. The attorney-in-fact wants to sell the seller's unrelated warehouse. What is the issue?
- A. Every power of attorney creates universal authority
- B. The warehouse sale falls outside the stated grant of authority
- C. An attorney-in-fact must be a licensed attorney
- D. Signing any deed expands the power automatically
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: B. The warehouse sale falls outside the stated grant of authority
The granted authority is limited to a particular property and closing task. The agent cannot assume broader power over a different sale.
- A. Incorrect. The instrument's limited scope contradicts universal authority.
- B. Correct. The warehouse is not the identified property or task, so further authority must be established.
- C. Incorrect. Attorney-in-fact describes an authorized agent and does not by itself require a law license.
- D. Incorrect. An agent's signature does not rewrite the principal's grant of authority.
Ready to move on?
You are ready for the next lesson when all of these are true.
- Explain Non-Agency, Customers, Ministerial Acts, and Authority in one clear answer without notes.
- Separate Clients and customers from Ministerial acts using a fresh example.
- Apply the decision rule to a new fact pattern and name the fact that controls the result.
- State the Georgia-specific point or explain why the national rule applies unchanged.
- Answer every practice question and explain the rule each rejected option misapplies.
- Revisit this topic later in mixed practice without category labels.
Recommended next lesson
Continue with Agent Duties to Clients and Customers. Once you can tell a client from a customer, the next lesson lays out what a client actually gets: obedience to lawful instructions, loyalty, disclosure, confidentiality, accounting, and reasonable care, and where each one stops.
Return to the Agency hub to see every official branch and the complete lesson sequence for this content area.