Where this fits on the exam
| Official syllabus topic | Real Estate Practice in Georgia: Property Management |
|---|---|
| Official PSI group | Real Estate Practice in Georgia |
| Published group count | 21 of the 52 Georgia questions |
| Exam portion | Georgia salesperson supplement |
| Source edition | PSI Georgia Candidate Information Bulletin dated July 1, 2026 |
The Rule
PSI publishes 16, 21, and 15 items for the three Georgia groups. It does not publish a guaranteed subtopic count. The statute, current GREC rule, contract, or other cited primary authority controls each lesson.
The lesson
Licensed activity
Marketing and leasing for owners, negotiating terms, collecting rents, and managing property for compensation generally fall within brokerage.
Management agreement
The written agreement sets property scope, services, spending authority and funding, reporting, compensation, deposit custody, effective date, term, and termination. GREC Rule 520-1-.06 requires the owner to receive periodic written income-and-expense statements at least annually.
Funds
Rents, security deposits, owner reserves, and association funds must be identified to the correct owner or tenant and cannot be used for another account.
Multiple legal layers
An owner's instruction cannot override fair housing, habitability, security-deposit, eviction, trust-account, or license-law requirements.
Nonresident single-family and duplex landlords
Since July 1, 2025, Section 44-7-25 requires a landlord outside Georgia that owns or operates single-family or duplex residential rentals in Georgia to employ a licensed broker. The broker can live outside Georgia, but must then employ at least one person in Georgia to handle tenant maintenance and other communications.
Decision rule
Georgia rule and national contrast
Worked Georgia example
Scenario. An owner instructs the manager to pay one property's emergency repair from rent held for a different owner and replace it next week.
Reason it through. Each owner's funds must remain properly credited. Adequate money must exist in the owner account before the manager pays that owner's bill.
Answer. Do not cross-use the other owner's funds; obtain proper funding or lawful authority.
Common exam traps
- Following an unlawful owner instruction
- Mixing owner ledgers
- Assuming property management is unlicensed
- Treating security deposits as operating cash
Original practice questions with detailed explanations
These are original instructional questions mapped to the July 1, 2026 PSI outline. They are not copied from PSI or a live examination. Choose an answer before opening the explanation.
Question 1An owner tells the property manager to pay an emergency repair on the owner's duplex with rent held for a different owner and to replace it next week. What should the manager do?
- A. Pay it, since the owner promised to replace the money.
- B. Refuse to use the other owner's funds and seek proper funding.
- C. Pay it, as long as both owners' ledgers are fixed by month end.
- D. Pay it out of the duplex tenants' security deposits instead.
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: B. Refuse to use the other owner's funds and seek proper funding.
Each owner's funds must stay credited to that owner, and a bill is paid only when that owner's account holds enough money. Using another owner's rent, even briefly, misapplies trust funds. The promise to repay is the plausible trap, because intent to restore money does not make the transfer lawful.
- A. Incorrect. A promise to repay does not authorize using another owner's trust funds.
- B. Correct. The manager must obtain funds belonging to the duplex owner rather than take another owner's rent.
- C. Incorrect. Later ledger adjustments do not cure a disbursement made without sufficient funds credited to that owner.
- D. Incorrect. Tenant security deposits are not the owner's available emergency-repair money.
Question 2A person with no real estate license manages rental homes for several unrelated owners, finding tenants, negotiating leases and collecting rent for a percentage fee. No exemption applies. What is the problem?
- A. Managing property for others for a fee is licensed activity.
- B. There is none, since leasing is not covered by license law.
- C. There is none, as long as each owner signed an agreement.
- D. Only the rent collection needs a license, not the leasing.
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: A. Managing property for others for a fee is licensed activity.
Georgia license law treats property management for others for compensation as brokerage activity unless an exemption applies. Finding tenants, negotiating leases and collecting rent all fall within it. A signed management agreement is required for licensed managers, but it cannot replace the license.
- A. Correct. These management, leasing, and rent-collection acts for other owners for compensation require a license absent an exemption.
- B. Incorrect. Georgia's brokerage definition includes leasing and property management.
- C. Incorrect. An owner's contract does not substitute for the required professional license.
- D. Incorrect. Finding tenants and negotiating leases are also covered activities, not only rent collection.
Question 3An owner tells the property manager not to rent to families with children. The property is not exempt from fair housing law. What should the manager do?
- A. Follow it, because the manager must obey the owner.
- B. Follow it only if the owner puts the instruction in writing.
- C. Refuse, because the instruction violates fair housing law.
- D. Follow it, but only for the units on the upper floors.
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: C. Refuse, because the instruction violates fair housing law.
Familial status is a protected class under federal fair housing law, and an owner's instruction cannot override it. The manager must decline the instruction. Putting it in writing is wrong because a written instruction to discriminate is still unlawful.
- A. Incorrect. A manager must follow lawful instructions; an instruction to discriminate is not lawful.
- B. Incorrect. Writing down a discriminatory instruction does not make it permissible.
- C. Correct. The property is covered, so the manager must refuse discrimination based on familial status.
- D. Incorrect. Restricting the same discrimination to upper-floor units does not make it lawful.
Ready to move on?
You are ready for the next lesson when all of these are true.
- Identify management activities performed for another for compensation.
- Find the manager's spending and service authority in the management agreement.
- Keep each owner's funds separate and reject instructions that conflict with housing or trust-account law.
- Answer the practice questions without looking back, then explain why the other choices fail.
- Explain the worked example in your own words and identify the fact that decides the answer.
- Retest this topic on another day in a mixed question set.
Recommended next lesson
Continue with Georgia Landlord-Tenant Rules for Exam Candidates. The landlord-tenant lesson covers the Georgia rules a manager must follow alongside the owner's instructions, including the 60-day and 30-day tenancy-at-will notices, the two-month deposit cap and the court-only eviction process.
Return to the Real Estate Practice in Georgia hub for the complete official branch and the full lesson list for this Georgia group.