Practice of Real Estate, Disclosures, and Consumer Protection
Disclosure duties
Licensees must disclose known material adverse facts about the property, their own interest in a transaction, any compensation received from a source other than their client, and the nature of the agency relationship. Georgia has no mandatory statewide seller property condition disclosure form for typical residential resale, so the doctrine of caveat emptor plus common-law fraud governs - but a seller who actively conceals a latent defect, or makes a false statement of material fact, is still liable. Voluntary disclosure forms are widely used anyway. Federal rules add lead-based paint disclosure for pre-1978 housing.
Consumer protection statutes
RESPA prohibits kickbacks and unearned fee splits and requires disclosure of settlement costs. TILA and its disclosure rules govern credit terms, and ECOA prohibits discrimination in lending. The Fair Credit Reporting Act limits use of credit information, the Do Not Call Registry and CAN-SPAM restrict marketing, and antitrust law forbids price fixing, group boycotts, and market allocation among competitors. Georgia's Fair Business Practices Act addresses deceptive trade practices, and Georgia's mortgage fraud statute criminalizes false statements in loan applications.
Practice traps
Avoid claiming a property is a good investment, guessing at square footage without a source, or offering legal or tax advice. Do not tell a buyer about registered sex offender locations as a duty - direct them to the official registry instead. Do not disclose that an occupant had a stigmatizing illness or that a death occurred if state law does not require it; Georgia does not impose that duty, though material physical defects must be revealed.
Worked example
A seller instructs the agent not to mention a basement that floods. The agent must disclose the known material defect or terminate the engagement; confidentiality does not authorize fraud.