LA Real Estate key terms

The state agency created by the Louisiana Real Estate License Law that licenses brokers and salespersons, adopts rules, investigates complaints against licensees, and imposes discipline for violations.

A Louisiana credential allowing a person to perform real estate brokerage activities for compensation while working under the supervision of a licensed sponsoring broker.

A Louisiana credential that authorizes a person to operate a real estate brokerage, supervise licensees, and provide brokerage services independently rather than under another broker.

The licensed broker who engages a salesperson, oversees that licensee's transactions, safeguards trust funds, and answers to the Commission for the salesperson's brokerage activity.

A separate bank account a broker uses to hold money belonging to clients or transaction parties, such as deposits and rents, apart from the broker's own operating funds.

Mixing client or transaction money with the broker's personal or business funds, or otherwise failing to keep trust money in a properly maintained separate account; a licensing violation.

Periodic coursework Louisiana licensees must complete to renew an active license, covering required topics such as agency, contracts, and Commission rules.

A consensual arrangement in which one person, the agent, acts on behalf of another, the principal, and owes that principal duties set by law and by their agreement.

The principal who has an agency agreement with a licensee and therefore receives fiduciary duties, advocacy, and confidential treatment from that licensee.

A person a licensee helps in a transaction without any agency agreement, receiving honest and fair dealing but not fiduciary loyalty or confidentiality.

The heightened legal obligation an agent owes a client, commonly summarized as care, obedience, loyalty, disclosure of material information, accounting for money, and confidentiality.

A situation in which the same brokerage represents both the buyer and the seller in one transaction, permitted only after both parties give informed written consent.

The written notice Louisiana licensees give consumers explaining whom they represent, the duties owed, and the choices available before confidential information is shared.

The broker whose efforts began an uninterrupted chain of events that produced a completed sale, forming the basis for a claim to the commission.

The standard Louisiana purchase contract stating price, closing date, inspections, financing, and other terms under which a buyer agrees to buy and a seller agrees to sell.

A reply that changes the terms of an offer, which rejects the original offer and places a new proposal before the other party for acceptance or further negotiation.

A deposit a buyer provides to show good faith and serious intent, usually held in trust and credited to the buyer at closing or forfeited if the buyer defaults.

A contract condition that must be met, such as obtaining financing or a satisfactory inspection, before a party must complete the purchase; failure may allow cancellation.

The Louisiana notarial document that transfers ownership of immovable property from seller to buyer and is recorded in the parish conveyance records.

A Louisiana installment contract in which the buyer pays the price over time and receives title only after full payment, while the seller keeps title in the meantime.

A Louisiana mortgage given to secure a separate mortgage note that the lender holds; it may later secure additional or reissued loans without a new mortgage document.

The settlement statement a mortgage borrower receives before closing that itemizes loan terms, closing costs, prorated items, and the cash needed to close.

Dividing ongoing costs such as property taxes, rent, and association dues between buyer and seller at closing according to the number of days each owns the property.

Louisiana's default marital property system under which things acquired during the marriage through the spouses' efforts generally belong half to each spouse.

A Louisiana right to use and enjoy another person's property and take its fruits while someone else holds title, ending at a set term or at death.

A Louisiana burden placed on one parcel of land, the servient estate, for the benefit of another parcel, the dominant estate, such as a right-of-way or drainage path.

A Louisiana tax benefit that removes a set amount of the assessed value of an owner's primary residence from parish property taxation.

A Louisiana seller's warranty against hidden defects in the property that make it unfit for its intended use or cut its value so much the buyer would not have purchased.

A method of identifying real property precisely enough to locate it in public records, using metes and bounds, lot-and-block references, or government survey coordinates.

The reasonably probable use of a property that is legally permissible, physically possible, financially feasible, and produces the highest present worth.

A right or interest held by someone other than the owner that limits use of the property or affects its value, such as a mortgage, lien, or servitude.

A private recorded restriction that limits how land may be used or built upon, enforceable by affected owners and binding on later purchasers of the property.

The federal law barring discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status.

Directing prospective buyers or tenants toward or away from particular neighborhoods based on protected characteristics such as race or familial status, which violates fair housing law.

An agreement among competitors on commission rates or other terms of trade that reduces competition and violates antitrust law, even when discussed informally.

A licensee receiving or paying a fee, referral, or other thing of value in a transaction without the knowledge and consent of the parties, an ethics and licensing violation.

A Louisiana statute that prohibits deceptive or unfair commercial practices and can be used to sue a licensee for consumer harm arising from a transaction.

The federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, which requires disclosure of settlement costs, limits certain escrow charges, and prohibits kickbacks for referrals of federally related mortgage business.