Agency and Non-Agency Relationships
Where agency comes from
Agency is a relationship in which a broker or salesperson acts for a principal with the principal's authority. South Carolina recognizes the classic creation routes: express agreement (the normal path, a written listing or buyer agency agreement), implication from conduct, ratification when the principal accepts the benefit of an unauthorized act, and estoppel when a third party reasonably relies on apparent authority. Agency is not created by showing a house, by a phone call, or by paying a commission.
Who is owed what
Fiduciary duties run to a client, never to a customer. The standard list is obedience, loyalty, disclosure, confidentiality, accounting, and reasonable care and skill. Accounting for money and confidentiality survive termination; most other duties end with the relationship. Every licensee owes honesty and disclosure of known material adverse facts to everyone.
Dual and designated agency
South Carolina permits dual agency and designated agency only with the informed written consent of all parties. Undisclosed dual agency is the classic violation.
Traps
- Assuming subagency or assuming that a buyer touring a firm's own listing is a customer; check for a written agreement.
- Assuming compensation creates agency. Cooperating brokers can be paid without becoming anyone's agent.
- Oral dual agency consent is worthless; get it in writing.
Rule of thumb
Written agreement means client; cooperation means customer. When a buyer working with the listing firm asks whether the seller would take less, the licensee may not reveal the seller's bottom line or the seller's motivation, because no fiduciary duty is owed to that buyer.