Georgia replaced common-law agency with a statute
Georgia does not use common-law agency. O.C.G.A. 10-6A-4 says a broker owes a client only the duties set out in BRRETA unless the parties expressly agree otherwise in a writing signed by the parties, and that a broker is not deemed to have a fiduciary relationship with any party.
Georgia rule: calling the broker a common-law fiduciary owing undivided loyalty is the most common error here. That is the rule BRRETA replaced. Local MLS rules do not set duties either: 10-6A-15 says membership in a common source information company creates no agency relationship or duties.
Clients are made in writing
O.C.G.A. 10-6A-3 defines a brokerage engagement as a written contract in which a seller, buyer, landlord or tenant becomes the client and promises compensation. A handshake plus an MLS entry leaves the party a customer. An advance fee does not create it either; 10-6A-11 says payment is not the test. A disclosure form delivered at closing is too late.
What customers are owed
Under O.C.G.A. 10-6A-5(b), a seller's broker must disclose to a customer adverse material facts actually known about the physical condition of the property and about the neighborhood within one mile, such as known contamination. The broker must also not knowingly give false information. The trap: the statute creates no duty to discover or seek to discover such facts, so investigating and reporting findings goes too far, and there is no written-request trigger.
A buyer's broker, under 10-6A-7, discloses material adverse facts actually known about the buyer's financial ability to perform only when the seller is providing the financing, not on every offer.
Ending the relationship
O.C.G.A. 10-6A-9 ends it at the earliest of the stated expiration date, authorized termination by either party, or one year after initiation when no date is stated. Begun March 1, 2026 with no date, it ends March 1, 2027, never indefinitely.
Only two duties survive: accounting for all money and property relating to the engagement, and confidentiality of information the client asked to be kept confidential.