Pay for licensed services goes to licensed people
Georgia protects the public by keeping paid real estate work in licensed hands, and the payment rules enforce that.
No fees to unlicensed referrers
O.C.G.A. 43-40-25(b)(17) prohibits paying compensation to any person for performing the services of a real estate licensee who has not first secured the appropriate license. Finder's fees to unlicensed persons are barred, so a neighbor who sends buyers your way gets nothing.
- The "three referrals a year" exemption in O.C.G.A. 43-40-29 applies only when no referral fee or advance payment is received. It does not license paying for three referrals.
- Paying half and calling it a gift repackages a prohibited fee.
- A one-time independent contractor agreement cannot cure unlicensed activity by contract label.
Salespersons are paid through their broker
O.C.G.A. 43-40-25(b)(8) makes it an unfair trade practice for a licensee to accept a commission or other valuable consideration from anyone other than the broker holding that licensee's license, without that broker's consent. A grateful builder's check handed straight to the salesperson is exactly that.
Calling it a gift merely relabels compensation. There is no dollar threshold, so "under $1,000" is invented. And reporting it to GREC within thirty days substitutes a report to the Commission for the broker's consent.
Advertising: permission, and the firm's name
Rule 520-1-.09 requires the written permission of the owner to advertise property, and requires internet advertising to show the firm name and phone number on every viewable page, with the firm's registered name in equal or greater size, prominence and frequency than any licensee's name. An internet listing page meeting both is compliant.
The violations: a newspaper ad showing only the salesperson's cell phone and first name is a blind ad, which the rule prohibits. A yard sign placed the day of a verbal listing discussion goes up without written consent, an unfair trade practice under 43-40-25(b)(11). A sign left in place thirty days after the listing expires exceeds the ten days allowed to remove it.