Management Level Licensees…

With respect to management-level licensees, the amendments to Ohio’s licensing laws are designed to provide two narrow exceptions regarding agency. Currently under Ohio law management-level licensees in a brokerage are bound by the agency relationships established by the other licensees within the brokerage. This means that if an agent lists a property, the management-level licensees in that brokerage also represent the seller. If a different licensee in the brokerage agrees to represent a buyer, that management-level licensee represents that buyer as well.

The significance of this is that on any in-company transactions where both buyer and seller are represented by the brokerage, the management-level licensees are considered to be dual agents. This is because the management-level licensees are bound by the agency relationship established by both affiliated licensees, and thus represents both buyer and seller.

The law carves out two narrow exceptions to this general rule in the license law. The first is where the management-level licensee is selling his own property or purchasing property for himself. The other is where the management-level licensee is personally representing either a seller or a buyer. In either of these instances if the management-level licensee becomes involved in a transaction in which the other party is represented by an agent affiliated with the brokerage, the management-level licensee is no longer required to be a dual agent.

Instead the law provides that on a transaction in which the manager is either personally the seller or purchaser, he is permitted to represent just himself. In the situation where the manager is personally acting as the listing agent or buyer’s agent and the other party to the transaction is represented by an affiliated agent, the manager is permitted to represent just his client. In these instances, however, the manager is not permitted to use or discuss any confidential information he may know about the other party to the transaction.

Under the licensee law the two above exceptions will only apply if there is another management-level licensee in the brokerage to supervise the salesperson involved in the transaction. If there is only one broker in the brokerage and no other management-level licensee, the above exceptions do not apply. Thus, a broker who has no other managers must always be a dual agent on transactions involving himself and another agent in his brokerage.

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