Alabama § 34-27-82 - Roles and Duties of Licensees; Written Disclosure Documents; Exceptions; Brokerage Agreements.

§ 34-27-82. Roles and Duties of Licensees; Written Disclosure Documents; Exceptions; Brokerage Agreements.

(a) When engaged in any real estate transaction, the licensee may act as a single agent, dual agent, or as a transaction facilitator.

(b) At the initial contact between a licensee and the consumer and until such time a broker enters into a specific written agreement to establish an agency relationship with one or more of the parties to a transaction, the licensee shall be considered a transaction facilitator and not an agent of that consumer. An agency relationship shall not be assumed, implied, or created without a written bilateral agency agreement signed by the licensee and the consumer establishing the terms of the agency relationship. In the absence of a signed brokerage agreement between the parties, the transaction facilitator relationship shall remain in effect.

(c) The licensee shall provide a written disclosure form to a consumer for signature describing the types of brokerage services, as identified in subsection (a), that are available to clients and customers of real estate brokerage companies, as soon as reasonably possible and before any confidential information is disclosed to any other person by a licensee. The disclosure must occur at least prior to a licensee providing any brokerage service, which includes a licensee showing a property as to a prospective buyer but does not include a seller’s agent conducting an open house as to prospective buyers. As part of the disclosure, the licensee shall also provide a consumer in writing the specific types of brokerage services that are provided by his or her company, as required by Section 34-27-83, which shall also include general information on how the company and licensee are compensated for the brokerage services. A broker shall not be required to offer or engage in any one or in all of the brokerage services specified in subsection (a). All rental or property management services are excluded from the requirements of this subsection.

(d) A licensee shall not be required to comply with the provisions of subsection (c) when engaged in transactions with any corporation, nonprofit corporation, professional corporation, professional association, limited liability company, partnership, any partnership created under the Alabama Partnership Law, Chapter 8A of Title 10A, real estate investment trust, business trust, charitable trust, family trust, or any governmental entity in transactions involving real estate.

(e) After disclosure, the consumer may make an affirmative election of a specific type of brokerage service that is available from the real estate company by signing a brokerage agreement. The brokerage agreement shall contain a statement of the terms and conditions of the brokerage services that the broker will provide, as provided in Section 34-27-81. The consumer or customer may not be required to enter into a written brokerage agreement in order for a licensee to show a property to a consumer or customer. Notwithstanding subsection (d), a written brokerage agreement is required prior to a licensee either listing for sale or submitting an offer on a property on behalf of a consumer, customer, or client for compensation.

(f) When serving as a transaction facilitator, the duties of the licensee to all the parties to a real estate transaction are limited to those which are enumerated in Section 34-27-84. A signed brokerage agreement between the parties or, in the absence of a signed brokerage agreement, the continuation of the transaction facilitator relationship, shall constitute informed consent by the consumer as to the services the consumer shall receive from the broker.

(g) When two or more licensees under the same qualifying broker are in separate agency agreements with a different party in the same transaction, the qualifying broker may designate those licensees as single agents as to the licensee’s client. A designated single agent is not a dual agent, and neither the qualifying broker, the designated single agent, nor any other licensee involved in the transaction shall be assumed to have knowledge to any other party with whom the licensee has not entered into an agency agreement.

(h) Disclosure forms shall be provided to buyers and sellers. All real estate companies operating within the State of Alabama shall use the same agency disclosure forms. Disclosure forms describing the alternative types of brokerage services identified above shall be written by the Alabama Real Estate Commission.

(i) Each offer to purchase shall prominently display a representation disclosure clause in the following form, completed and initialed as indicated:

The listing licensee, __________ is:

___ An agent of the seller.

___ A dual agent.

___ Assisting the seller as a transaction facilitator.

The selling licensee, ___________ is:

___ An agent of the buyer.

___ A dual agent.

___ Assisting the buyer as a transaction facilitator.

(j) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the consumer from entering into a written contract with a qualifying broker which contains provisions for services not specifically identified in the written disclosure form.