South Carolina § 40-57-380 - Effect of termination, expiration, completion or performance of agency agreements; accounting and confidentiality.

§ 40-57-380. Effect of termination, expiration, completion or performance of agency agreements; accounting and confidentiality.

A real estate broker and all supervised licensees owe no duty or obligation to a client following termination, expiration, completion, or performance of an agency agreement or closing of the real property transaction, whichever occurs first, except the duties of:

(1) accounting in a timely manner for all money and property related to and received during the relationship; and

(2) keeping confidential all information received during the course of the engagement which was made confidential by request or instructions from the client, except as provided for in Section 40-57-350(C)(1)(f) and Section 40-57-350(E)(1)(f) unless the:

(a) client permits the disclosure by written agreement;

(b) disclosure is required by law;

(c) disclosure is necessary to defend the licensee against an accusation of wrongful conduct in a proceeding before the commission or before a professional association or professional standards committee; or

(d) the information becomes public from a source other than the broker.

HISTORY: 1997 Act No. 24, SECTION 1; 2004 Act No. 218, SECTION 19; formerly 1976 Code SECTION 40-57-140; 2016 Act No. 170 (S.1013), SECTION 1, eff January 1, 2017; 2024 Act No. 204 (H.4754), SECTION 3, eff May 21, 2024.

Effect of Amendment

2016 Act No. 170, SECTION 1, rewrote the section.

2024 Act No. 204, SECTION 3, in the first undesignated paragraph, substituted "supervised" for "associated".