54-2086. DUTIES TO A CUSTOMER. (1) If a buyer, prospective buyer, or seller is not represented by a brokerage in a regulated real estate transaction, that buyer or seller remains a customer, and as such, the brokerage and its licensees are nonagents and owe the following legal duties and obligations:

(a) To perform ministerial acts to assist the buyer or seller in the sale or purchase of real estate;

(b) To perform these acts with honesty, good faith, reasonable skill and care;

(c) To properly account for moneys or property placed in the care and responsibility of the brokerage;

(d) To disclose to the buyer/customer all adverse material facts actually known or which reasonably should have been known by the licensee;

(e) To disclose to the seller/customer all adverse material facts actually known or which reasonably should have been known by the licensee.

(2) If a customer has entered into a compensation agreement or customer services agreement with the brokerage, the brokerage shall have the obligation to be available to the customer to receive and timely present all written offers and counteroffers.

(3) The duties set forth in this section are mandatory and may not be waived or abrogated, either unilaterally or by agreement.

(4) Nothing in this section prohibits a brokerage from charging a separate fee or commission for each service provided to the customer in the transaction.

(5) A nonagent brokerage and its licensees owe no duty to a buyer/customer to conduct an independent inspection of the property for the benefit of that buyer/customer and owe no duty to independently verify the accuracy or completeness of any statement or representation made by the seller or any source reasonably believed by the licensee to be reliable.

(6) A nonagent brokerage and its licensees owe no duty to a seller/customer to conduct an independent investigation of the buyer’s financial condition for the benefit of that seller/customer and owe no duty to independently verify the accuracy or completeness of statements made by the buyer or any source reasonably believed by the licensee to be reliable.

History:

[(54-2086) 54-2064, added 1996, ch. 250, sec. 1, p. 788; am. and redesignated 2000, ch. 285, sec. 8, p. 955; am. 2007, ch. 150, sec. 2, p. 458.]