Georgia: your license, the purchase contract, and the rules of a deal
Georgia licenses real estate agents through the Georgia Real Estate Commission (GREC), and GREC's rules set how you work under your broker, how you advertise, and how trust money is handled. This guide covers how to get the license, what you may do under your broker, the brokerage relationships under Georgia's BRRETA law, the purchase contract and earnest money, and the attorney closing. Every fact comes from a Georgia law, a GREC rule, or a source such as a State Bar of Georgia opinion, and links to its source.
Every fact links to its source. Checked Oct 9, 2026
Getting your Georgia license
The Georgia Real Estate Commission (GREC) says that for a salesperson's license, you must be at least 18 years old and a high school graduate or the holder of a certificate of equivalency. For a broker or associate broker license, you must be at least 21; you may take the broker's exam at 20, but you cannot activate the license until you are 21. (Source: GREC)
The Salespersons Prelicense Course is at least 75 instructional hours and ends with an exam that the school gives. In place of the course, you may qualify for the salesperson's exam with college real estate courses of at least 10 quarter hours or 6 semester hours (the rule limits which courses count), or with a prelicense course approved by another U.S. state, district, territory, or possession, or a Canadian province, when it is similar in credit hours and taught in a classroom or by computer-based instruction that meets the rule. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
No more than 60 days before you apply, you get a certified criminal history report from the Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC) at your own expense and attach it to your application. If you have not lived in Georgia, the rule calls for an equivalent certified report from your state, province, or territory of residence. If that report shows a record in another jurisdiction, or you cannot get it, you provide at your expense what GREC needs to get an FBI report. GREC's rule says Georgia law lets GREC deny a license to an applicant who has a prior criminal conviction or a disciplinary action by any occupational licensing body. Before you take the education and the exam, you may ask GREC for a preliminary decision on the conviction or disciplinary action; it is advisory guidance and is not binding, but GREC may let a favorable preliminary decision become its final decision. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
You take a GREC-approved exam. The passing score is set by psychometrically sound, criterion-related methods for assessing minimal competence, and the methods and the minimum passing score are published before the exam is given. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
GREC says you must pass the exam that PSI administers and GREC approves. The exam fee is $175.00, and the license fee is $170.00. (Source: GREC)
After you pass the salesperson's exam, you apply for an active or inactive license within three months of the exam date; after three months, you pay a fee equal to two times the original application fee. If you do not apply to activate the license within twelve months of the exam date, you must retake the exam. With your application, you submit proof that you completed the Salesperson's Prelicense Course or an approved equivalent. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
If you moved to Georgia from another state, or you want a nonresident license, GREC may grant a license without more exams or education when you give an original certification from each state that licensed you, issued no more than 12 months before you apply. The certification shows that you passed an exam for the same type of license, met all of that state's prelicense and continuing education requirements for it, are licensed in good standing, and have had no disciplinary action from that state's licensing body. If your certification does not show all of this, you must take and pass the Georgia exam for the license. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
As an active salesperson, you are licensed under an active Georgia broker, and you cannot be licensed under more than one Georgia broker at the same time. You may also affiliate a license from another state with a broker there if that state's laws allow it and your Georgia broker gives written permission that states your duties for each broker and that you do no brokerage on Georgia property except for the Georgia broker. You do brokerage as a broker or on behalf of a broker; an inactive licensee may not do brokerage on any real estate except real estate the licensee owns solely. After your original application, you do not start brokerage work until your broker has received your wall certificate of licensure. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
GREC says that after you pass the salesperson's exam, you may place your license on inactive status instead of activating it with a broker, and you pay the licensing fee either way. The post-license education requirement applies to you on inactive status, and you pay renewal fees as they come due. To activate your license with a broker, you use the Sponsoring Broker Statement Application, signed by the sponsoring broker. (Source: GREC)
Rule 520-1-.04 (last amended effective July 1, 2017) sets an activation fee of $45.00 for an original individual license (salesperson, associate broker, broker, or community association manager), which includes $20.00 for the Real Estate Education, Research, and Recovery Fund. When you activate your first license, you pay the activation fee and a renewal fee, which cover all fees until your birth month in the fourth calendar year after the year of activation. The renewal fee for each four-year period is $125.00, or $100.00 if you renew and pay online. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
Keeping your license
Within one year after your original salesperson's license is issued, you give GREC proof that you completed a GREC-approved post-license course of at least 25 instructional hours (not the Salespersons or Brokers Prelicense Course). You may complete it no earlier than one year before the license is issued and no later than one year after, or 18 months after if you qualify for the six-month extension in Georgia law. A nonresident who completed a substantially similar post-license course in their home state before the Georgia license was issued, or in the first year after, meets the requirement. If your license lapses because you did not complete required education, you may not do brokerage until it is reinstated. A salesperson whose license lapsed for missed post-license education may reinstate it only as O.C.G.A. 43-40-8(d) provides; after more than five years lapsed for that reason, you requalify as an original applicant. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
The Sales Postlicense Course is at least 25 instructional hours and focuses on legal fundamentals and/or basic practices in the sale or management of residential, agricultural, commercial, or industrial property. A course on residential sales includes Georgia's Residential Mortgage Fraud law and how to identify and report possible fraud. If you complete it in your first year of licensure, you may count it as 9 hours of continuing education for your first renewal period. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
To renew an active license, you complete 36 instructional hours of continuing education during the renewal period (effective July 1, 2015). In each renewal period, you complete at least 3 hours on the topic of license law (effective July 1, 2016). A broker or associate broker completes at least 18 hours on the topic of broker education in each renewal period (effective July 1, 2025). (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
GREC says active licensees whose license number is above 100,000 complete 36 hours of approved continuing education in each four-year renewal period, including 3 hours of License Law, and that a broker's 18 hours of Broker CE count within the 36. GREC says a licensee whose license number is less than 100,000 is not required to complete continuing education for renewal. (Source: GREC)
After you pass the broker's exam, you apply to activate a broker or associate broker license within 12 months of the exam date; after 12 months, you must retake the exam. You must show that you held a license in active status for at least three of the five years right before you apply. If that license was in another jurisdiction, you give an original certification of licensure from that jurisdiction, issued no more than 12 months before you apply; if you were a broker there, you also give an original certification for each firm you served as broker. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
The Brokers Prelicense Course is at least 60 instructional hours and ends with an exam that the school gives. It reviews all subject areas of the Salespersons Prelicense Course so that you learn advanced concepts in them, and includes significant components on loan closings, real estate office management, personnel policies, trust account record keeping, a broker's responsibility for associate licensees, and/or other areas that GREC requires or authorizes. In place of the course, you may qualify for the broker's exam with college real estate courses of at least 15 quarter hours or 9 semester hours (the rule limits which courses count), or with a broker prelicense course approved by another U.S. state, district, territory, or possession, or a Canadian province, when it is similar in credit hours and taught in a classroom or by computer-based instruction that meets the rule. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
Working under your broker
If your license is active, you do real estate brokerage activity only as a broker or on behalf of a broker. Brokerage activity includes sales, leasing, community association management services, property management services, and any act in the definition of "broker" in O.C.G.A. 43-40-1. An inactive licensee may do brokerage activity only on real estate that the inactive licensee owns solely. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
Each active associate broker, salesperson, and community association manager is licensed under an active Georgia broker, and under only one Georgia broker at a time. After an original application, a salesperson does not start brokerage work until the broker has received the licensee's wall certificate of licensure. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
A firm or an affiliated licensee may use unlicensed support personnel only for ministerial duties, which need no discretion or judgment of their own. The firm and the affiliated licensee are both responsible for the acts of the support personnel. The firm signs a written agreement with them that lists the duties they may do and the tasks they may not do. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
Unlicensed support personnel may not: make cold calls or otherwise contact the public to get prospects; host open houses, kiosks, home show booths, or fairs; show real estate; answer questions on title, financing, or closings, other than the time and place; discuss or explain a contract, listing, lease, or other real estate document with anyone outside the firm; negotiate or agree to a commission, commission split, management fee, or referral fee; discuss the attributes or amenities of real estate with a prospective buyer or tenant; or collect or hold deposit money, rent, or other money from an owner, buyer, or tenant. Among other tasks, they may answer the telephone, submit listing data to a multiple listing service, schedule showings and open houses, place and remove signs, and record and deposit earnest money, security deposits, and rents. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
A broker or qualifying broker is responsible for any licensee affiliated with the broker or the broker's firm who violates the license law (O.C.G.A. Chapter 43-40) or GREC's rules. The broker instructs the affiliated licensees in the license law and the rules, and tells GREC of any violation of them. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
When a broker takes you on, the broker signs a written agreement with you that says how you are paid for work during the affiliation, and for work begun but not completed when the affiliation ends. GREC checks only that the agreement exists: it does not regulate its terms or enforce it. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
When you leave a firm, you may not take or use a written brokerage engagement secured through that firm unless the broker authorizes it. You return the firm's records, keys, and signs to the person the broker names. Until a listing, management agreement, or other brokerage engagement that you serve expires, you may not contact that client of the firm, unless the broker approves in writing. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
GREC's FAQ answers that you may not pay a referral fee to an unlicensed person. You may pay a fee or give a gift for a referral only to a real estate licensee, because referring prospects is an act of a licensee. (Source: GREC)
GREC's FAQ also answers that a firm may pay your commission to an unlicensed business entity only under a written agreement between the firm and you that authorizes the payment, affirms that you own more than a 20 percent interest in the entity, provides that you earned the commission on behalf of the firm, and affirms that the entity does no real estate brokerage activity. (Source: GREC)
Before you list, sell, buy, exchange, rent, lease, or option real estate as a principal, or offer to, in your own name or in the name of an entity in which you are an officer, employee, beneficiary, or member, you tell your broker in writing. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
Advertising your business
GREC's advertising rule covers any manner, method, or activity by which you, through any media, make real estate for sale, rent, lease, or exchange known to the general public. Media includes print, photographs, broadcast, and the internet, for example business cards, flyers, billboards, signs (including vehicle signs), videos, voicemail, email, websites, blogs, property listing database services, social media, and instant text messages. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
All advertising by associate brokers, salespersons, and community association managers is under the direct supervision of their broker and in the name of their firm. Advertising that is misleading or inaccurate in any material fact, or that misrepresents any real estate, is prohibited. In all advertising, you make every reasonable attempt to make sure the public knows that a licensee is contacting them. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
You do not advertise any real estate for sale, rent, lease, or exchange without first getting the written permission of the owner, the owner's authorized agent, or the owner of a leasehold estate. When you advertise real estate listed with another firm, you clearly and conspicuously disclose that fact and the name of the listing firm, unless the listing firm has expressly agreed in writing to waive those disclosures. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
When a firm advertises specific real estate for sale, rent, or exchange in any media, the ad includes the firm's name as registered with GREC and a telephone number for the firm. The exception is a lawful restriction, such as a covenant or a local ordinance, that forbids the firm's name on a particular type of sign. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
The firm's name, in a logo or alone, appears in equal or greater size, prominence, and frequency than the name of any affiliated licensee or group of licensees. In a print block ad of several firm listings with the listing agent's name next to each, the firm's name may appear once at the top, in equal or greater prominence and print size than any listing agent's name. The firm's telephone number appears in equal or greater size, prominence, and frequency than the telephone number of any affiliated licensee or group of licensees, and it is a number at which the public can reach a broker or a manager of the firm without going through the licensees in the ad. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
An internet ad for real estate for sale, rent, lease, or exchange shows the name and telephone number of your firm on every viewable web page. An electronic message with limited information or characters gives a direct link to a display that complies with the rule. On a website that you or your firm do not own or control, whose terms of use limit compliance, the ad gives that direct link on every viewable page. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
You update or remove outdated information on your website within 30 days after it becomes outdated. When an authorized third party maintains the website, you give that party timely written notice of each update or removal. The rule applies to advertising and website information within your ownership or direct control. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
A firm that uses a trade name, including a trademark or service mark, and any franchisee, clearly and unmistakably include the firm's name as registered with GREC when they advertise specific real estate for sale in any media, including advertising that others do for the licensee. The firm's name appears next to each specific property the firm advertises, so that the public can identify the listing firm. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
You do not advertise real estate in a way that shows the offer comes from a private party who is not licensed, and an associate broker, salesperson, or community association manager may not advertise in their individual name to buy, sell, rent, or lease real estate. You may advertise real estate you own that is not under a brokerage engagement when: if your license is affiliated with a firm, you tell your broker in writing of the specific property, and the broker gives written consent and approves the ad itself; and, for an affiliated or inactive license, the ad includes the legend "seller (or buyer, landlord, or tenant) holds a real estate license" or "Georgia Real Estate License #" with your six-digit number, which may be shortened to "GA R. E. Lic." (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
You do not advertise to sell, buy, exchange, rent, or lease real estate when the ad is directed at or refers to persons of a particular race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. The content of an ad is confined to information about the real estate itself. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
Brokerage relationships and the buyer
Georgia's Brokerage Relationships in Real Estate Transactions Act (BRRETA) defines a brokerage engagement as a written contract in which the seller, buyer, landlord, or tenant becomes the client of the broker and promises to pay the broker a valuable consideration, or agrees that the broker may receive a valuable consideration from another, for producing a party ready, able, and willing to buy, sell, or rent, or for performing other brokerage services. (Source: GREC)
Under BRRETA, a client is a person the broker represents in an agency capacity under a brokerage engagement. A customer is a person the broker does not represent under a brokerage engagement, but for whom the broker may perform ministerial acts under a verbal or written agreement. (Source: GREC)
GREC says the settlement of the National Association of REALTORS antitrust litigation, finalized in 2024, did not change the way Georgia licensees practice real estate brokerage, and that nothing in the Georgia license law, rules, and regulations conflicts with the NAR practices. GREC says Georgia licensees have been required for many years to obtain written brokerage engagements, disclose the payment of commissions, make clear that all commissions are negotiable, and treat customers and clients honestly. (Source: GREC)
Under O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-10(a), every brokerage engagement must advise the prospective client of: the types of agency relationships available through the broker; any brokerage relationship the broker has with other parties that would conflict with the client's interests and that the broker actually knows of (not counting that the broker may represent other sellers, or other buyers who buy other property); the broker's compensation, and whether the broker will share it with brokers who represent other parties; and the broker's duty to keep information confidential. (Source: Georgia.gov)
Under O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-9(a), from January 1, 2024, a brokerage relationship starts when the client engages the broker or signs an option to enter into a brokerage engagement. It continues until the engagement is performed or, if that does not apply, until the earliest of: the expiration date the parties agreed on; an authorized termination; or, if there is no expiration date and no termination, one year after the engagement started or one year after the option was signed. The same act (SB 90) made a failure to comply with O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-9 or 10-6A-10 an unfair or deceptive practice under the Fair Business Practices Act. (Source: Georgia.gov)
Under GREC Rule 520-1-.06(1), each exclusive brokerage agreement must fully set forth its terms and have a definite expiration date. When you secure a brokerage engagement, you give each person who signs it a true copy at that time. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
You make, or cause to be made, a written disclosure to both the buyer and the seller that states the party or parties for whom your firm acts as agent or dual agent, and from whom the firm will receive any valuable consideration. If the firm is not the agent of either party, the disclosure states from whom the firm will receive any valuable consideration. The disclosure must be timely, and no later than the time any party first makes an offer. You may not pay a fee or commission to a licensee who represents another party except with the full knowledge and written consent of all parties. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
A broker owes a client or a customer only the duties and obligations that BRRETA sets, unless the parties expressly agree otherwise in a writing they sign. A broker is not deemed to have a fiduciary relationship with any party, and is responsible only for reasonable care in the duties BRRETA sets and, for a client, the duties in the brokerage engagement. (Source: GREC)
A broker may act as a dual agent only with the written consent of all clients. The consent describes the transactions, or types of transactions, in which the broker will be a dual agent. It also states that: the broker represents two clients whose interests are, or at times could be, different or even adverse; the dual agent will disclose to all parties all adverse material facts it actually knows, except information another client made confidential that the law does not allow or require it to disclose; the broker and its licensees will timely disclose to each client any material relationship they have with the other client; the client does not have to consent to the dual agency; and the client gives consent voluntarily and has read and understood the engagement. (Source: GREC)
A broker may assign different affiliated licensees as designated agents to represent different clients exclusively in the same transaction, directly or through a company policy. A designated agent owes the client the duties BRRETA sets for that type of client. When the broker appoints designated agents this way, the broker, its licensees, and the firm are not dual agents, and no knowledge is imputed among the broker, the designated agents, and the clients. A designated agent may not disclose information the client made confidential, except to the designated agent's broker or when BRRETA allows or requires it. (Source: GREC)
The purchase contract and due diligence
The Georgia REALTORS general counsel says that on the Georgia REALTORS (GAR) form contracts, the Acceptance Date is the date the party who received an offer or counteroffer signs and accepts it. A legally enforceable contract is not created until the accepted contract is delivered back to the party who made the offer or counteroffer. The Binding Agreement Date is the date that party, or that party's broker when the broker represents the party as a client, gets the accepted contract back. (Source: Georgia REALTORS)
GREC's InfoBase answers that an offer accepted on the phone is not a contract. It also answers that earnest money is not essential to create a binding contract, and that whether to obtain earnest money, and how much, is a policy decision of the broker, influenced by the parties. (Source: GREC)
Georgia law treats as the practice of law conveyancing, the preparation of legal instruments of all kinds by which a legal right is secured, the rendering of opinions on the validity of titles to property, and the giving of any legal advice. It is illegal for a person who is not a lawyer to render or furnish legal services or advice. (Source: State Bar of Georgia)
Under BRRETA, a broker acting as a transaction broker may help any party by performing ministerial acts, for example: identifying property; providing real estate statistics and information on property; providing preprinted real estate form contracts, leases, and related exhibits and addenda; acting as a scribe in the preparation of those form contracts, leases, exhibits, and addenda; and locating inspectors, surveyors, lenders, attorneys, and other professionals. GREC says these acts do not involve expert knowledge, counseling, or consulting, and that a transaction broker can only perform ministerial acts and has no agency relationship with any party. (Source: GREC)
GREC's InfoBase says you can help a buyer fill out the form contract so that it states accurately what the buyer wants, without advising a buyer customer on the price and terms to offer. Unless the buyer is the broker's client, you must not advise the buyer beyond making sure the offer has an adequate description of the property, a proper method of payment, and the special stipulations the buyer wants. You should always avoid giving legal advice to any party in a transaction, including your seller clients. (Source: GREC)
When you prepare or sign a brokerage engagement or an offer to purchase, sell, lease, or exchange real property, you include the six-digit license number of each firm and each licensee in the transaction. You give a copy of any document used in a real estate transaction to each person who signs it, and to each brokerage firm in the transaction. (Source: GREC)
GREC lists as license law violations: failing to keep, for three years, a true and correct copy of all sales contracts, closing statements if provided to you, and any offer or other document that resulted in the deposit of trust funds, or failing to produce them at GREC's reasonable request; and being or becoming a party to the falsification of any part of a contract or other document in a real estate transaction. (Source: GREC)
Financing and the appraisal
Under the federal TILA-RESPA rule (Regulation Z), for a closed-end consumer loan secured by real property (not a reverse mortgage), the creditor delivers or mails the Loan Estimate no later than the third business day after it receives the consumer's application, and no later than the seventh business day before consummation. (Source: CFPB)
The creditor must make sure the consumer receives the Closing Disclosure no later than three business days before consummation. If the creditor does not give it in person, the consumer is considered to receive it three business days after it is delivered or mailed. For this rule, the CFPB's official interpretation counts every calendar day as a business day except Sundays and legal public holidays. (Source: CFPB)
Under Regulation B, for credit to be secured by a first lien on a dwelling, the creditor gives the applicant a copy of all appraisals and other written valuations promptly upon completion, or three business days before consummation, whichever is earlier. The applicant may waive that timing and agree to receive the copy at or before consummation. The creditor may not charge for the copies, but may charge a reasonable fee for the cost of the appraisal unless the law provides otherwise. (Source: CFPB)
For an FHA-insured loan, HUD Handbook 4000.1 says that if the borrower does not receive form HUD-92800.5B, Conditional Commitment Direct Endorsement Statement of Appraised Value, before signing the sales contract, the contract must be amended before closing to include HUD's amendatory clause. The clause says the purchaser is not obligated to complete the purchase, or to forfeit earnest money, unless the purchaser receives a written statement of an appraised value of not less than the stated amount; that the purchaser may proceed whatever the appraised value; and that HUD does not warrant the value or condition of the property. The clause is not required for some sales, for example HUD REO sales, FHA 203(k) loans, sales by a government agency, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or a mortgagee disposing of REO, foreclosure sales, and sales to a borrower who will not occupy the home. (Source: HUD)
HUD Handbook 4000.1 says the borrower, the seller, and the real estate agent or broker in an FHA sale must certify, to the best of their knowledge and belief, that the terms and conditions of the sales contract are true, and that any other agreement the parties made in connection with the transaction is part of, or attached to, the sales agreement. (Source: HUD)
The attorney closing, and the transfer and intangible taxes
GREC's InfoBase says that, by law, attorneys must handle real estate closings in Georgia. Depending on the circumstances and the sales contract, the closing attorney may represent the lender, the buyer, or the seller, and other attorneys may be present for the other parties. (Source: GREC)
Formal Advisory Opinion No. 13-1, issued by order of the Supreme Court of Georgia on September 22, 2014, says that Georgia law requires a lawyer to handle a real estate closing, unless the parties handle the transaction under Georgia's pro se exemption, and that a lawyer may not ethically conduct a "witness only" closing. (Source: State Bar of Georgia)
Under that opinion, the closing lawyer must review all documents used in the transaction, resolve errors in the paperwork, and detect and resolve ambiguities in title and title defects. A lawyer who receives funds in a real estate closing must deposit them into, and disburse them from, the lawyer's own trust account or another lawyer's trust account. (Source: State Bar of Georgia)
UPL Advisory Opinion No. 2003-2, which the Supreme Court of Georgia approved on November 10, 2003, says that, with the limited exceptions the legislature or the courts allow, it is the unlicensed practice of law for anyone who is not a Georgia lawyer to prepare a deed of conveyance (including a warranty deed, a quitclaim deed, and a security deed) for another person. A person who facilitates the execution of a deed for another, including a notary or a signing agent at a "witness only" closing, is practicing law. (Source: State Bar of Georgia)
Georgia's real estate transfer tax is based on the sale price: $1 for the first $1,000 or part of $1,000, and 10 cents for each additional $100 or part of $100. It is paid before the deed is recorded with the clerk of superior court. The seller is liable for the tax, but the parties often agree in the sales contract that the buyer pays it. The Form PT-61 Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration is completed and filed online through the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority (GSCCCA). (Source: Georgia Department of Revenue)
The intangible recording tax is $1.50 for each $500, or part of $500, of the face amount of a long-term note secured by real estate, with a maximum of $25,000 on one note. The holder of the note (the lender) records the security instrument in the county where the land is within 90 days, and first pays the tax. The holder can pass the tax on to the borrower, but the tax cannot be treated as a finance charge on the loan. (Source: Georgia Department of Revenue)
From July 1, 2025, a long-term note secured by real estate is a note with any part of its principal due more than 62 months (before, 3 years) after the date of the note or of the instrument that secures it. (Source: Georgia General Assembly)
Disclosures: a death, a crime, or a disease, and lead paint
GREC's InfoBase quotes Code Section 44-1-16(a)(1): no cause of action arises against an owner of real property, a real estate broker, or an affiliated licensee of the broker for not disclosing, in any real estate transaction, the fact or suspicion that the property is or was occupied by a person infected with a virus or other disease that medical evidence finds highly unlikely to be transmitted through occupancy of a dwelling, or was the site of a homicide or other felony, a suicide, or a death by accidental or natural causes. The owner, broker, or licensee answers truthfully, to the best of that person's own knowledge, any question about these facts. (Source: GREC)
Paragraph (a)(2) of that Code section does not require an owner, a broker, or an agent to answer a question when the answer would violate the federal Fair Housing Act or another federal or state law. The InfoBase reports the Georgia Attorney General's view that the Fair Housing Act stops a licensee from disclosing that an occupant has AIDS or an HIV-related illness, and says that view does not appear to remove the licensee's duty to answer truthfully a question about a homicide, another felony, or a suicide on the property. (Source: GREC)
For most housing built before 1978, before the buyer signs the contract, the seller and the real estate agents give the buyer the EPA pamphlet "Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home", disclose known lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards, give all available records and reports, and give the Lead Warning Statement. The buyer gets a 10-day period for a lead inspection or risk assessment, which the parties may change in writing and the buyer may waive. A signed copy of the disclosures is kept for 3 years after the sale. (Source: EPA)
The lead rule does not apply to zero-bedroom units, leases of 100 days or less, housing for the elderly or persons with disabilities (unless a child under 6 lives or is expected to live there), housing a certified inspector or risk assessor found free of lead-based paint, foreclosure sales, or housing built after 1977. A real estate agent informs the seller of the seller's obligations under the rule, and the agent is responsible, with the seller, for compliance, unless the seller did not disclose to the agent all the information on lead-based paint and its hazards. (Source: EPA)
Earnest money and trust accounts
GREC's FAQ answers that the sales contract, as the parties negotiate it, decides who holds the earnest money, for example when the seller is a builder. You turn earnest money over to your broker as soon after receipt as is practically possible. Once a salesperson receives earnest money for the broker, only the broker decides to whom and when it is paid, so the salesperson does not give it back to a buyer unless the broker directs it. (Source: GREC)
Unless the parties at interest agree otherwise in writing, the broker who holds the cash or checks promptly deposits them in a federally insured account that the financial institution designates as a trust account and that is registered with GREC. Before the broker deposits funds into an interest-bearing trust account, the broker gets the written agreement of the parties on who receives the interest. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
GREC's Trust Account Basics note says that a firm that accepts down payments, earnest money deposits, security deposits, rents, association fees, or other funds in which another party has an interest must have a trust account. A firm that does not accept trust funds does not need one, but if it receives trust funds, it must open a trust account within one business day of receiving them. All trust accounts must be registered with GREC, and all are subject to examination by GREC. (Source: GREC)
A broker properly pays out trust funds: when an offer is rejected; when an offer not yet accepted is withdrawn; at closing; under a written agreement signed by all parties with an interest in the funds, separate from the contract that directs the broker to hold them; when an interpleader action is filed in court; under a court order; or on a reasonable interpretation of the contract. The broker pays out only after having reasonable assurance that the institution has credited the funds to the trust account. When a payout is not one all parties to the contract expressly agree to, the broker at once tells all parties in writing. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
In a sale, a broker may claim earnest money as part or all of its commission only when the transaction has closed, or the closing date in the contract and any extensions have passed, or when all parties with an interest sign a written agreement, separate from the contract, that the broker is entitled to the commission. All refunds of earnest money are paid by check or credited at the closing. (Source: Georgia Rules and Regulations)
Not in this guide
The text of the Georgia license law (O.C.G.A. Chapter 43-40), who qualifies for the six-month extension for post-license education, and how to reinstate a license that lapsed for missed post-license education: GREC.
The exam's minimum passing score, exam retakes, the Real Estate Reciprocal Application and the supplemental exam for Florida residents, reactivating an inactive license, and late renewal fees: GREC.
The terms of a Georgia REALTORS (GAR) contract, lease, or seller's disclosure form: GAR forms are member-only, so read the form itself.
The duties of a broker engaged by a buyer, and the duties of a seller's broker and a buyer's broker to disclose adverse material facts under BRRETA: the act itself, or an attorney.
Team names and team ads, beyond the size rule for a group of licensees: your broker.
Financing contingencies, appraisal gaps, VA appraisal terms, and the financing deadlines of a given deal: the contract and its exhibits.
The documents a condominium association or a property owners' association gives on a resale: the association's declaration, or an attorney.
The closing attorney's fees, title insurance, and the closing figures in a given deal: the closing attorney.
Property taxes, the homestead exemption, and assessment appeals.
Leases, rental applications, security deposits, and fair housing rules for rentals in Georgia.
What the blanks of a given contract say, who is entitled to disputed earnest money, and whether a party may end a given contract: the contract itself, your broker, or an attorney.
Your city's ordinances and your MLS's rules, such as its rules on buyer agreements: the Atlanta page below, and your broker.
Income tax on a sale, FIRPTA, and any withholding at closing: a tax adviser or an attorney.
Working in Atlanta?
Cities, counties, and MLSs add local rules on top of Georgia law. The Atlanta page shows what Reddy knows about that market.
