Exam topics · Tennessee
Who you represent, what you owe them, and when the relationship legally begins. The single most-missed section on the state portion.
Agency questions are rarely about definitions. They give you a scenario, hide the moment the relationship formed, and then ask what duty applied at that moment. If you memorized the vocabulary but not the timing, you lose the point.
A client has a written agency agreement and is owed the full set of fiduciary-style duties. A customer is anyone else in the transaction — you still owe them honesty, fair dealing, and disclosure of known adverse facts, but not loyalty or confidentiality.
Tennessee licensees work under a designated agency model: the principal broker names an individual licensee to represent a client, and that designation — not the whole firm — carries the client duties. Another licensee in the same office can represent the other side without creating a firm-wide conflict.
When no agency agreement is written, a licensee is a facilitator assisting both parties without advocating for either. A facilitator can prepare documents and communicate offers, but cannot advise one side against the other's interest.
Written disclosure of the agency status is required before any confidential information is exchanged, and in every case before an offer is prepared. Exam questions almost always turn on this timing.
No written agreement means no agency. Showing property does not create representation.
Confidential information stays confidential after the relationship ends, unless the client releases you or a court compels disclosure.
Loyalty never overrides the duty to disclose known adverse facts about the property to the other party.
A client has a written agency agreement and is owed loyalty, confidentiality, obedience, disclosure, accounting, and reasonable care. A customer has no agency agreement and is owed honesty, fair dealing, disclosure of known adverse facts about the property, and reasonable skill.
The principal broker designates a specific licensee to represent a client. The client duties attach to that designated licensee rather than to everyone in the firm, so another licensee in the same office may represent the other party.
In writing, before any confidential information is exchanged and in all cases before an offer is prepared. Exam scenarios frequently hinge on whether disclosure came before or after information changed hands.
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