Agency Relationships in Arkansas
Arkansas requires licensees to disclose agency relationships to consumers and to honor fiduciary duties to their clients. This chapter explains disclosure, duties, and dual agency.
Agency Disclosure
Arkansas licensees must disclose to consumers whom they represent in a transaction, so consumers understand whether the licensee is working for the seller, the buyer, both, or neither before they share confidential information. Timely disclosure of the agency relationship is a core consumer-protection requirement. Failure to disclose can be grounds for discipline.
Duties to Clients and Customers
When representing a client, an Arkansas licensee owes fiduciary duties including loyalty, obedience to lawful instructions, confidentiality, reasonable care, accounting, and full disclosure of material facts. To a customer who is not a client, the licensee still owes honesty, fair dealing, and disclosure of known material facts about the property. Distinguishing a client from a customer determines the level of duty owed.
Dual Agency and Consent
A licensee, through the principal broker's firm, may represent both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction only with the informed written consent of both parties. A dual agent must remain neutral on price and terms and may not disclose one party's confidential negotiating information to the other. Because dual agency limits advocacy, disclosure and written consent are required.