Connecticut Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

A Connecticut licensee represents the seller. The buyer, who has no agent, asks in writing whom the licensee represents. Under C.G.S. Section 20-325d(a), the licensee must:

• a.Answer only after the buyer signs a representation agreement
• b.Decline, because the client's identity is confidential information
• c.Refer the buyer to the supervising broker for an answer
• d.Disclose the identity of the licensee's client in writing✓

Section 20-325d(a) provides that a licensee who represents a seller, lessor, prospective purchaser or lessee "shall, upon request, disclose in writing the identity of the real estate licensee's client to any party to the transaction who is not represented by another real estate licensee." Client identity is not within the protected category: Section 20-311(7) defines confidential information as facts about a person's assets, expenses, income, liabilities, motivations and previous offers, so refusing on confidentiality grounds misapplies the definition. Conditioning the answer on the unrepresented buyer signing a representation agreement inverts the provision, which exists for the benefit of the party who has no agent. And the duty rests on the licensee who received the request, so passing it to the supervising broker does not discharge it.

Under C.G.S. Section 20-320(a)(6), a Connecticut exclusive listing or buyer agency contract may not:

• a.Be signed by an agent acting under a written power of attorney
• b.Provide for compensation stated as a flat dollar amount rather than a rate
• c.Contain a fixed termination date with automatic continuation past it✓
• d.Run for a term longer than one hundred eighty days from the date of signing

Section 20-320(a)(6) makes it grounds for suspension, revocation or a fine that the licensee "entered into an exclusive listing contract or buyer agency contract which contains a fixed termination date if such contract also provides for an automatic continuation of the period of such contract beyond such date." The prohibition is aimed at the self-renewing listing, which is why the answer has to pair the fixed date with the automatic extension. Connecticut sets no maximum term of one hundred eighty days or any other length; the parties choose the term, provided it actually ends when it says it does. Section 20-325a(b)(7) expressly contemplates signature by an authorized agent under a written document executed in the manner provided for conveyances. And a flat fee is a lawful way to state compensation, subject to the negotiability notice required by Section 20-325b.

C.G.S. Section 20-325f addresses subagency in Connecticut by providing that a real estate broker shall not:

• a.Cooperate with any broker who represents the other party to the transaction
• b.Share a commission with a cooperating broker from another brokerage
• c.Show a property that another brokerage holds under an exclusive listing
• d.Make a unilateral offer of subagency or affiliate with a subagent✓

Section 20-325f states that "no real estate broker shall make any unilateral offer of subagency or agree to compensate, appoint, employ, cooperate with or otherwise affiliate with a subagent for the sale or purchase of real property." Connecticut abolished subagency outright, which is why the rule reads as a flat prohibition rather than a consent requirement. It does not bar cooperation itself: a cooperating broker who represents the buyer is a buyer's agent, not a subagent of the seller, and that arrangement is ordinary practice. Sharing a commission between brokerages is likewise untouched, since what the section forbids is the agency relationship, not the compensation. And showing another brokerage's listing is normal cooperative practice, subject to Conn. Agencies Regs. Section 20-328-2a, which channels dealings through the listing agent.

Connecticut requires a licensee to provide a consumer with the mandated real estate agency disclosure:

• a.Within ten calendar days after the closing of title takes place
• b.Only after the seller has accepted the buyer's written offer to purchase
• c.Not later than the first personal meeting with a prospective party✓
• d.Only if the consumer asks for it in writing before the meeting

Connecticut requires the licensee to deliver the agency-relationship disclosure at the beginning of the first personal meeting concerning the consumer's specific real estate needs, before confidential information changes hands, so the consumer learns whether the licensee represents the seller, the buyer, both, or neither before negotiating positions are revealed. The keyed language is the statute as amended: C.G.S. Section 20-325d(b) was rewritten by P.A. 23-84 effective April 1, 2024 to read "Not later than the first personal meeting," dropping the "specific real estate needs" qualifier. The implementing regulation, RCSA Section 20-325d-5(a), still carries the older phrasing, at the beginning of that meeting, which is the stricter of the two; disclosing at the earlier moment satisfies both. Waiting until an offer has been accepted comes long after that, when the consumer has already spoken freely and committed. Delivery after closing is later still and serves no protective purpose at all. And the duty is affirmative: it falls on the licensee to disclose at the required time, not on the consumer to know to ask for it in writing.

Under C.G.S. Section 20-325d(b), the written disclosure a Connecticut licensee gives a prospective party must state the types of agency relationships available and must also warn the prospective party:

• a.Not to discuss the property with any other licensee during the search
• b.Not to share confidential information before signing a representation agreement✓
• c.Not to make an offer before an attorney has reviewed the purchase contract
• d.Not to rely on the seller's written residential condition report

Section 20-325d(b)(1) requires the licensee to "disclose in writing to a prospective party (A) the types of agency relationships available to the prospective party, and (B) that the prospective party should not share confidential information with the real estate licensee until such prospective party has entered into a written representation agreement with such real estate licensee," and subdivision (2) adds, for residential transactions, information on fair housing discrimination including protected classes and where to obtain further help. Warning a consumer away from other licensees would restrain the consumer's choice rather than protect it, and nothing in the subsection says any such thing. Advice about attorney review and about the weight to give a seller's condition report may be sensible in a given deal, but neither is part of the statutory disclosure. The disclosures may be delivered electronically.

In Connecticut, dual agency, meaning the representation of both buyer and seller in the same transaction, is:

• a.Created automatically whenever one brokerage lists and sells
• b.Permitted only in commercial real estate transactions, not residential
• c.Prohibited in every residential real estate transaction in the state
• d.Permitted only with the informed written consent of both parties✓

Connecticut allows dual agency, but only when both parties give informed written consent. Because a dual agent cannot fully advocate for either side, the licensee must disclose the limited nature of the representation, obtain that consent, and refrain from revealing one party's confidential information to the other. It is therefore not barred in residential transactions, and neither does it arise automatically because one brokerage happens to list and sell the same property: consent is what makes the arrangement lawful, and without it the arrangement fails however the transaction is structured. The consent requirement is not tied to any one property type, so confining it to commercial deals misstates it. C.G.S. Section 20-325g supplies a statutory consent form, and Section 20-325i recognizes designated agency as a separate arrangement.

Under the Dual Agency Consent Agreement prescribed by C.G.S. Section 20-325g, the brokerage firm may not disclose to the buyer:

• a.That a material defect in the property is known to the firm
• b.That another offer on the property has been accepted
• c.That the seller will accept less than the asking price✓
• d.That the property is listed in the multiple listing service

The statutory form provides that the brokerage firm may not disclose "to the buyer that the seller (landlord) will accept less than the asking or listed price, unless otherwise instructed to do so in writing by the seller (landlord)," and it protects the mirror image of that information about the buyer, together with each party's motivation and willingness to change financing terms. Executing the form before any purchase, sale or lease contract creates a conclusive presumption of informed consent. Telling other offerors that an offer has been accepted is what Conn. Agencies Regs. Section 20-328-2a requires rather than forbids. Property information available through the multiple listing service is disclosed to both parties on request under paragraph (4) of the form. And the confidentiality paragraph carves out "information related to material property defects which are known to the brokerage firm," so a known defect must still be disclosed.

A Connecticut broker appoints one affiliated licensee as designated seller agent and another as designated buyer agent in the same transaction. Under C.G.S. Section 20-325i, each designated agent is:

• a.Deemed a dual agent, because one firm represents both sides
• b.Not deemed a dual agent, and carries the primary duty to that client✓
• c.Required to obtain the commission's approval of the appointment
• d.Barred from taking any further listing in the same community

Section 20-325i provides that on designation "the responsibility to satisfy the respective duties as a seller's or landlord's agent or as a buyer's or tenant's agent shall be the primary responsibility of the individual so designated, who shall not be deemed a dual agent, except in the case of an individual designated to represent both a seller and buyer in the same transaction." So the arrangement fails only where one person is designated for both sides, and the fact that a single firm stands behind both designations does not by itself create dual agency. The statute imposes no geographic restriction on the designated agent's other business. And designation is the broker's option, made with regard to a particular transaction only; no approval from the commission is called for.

C.G.S. Section 20-325h bars a Connecticut licensee from revealing a client's confidential information except where disclosure is:

• a.Required by legal process, or needed to prevent a crime✓
• b.Useful to close the transaction on the agreed terms
• c.Made after the representation agreement has ended
• d.Requested by the licensee's supervising broker in writing

Section 20-325h forbids revealing confidential information, using it to the person's disadvantage, or using it for the licensee's or a third party's advantage, except "(A) as required by legal process, (B) as necessary to defend such real estate licensee from allegations of wrongful or negligent conduct, or (C) as necessary to prevent the commission of a crime." Those three are the whole of the list. A supervising broker's written request is not among them, and the supervising licensee is bound by the same duty. Commercial usefulness is the opposite of an exception, since using the information to the client's disadvantage is exactly what the section prohibits. And nothing in the text ties the duty to the life of the agreement: it speaks of a person "whom the real estate licensee represented," in the past tense, so the obligation outlasts the relationship.

Under Conn. Agencies Regs. Section 20-328-2a, a Connecticut licensee who wants to discuss a property that is exclusively listed with another brokerage must ordinarily deal with:

• a.The seller directly, because the listing binds only the brokerage
• b.The town clerk, where the listing agreement is recorded
• c.The multiple listing service, which speaks for the seller
• d.The listing agent, rather than the seller, owner or lessor✓

The regulation states that "all dealings concerning property exclusively listed with an agent shall be conducted with the listing agent, and not the seller, owner or lessor," and it applies the same channel in the other direction for a buyer or lessee who is exclusively represented. Direct contact is left open only with consent or after diligent but unsuccessful attempts to reach the agent. Treating the exclusive listing as binding only the brokerage is the reasoning the rule exists to stop, since going around the listing agent is the interference the outline area is about. A multiple listing service publishes offers of cooperation; it does not act as the seller's mouthpiece. And listing agreements are not recorded on the land records, which is where a broker's lien claim under Section 20-325a is filed.