Brokerage Relationships in Maine
Maine law requires licensees to disclose brokerage relationships and defines how an agency may represent consumers. This chapter explains the required disclosure, client and customer duties, and dual agency.
Disclosing Brokerage Relationships
Maine licensees must give consumers the required written brokerage-relationships disclosure in a timely manner, at the start of the working relationship and before the consumer shares confidential information. The disclosure explains the available relationships so the consumer can decide whether to become a represented client. Providing the form does not by itself create an agency relationship.
Clients and Customers
A licensee who represents a client owes agency duties including loyalty, obedience to lawful instructions, confidentiality, reasonable care, accounting, and disclosure of material facts. A consumer who is not a client is a customer, to whom the licensee still owes honesty and disclosure of known material defects. Understanding this distinction shapes how a licensee advises and negotiates.
Dual Agency and Appointed Agents
Maine allows disclosed dual agency, in which the same agency represents both buyer and seller, only with the informed written consent of both parties. Because a dual agent cannot fully advocate for either side, confidential information must not pass between the parties. Agencies frequently use designated or appointed agents so different affiliated licensees can represent each party within the firm.