Agency Relationships in North Dakota
North Dakota requires licensees to disclose whom they represent and defines the recognized agency relationships. This chapter explains the agency disclosure and seller, buyer, and dual agency.
Agency Disclosure
North Dakota licensees must disclose their agency relationship, identifying whom they represent, early in the relationship with a consumer, before the consumer shares confidential information. The disclosure helps a consumer understand whether the licensee represents the buyer, the seller, or both, and prevents confusion about whose interests the licensee advances. A licensee must deal honestly with the party who is not the client.
Seller's Agent and Buyer's Agent
A seller's agent represents the seller and owes that client duties of loyalty, confidentiality, obedience to lawful instructions, disclosure, reasonable care, and accounting; a buyer's agent owes those same duties to the buyer. In every case the licensee owes the other party honesty and fair dealing and must disclose known material defects in the property.
Dual Agency and Consent
A licensee may represent both the buyer and the seller as a dual agent in the same transaction only with the informed written consent of both parties. A dual agent must treat both clients fairly and may not disclose one party's confidential information, such as negotiating position, to the other. Without the required consent, the licensee may represent only one side of the transaction.