South Carolina Real Estate Salesperson Exam — All Questions

Under South Carolina agency rules, a licensee should provide the required brokerage-relationships disclosure to a consumer:

• a.Within 10 days after listing
• b.At the closing table
• c.Only after a contract is signed
• d.At the first practical opportunity, before eliciting or receiving confidential information✓

South Carolina requires licensees to disclose the available brokerage relationships at the first practical opportunity, before the consumer shares confidential information. The disclosure explains options such as seller agency, buyer agency, designated agency, and dual agency so the consumer can decide how to work with the licensee.

In South Carolina, when a single firm represents both the buyer and the seller, the firm may assign one affiliated agent to represent the buyer and another to represent the seller. This arrangement is known as:

• a.Universal agency
• b.Open agency
• c.Designated agency✓
• d.Subagency

South Carolina recognizes designated agency, in which the broker-in-charge appoints separate affiliated licensees to represent the buyer and the seller within the same firm. This lets each client receive advocacy while the firm handles both sides. Full dual agency, where one licensee represents both parties, requires the written consent of both.

In South Carolina, an agency relationship between a consumer and a brokerage firm:

• a.exists only if both agree to it in writing✓
• b.may be created orally if the parties later confirm it
• c.arises automatically once the firm shows the consumer a property
• d.arises whenever a commission is paid

No agency relationship exists unless the consumer and the brokerage firm agree to it in writing. South Carolina expressly forbids agency being assumed, created orally, or implied from conduct, and the statute separately says that paying or promising to pay compensation does not by itself create agency. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-370(E)-(F).

At first substantive contact, and until a representation agreement is signed, South Carolina presumes the consumer is:

• a.a client of the firm, owed full agency duties
• b.unrepresented and owed no duties at all
• c.a customer, with the firm acting as a transaction broker✓
• d.a client of the individual licensee rather than the firm

The statute creates a default: at first substantive contact the potential buyer or seller is presumed to be a customer and the firm is presumed to be acting as a transaction broker, offering customer-level services only, until an agency representation agreement is signed. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-370(C).

South Carolina's dual agency agreement must be signed at the latest by:

• a.both parties at closing
• b.both parties within ten days of the offer
• c.the seller before showing and the buyer at closing
• d.the buyer before writing an offer and the seller before signing the contract✓

Consent to disclosed dual agency is presumed informed when a party signs the Commission's dual agency form. The statute fixes the outside deadline: the buyer signs before writing an offer and the seller signs before signing the sales contract. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-350(I)(1).

South Carolina's brokerage-relationship disclosure requirement does NOT apply when:

• a.the property is commercial instead of a residence
• b.the transaction is the rental or lease of property✓
• c.the consumer is a first-time buyer
• d.the licensee has known the consumer for years

The disclosure duty is switched off in two situations only: the transaction concerns the rental or lease of property, or the licensee's communication is a solicitation of business. Nothing turns on whether the property is commercial or on how well the licensee knows the consumer. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-370(G).

A South Carolina firm acting as a disclosed dual agent may NOT reveal:

• a.that the seller would accept less than list price✓
• b.the square footage stated in the listing
• c.a known material defect in the roof
• d.the dates the property was on the market before

A dual agent may pass along information relevant to the transaction, with four carve-outs: a seller's willingness to take less than asking, a buyer's willingness to pay more than offered, confidential negotiating strategy not stated in an offer, and either party's motivation. Known material defects must always be disclosed. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-350(I)(1)(b).

When a South Carolina broker-in-charge designates one licensee for the buyer and another for the seller in the same transaction, the broker-in-charge:

• a.has no agency role in the transaction
• b.must withdraw the firm from one side of the transaction
• c.acts as a dual agent under the designated agency agreement✓
• d.must obtain a separate dual agency form signed by each of the two clients

Where both sides are represented by designated agents, the broker-in-charge acts as a dual agent, and so do the firm and the remaining affiliated licensees. No separate dual agency form is needed, because the required consent is contained in the designated agency agreement itself. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-350(J)(5) and (J)(8).

If a buyer client wants to see a property personally listed by the firm's broker-in-charge, South Carolina requires the firm to:

• a.refer the buyer to another brokerage firm
• b.act as a dual agent with both parties' written consent✓
• c.treat the buyer as a customer with no further paperwork
• d.cancel the buyer agency agreement before the showing

Designated agency cannot be used to insulate the broker-in-charge's own listing. If a buyer client wants to view or buy a property the broker-in-charge personally listed, or one listed by the same supervised licensee, the firm must operate as a disclosed dual agent with the written consent of both. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-350(J)(3) and (J)(7).

A South Carolina licensee with two buyer clients competing for one property must give each client written notice that:

• a.neither will receive the other's confidential information✓
• b.the licensee will withdraw from one of the relationships
• c.the broker-in-charge will decide which offer is presented
• d.both offers will be disclosed to the seller at once

A buyer's agent may show the same property to more than one buyer client. Where two of the agent's buyer clients are in a single transaction, the statute requires written notice to each that neither will receive the confidential information of the other. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-350(F).

Under South Carolina law, who pays the brokerage fee:

• a.does not determine which party the firm represents✓
• b.establishes that the payer is the firm's client
• c.makes the payer a customer of the firm
• d.decides whether dual agency consent is needed

The statute states that payment or the promise of payment of compensation does not determine whether an agency relationship exists between a licensee and a seller, buyer, landlord or tenant. Representation follows the written agency agreement, not the money. Cite: S.C. Code 40-57-370(F).