When consumers work with a team, they may assume that all team members represent them, even though that may not be true. To help consumers better understand their relationship with individual team members, the Department of Business Regulation has approved the following regulation:
2.31 Mandatory Relationship Disclosures
When a Team is working with a prospective buyer, seller, tenant, or landlord, the relationship of each licensee on the team to the client(s) must be disclosed in accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-20.6-8.
To assist teams, the Real Estate Commission approved changes to the Mandatory Real Estate Relationship Disclosure form and a Team Addendum to go with it. The second page of the disclosure now includes a definition of a team under Consumer Information and Responsibilities. Before you use a Team Addendum, make sure that you understand your brokerage’s and team's policies about representation.
Does everyone on the team have the same relationship with the same consumer or can members have different relationships? Once you’ve checked the team policy, list the name of each member of the team who holds a real estate license then check the box for designated client representative or transaction facilitator for the consumer after each name. You can save time by preprinting a standard Addendum that lists the team members. Only one real estate licensee is required to sign the Team Addendumat at the bottom as an authorized representative. Once you complete the Addendum, attach it to the Mandatory Real Estate Relationship Disclosure. Make sure to ask the consumer to sign both forms. The new forms were sent to form vendors on April 29th. They will also be available on thedbr.ri.gov website.
For more information, please contact the RIAR Legal Department at 401-432-6945 or email [email protected].