3.3 Client Relationships vs. Customer Relationships
Key Takeaways
A client receives agency representation. A customer makes their own decisions and may receive factual and administrative assistance.
Rule 60 preserves care, accurate information, lawful handling of money and other professional duties to customers.
Separate the Rule 55 written disclosure and best-efforts acknowledgment from the Rule 60 customer acknowledgement and its mandatory content.
Explain information sharing, apply PIPA and protect confidences received during any prior representation.
Match the service to the relationship
A residential buyer or seller who engages a licensee as an agent is a client. Rule 43 requires a signed written service agreement when establishing that relationship. Explain the services, the client’s responsibilities and payment terms. Under Rules 41, 57 and 58 and the Consumer Relationships Guide, provide loyalty, confidentiality, disclosure, obedience to lawful instructions, reasonable care and skill, and accounting. The client supplies material facts and pays agreed fees and expenses. Explain any applicable indemnity and fee provisions using the signed agreement. Treat a legal question about the effect of those terms as a matter for counsel.
A customer is unrepresented by that licensee. For example, a buyer may choose to negotiate personally while requesting permitted help from the seller’s brokerage. Explain whose interests the licensee represents and the limits of the assistance. A customer can seek independent legal, appraisal or brokerage advice.
| Decision | Client representation | Customer assistance under Rule 60 |
|---|---|---|
| Price and terms | Give advice and negotiate within the mandate. | Provide objective market or property information, including comparable data. Let the customer decide their own terms. |
| Documents and offers | Advise on the proposed terms within competence, convey offers promptly and obtain expert advice when appropriate. | Prepare documents as instructed, convey offers and requested information, and keep the customer informed. Give names of service providers without selecting a provider for the customer. |
| Professional obligations | Protect client interests and information. Disclose conflicts and relevant facts as required. | Use reasonable care and skill, avoid false or misleading information, follow the law and handle money properly. |
| Property disclosure | A seller’s sole agent discloses known material latent defects to all buyers under Rule 57(i). | A customer buyer receives that required disclosure too. |
Explain the role before seeking sensitive information
Rule 55 requires written disclosure before eliciting confidential real estate needs, motivations or financial qualifications, or as soon as possible if received unexpectedly. In all cases disclose before entering a service agreement. State what you will do, who else you act for, conflicts and other facts likely to affect the decision. Immediately disclose material changes and use best efforts to obtain written acknowledgement. An open-house visit or a factual question alone does not trigger Rule 55. Under Rule 57(b), a seller’s sole agent separately identifies that role to an interested buyer at the earliest reasonable opportunity. Present and discuss the mandatory Consumer Relationships Guide in residential trades.
Under Rule 60, the brokerage and a self-represented consumer may use a Customer Acknowledgement. Apply the mandatory Schedule 1 content under Rule 60.1 when using it. The acknowledgement records the choice, opportunity to ask questions and seek independent advice, and limits on discretion, confidential advice and advocacy. It is distinct from the Rule 55 disclosure and its best-efforts signature standard.
Apply the same boundaries when the seller is the customer
An associate represents a buyer interested in a property whose owner has chosen to sell without an agent. The owner asks for recent sale information, preparation of a counteroffer on stated instructions, and advice on the lowest price to accept. Under Rule 60(5), the associate can provide factual comparable information and prepare and convey the counteroffer as instructed. The owner chooses the price and can seek independent advice. Explain the buyer representation and follow Rule 55 when confidential information is requested or unexpectedly received. Keep the buyer’s private bargaining instructions confidential. If a counteroffer arrives in writing, handle copies and delivery under Rule 61.
Handle customer information according to its purpose
The RECA Customer Acknowledgement explains that the brokerage shares information supplied in the customer role with its own client, and preserves information received while it was the customer’s agent. Explain this provision before seeking sensitive details. Personal information is subject to PIPA, including consent or another statutory basis, reasonable purpose and limits on disclosure. Rule 42(c) also restricts using confidential information for another purpose or personal gain. If a visitor unexpectedly volunteers a private maximum, provide the required disclosure promptly and assess consent, the purpose of receipt and any former representation before sharing. If an informed customer expressly directs the associate to pass on a price or timing term, convey that instruction. Preserve the seller’s negotiating limits under Rule 44.
RECA Rules · RECA Customer Acknowledgement · RECA customer guidance · Alberta PIPA
A buyer’s associate has explained their role to an unrepresented seller. The seller provides the exact price and terms for a written counteroffer and asks for recent comparable sales. What assistance may the associate give?
Choose a different counteroffer price for the seller using the comparable sales.
Reveal the buyer’s private maximum so the seller can pick a price.
Refuse to convey a written counteroffer unless the seller hires another brokerage.
Provide accurate comparable facts, prepare and convey the counteroffer as instructed, and leave the negotiating decision to the seller.
An unrepresented buyer at an open house volunteers a private maximum price before the listing associate explains information sharing. The buyer has not asked the associate to convey the figure. What should the associate do first?
Relay the figure automatically because the buyer is unrepresented.
Explain the role and information-sharing terms in writing as soon as possible, and check the applicable disclosure basis before sharing the figure.
Treat the figure as a written offer and tell the seller to accept it.
Tell the buyer that no disclosure is needed at an open house.
A visitor wants to hire a listing associate to negotiate for the visitor as buyer, but the associate already represents the seller and offers customer assistance instead. What should the associate explain before proceeding on that basis?
The buyer may choose self-representation or seek another agent. Rule 60 allows a Customer Acknowledgement explaining limited assistance and the opportunity to seek independent advice.
Signing the Consumer Relationships Guide appoints the associate as the buyer’s agent.
Customer status transfers the associate’s loyalty from the seller to the buyer.
The buyer automatically becomes a client by asking the associate to prepare an offer.
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.