2.1 Oklahoma Broker Relationships Act

The Statute That Replaced Common-Law Agency

Oklahoma is one of the few states that abolished traditional common-law agency in residential brokerage. Effective in 2000, the Oklahoma Broker Relationships Act (Title 59, Oklahoma Statutes, Sections 858-351 through 858-363) substituted a statutory "broker relationship" model. On the exam, do not call an Oklahoma licensee a "fiduciary," "dual agent," or "subagent" — those common-law terms are wrong here. Oklahoma uses single-party broker and services to both parties instead.

Key Point: There is no statutory "agency" in Oklahoma residential practice. A broker provides brokerage services, and the law fixes the duties owed.

Mandatory Written Disclosure of Duties

Under Section 858-353, a broker must describe and disclose in writing the broker's duties and responsibilities before a party signs a contract to sell, purchase, option, lease, or exchange real estate. The Oklahoma Real Estate Commission (OREC) publishes the official forms used to satisfy this requirement.

Timing You Must Memorize

Worked scenario: A licensee meets a walk-in buyer at an open house, learns the buyer's maximum budget, and only later hands over the brokerage disclosure when writing the offer. This is a violation — the disclosure had to precede the exchange of confidential information, not follow it.

How Oklahoma Differs From Common-Law States

Because the Act replaced agency, several familiar concepts do not exist in Oklahoma residential brokerage. Knowing what is absent is as testable as what is present.

The practical effect: every licensee starts from a baseline of five mandatory duties to everyone, and adds duties only when a single-party representation is created in writing. There is no automatic, implied agency arising merely from showing a home — a contrast students from other states must unlearn for this exam. The disclosure forms must also be retained per OREC record-keeping rules so the firm can prove the duties were disclosed before any contract was signed.

The Five Mandatory Duties (Owed to ALL Parties)

Section 858-353 lists duties a broker owes to every party in the transaction, whether represented or not. These are mandatory and cannot be abrogated or waived:

1. Honesty — treat all parties honestly and do not knowingly give false information.
2. Reasonable skill and care — exercise the diligence a competent licensee would.
3. Present all written offers and counteroffers timely — and reduce them to writing on request.
4. Account for money and property — timely account for all funds and property received.
5. Confidentiality — keep confidential information confidential under Section 858-353.

Additional baseline duties include disclosing information required by the Residential Property Condition Disclosure Act and complying with the Oklahoma Real Estate License Code. A frequent trap: "loyalty" and "obedience" are not on this universal list — they were common-law fiduciary duties Oklahoma did not carry forward.

What Counts as Confidential Information

Confidential information may be disclosed only when (a) the party consents in writing, (b) disclosure is required by law, or (c) the information becomes public through a source other than the firm.

Compensation Disclosure (Current Rule)

Brokers must disclose compensation and fees in writing before the effective date of the contract for sale or lease, and must state the time frame the compensation agreement is valid — never exceeding one year. If no time frame is specified, the agreement defaults to 60 days. A broker may not accept compensation from more than one party without full written disclosure to all parties.

Accounting and Trust Funds

The duty to account for money and property ties directly to OREC trust-account rules. Earnest money and other entrusted funds must be deposited and accounted for timely; commingling a client's earnest money with the broker's operating funds is both a breach of the mandatory accounting duty and a License Code violation. On the exam, an accounting question usually pairs the statutory duty with a trust-account trap — recognize that mishandling funds is never excused by a party's silence or by a delayed closing.