Oregon Agency Duties and Agreements

Module 1: Oregon Agency Today

Building on agency terms from pre-license and LARRC courses, consider applying them when a transaction gets complicated.

Oregon agency law sets duties for brokers. A seller's agent owes the seller loyalty, care, confidentiality, and timely accounting for money or property received. A buyer's agent owes these duties to the buyer. Both agents owe every party honesty, good faith, prompt presentation of written offers and notices, and disclosure of known material facts that are not readily apparent. A material fact is one that would affect a reasonable party's decision. These affirmative duties require brokers to act and generally cannot be waived.

In practice, the rules can be harder to apply. Recent changes affect when brokers must put representation in writing. Since January 1, 2025, a listing agreement must be written. A buyer representation agreement must be signed before or as soon as reasonably practicable after the broker begins helping the buyer. Both rules exclude commercial transactions and sales of five or more residential dwelling units.

Supervision, Teams, and Course Use

Since January 1, 2026, the managing principal broker has defined supervisory duties. When two licensees in one brokerage represent opposite sides, the managing principal broker serves as the in-house disclosed limited agent. With written consent, the broker may work for both parties, but can't advocate for either against the other. The broker also can't share one party's confidential information unless that party gives written permission.

Teams create another conflict point. Before any team member performs professional real estate activity for the opposing party or a competing buyer in that transaction, the team representing the buyer or seller must have a disclosed limited agency agreement in place.

Who pays a broker doesn't necessarily decide whom the broker represents. Before entering a sharing agreement, the listing agent and buyer's agent must disclose the amount and terms of shared compensation to their respective clients.

How to Use This Module

Section 1.1 maps the current framework. Section 1.2 identifies what LARRC already taught, so we can skip that material. Section 1.3 examines practice failures in published Oregon Real Estate Agency (OREA) orders. These orders show how violations happen, not how often. In a July 30, 2026 order, OREA imposed an $11,000 civil penalty on broker H.K., who closed three transactions while her license was expired. She explained that she did not advertise and worked only with her husband during that period.

Keep three questions in mind: Who is my client? What capacity am I acting in? Who supervises this transaction?

Three Oregon Agency Relationships

1: The Oregon Agency Framework at a Glance

The three questions from the module introduction, "Who is my client? What capacity am I acting in? Who supervises this transaction?" point to a short set of statutory definitions. These questions identify whom you represent, what role you act in, and who oversees the transaction. Knowing these definitions makes most agency problems in Oregon easier to sort out. Misreading them can lead you to act against the client you owe duties to.

Oregon recognizes three basic agency relationships in a sales transaction:

A listing broker represents only the seller unless the seller agrees in writing to disclosed limited agency. A buyer's broker represents only the buyer under the same condition, even when the broker is paid by or through the seller.

Oregon's administrative rules break these relationships into specific configurations. For example, two brokers in one firm may each be designated to represent one side exclusively, or a team may represent both parties. Rules also cover the supervising principal broker's role. Treat the three relationships as the consumer-facing summary; the rules list the specific arrangements a firm may use.

Statutory Agency Definitions

Key Terms in Oregon's Agency Statute

Oregon's agency statute supplies terms used throughout its rules. Three definitions matter.

Under the framework created by HB 3137, effective January 1, 2026, an agent is first the managing principal broker who enters into a listing agreement, buyer representation agreement, or disclosed limited agency agreement. Associated brokers and principal brokers may act as the managing principal broker's agents when authorized, but work under the managing principal broker's supervision. In practice, your client relationship runs through your firm's managing principal broker. This explains why a supervisor may appear in disclosed limited agency even if you never meet the other side's client.

Confidential information means information a buyer or seller of one to four residential units gives the agent about the transaction. Examples include the client's price, terms, financial qualifications or motivation to buy or sell. Information is excluded only when both conditions apply: the client instructs the agent to disclose it to the other party, and the agent knows or should know that failing to disclose it would be a fraudulent representation. The two conditions must apply to the same information. The definition is limited to residential transactions. It does not cover a warehouse sale or a 40-unit apartment building. A contract and general duties may still protect a commercial client's secrets.

One final distinction: principal does not mean principal broker. A principal is the person who permits or directs the agent to act, usually the buyer or seller.

References:
1. Oregon Revised Statutes, Definitions of agent, confidential information, disclosed limited agency and principal.
2. HB 3137 (2025), managing principal broker framework, effective January 1, 2026.

Disclosed Limited Agency

Oregon law defines disclosed limited agency as a transaction in which one real estate business represents a buyer and seller, or represents two or more buyers. The key point is that representation takes place within the same real estate business. This is broader than one broker personally representing both sides; it applies across the firm.

In the usual same-firm arrangement, two separate brokers represent opposite parties. The managing principal broker becomes the disclosed limited agent, while each associated broker may continue to represent only that broker's own client.

Team transactions work differently. When a team represents both parties, the team members, any authorized principal broker who supervises or controls the team members, and the managing principal broker all become disclosed limited agents. Before promising a client exclusive loyalty, confirm which agency arrangement the firm has documented.

Compensation and Representation

Follow the Representation, Not the Check

Compensation, or an agreement to pay it, does not by itself determine an agency relationship. Fee-sharing agreements between brokers, by themselves, do not settle who represents whom. Oregon rules state this directly: paying or promising a commission alone does not create agency.

Consider a Bend buyer who has a written buyer representation agreement in place. At closing, the seller agrees to pay the buyer's broker's fee. The broker still represents only the buyer, advocates only for the buyer, and protects only the buyer's confidential information. The seller's payment does not purchase the broker's loyalty to the seller.

The reverse is also true. A broker who actually represents a friend owes that friend the agency duties that apply, even without compensation. Waiving the fee does not reduce those duties. Casual help, by itself, does not create representation.

Oregon law also sets one disclosure duty for both agents. Before a listing agent and a buyer's agent agree to share compensation, each must tell their own client the amount and terms of that shared compensation. Disclosure after the agreement is signed misses the required timing.

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Oregon rules state that paying or promising a commission alone does not create agency. The broker still represents, advocates for, and protects the confidential information of only the buyer, even though the seller pays the fee.

Applying the Agency Framework

When a file comes in, use this sequence to review its agency details:

• Identify the client named in the written listing or buyer representation agreement.
• Check your firm's business structure. If anyone else in your firm or on your team represents another party or a competing buyer, identify the disclosed limited agents.
• Keep the money question separate from the representation question. Confirm that the sharing disclosure came first.
• In one-to-four-unit residential deals, mark confidential information and know who may see it.

Most of this vocabulary comes from LARRC, the Law and Rule Required Course that Oregon licensees complete as part of the continuing education required to renew an active license. Section 1.2 maps which terms were covered earlier, so we can focus on harder applications.

Written Agreement Timing and Duration

Section 1.1 introduced much of the agency vocabulary in LARRC. This quick map identifies rules you have already studied, so we can focus on applying them rather than repeating the procedures and form-level detail from Course 476. The LARRC 2026-2027 outline lists two recent laws as required topics: HB 4058, on written agreements, and HB 3137, on real estate teams. If any item below feels unfamiliar, return to Course 476 for the full procedures and form-level detail. The rules below cover signing deadlines and agreement length.

HB 4058: Written Agreements (Effective January 1, 2025)

• Listings. A seller's agent must work under a written listing agreement signed before the broker begins marketing the property or looking for a buyer.
• Buyer representation. A buyer's agent must work under a written representation agreement signed before, or as soon as reasonably practicable after, the broker begins helping the buyer purchase or identify property.
• 24-month cap. Neither agreement may last longer than 24 months, including automatic renewals. This limit also applies to a contract that requires the buyer to sign a representation agreement later.