Subject 2 of 19
At 11 hours, Law of Agency is the largest subject in the course. It covers representation, fiduciary duties, disclosure, consent, compensation, and independent-contractor status.
5 chapters 23 lessons 5 free practice questions
Read the rule, try the recall check, then continue to the next lesson.
Chapter 1
Learn who represents whom, how authority begins, how compensation differs from representation, and which duties continue after agency ends.
Exam rule
Under Section 443, an agent is a licensed broker, associate broker or salesperson acting as a fiduciary, and the principal is the client that agent represents. A customer may receive help but is not represented. Fiduciary duties follow the client. Honest and fair dealing is owed to everyone. A general agent may handle a broad range of ongoing matters, while a special agent has limited authority for a stated task. A real estate listing broker is usually a special agent.
Why it matters
Start every agency question by naming the client. Then decide how much authority the agent received and what duties are owed to everyone else.
New York scenario
A listing agent helps an unrepresented buyer submit an offer. The seller remains the client and the buyer remains a customer. The help alone does not create buyer agency.
Common misconception: A license permits brokerage work. It does not make every person the licensee helps a client.
Check your recall
The principal is the client whom the agent represents.
A customer may receive lawful help, but the agent does not owe that person fiduciary advocacy.
A special agent has limited authority for a stated task. A general agent may handle a broader range of ongoing matters.
Exam rule
Brokerage is licensed real estate activity, agency is a fiduciary relationship, and the two are not the same. A salesperson performs brokerage work through a supervising broker. Whether the firm represents a seller, buyer, landlord or tenant is settled by the brokerage agreement and by what the parties actually do. Section 443 does not apply when a licensee works in an agreed non-agent role. Other duties can still reach that work. Common law is one source.
Why it matters
The exam may describe licensed work but no agency. First identify the work. Then decide if the person is also a client.
New York scenario
A licensee gives a customer public facts and access to a property. Those services are brokerage activity, but they do not prove that the licensee represents the customer.
Common misconception: A commission, an MLS entry or help with an offer does not identify the client by itself.
Check your recall
Brokerage describes licensed real estate activity.
Agency describes a fiduciary relationship with a principal.
No. Its disclosure rules do not apply to that role, but common-law and other duties may remain.
Exam rule
Express agency starts with a stated agreement. Implied agency can arise from conduct alone. Ratification occurs when a principal learns of an unauthorized act and accepts it. Estoppel may stop a principal from denying authority, and it applies where the principal caused another person to rely on that authority reasonably. Payment alone does not create agency. The agreement and the conduct have to show who is represented.
Why it matters
Creation questions hide the answer in the conduct. Ask what the principal said or did, what the agent did, and what happened afterward.
New York scenario
An owner learns that a broker accepted an offer without authority and then knowingly accepts the benefit. Those facts may support ratification.
Common misconception: Do not mix up ratification and estoppel. Ratification accepts a past act. Estoppel protects a person who relied on what the principal did.
Check your recall
A stated agreement creates express agency.
The principal knowingly accepts an act that was not authorized when performed.
The principal caused another person to reasonably believe the agent had authority.
Exam rule
Compensation is negotiable and does not decide representation. Procuring cause requires a direct, close link between the broker's work and the deal, not just an introduction. Unless the agreement says otherwise, a broker earns a commission by producing a buyer ready, willing and able to buy on the seller's terms. Read any closing condition. Competitors must set prices and business choices on their own. Price fixing sets prices together. Market allocation divides customers or areas. A group boycott is a joint refusal to deal. A tie-in conditions one service on buying another. A referral payment for covered settlement business can violate RESPA.
Why it matters
Keep representation, the right to compensation and the legality of a payment separate. Each issue uses a different rule. For commission math, use the rate given in the problem; there is no standard commission rate.
New York scenario
Two firms agree that neither will take a listing below a six percent commission. That is a price-fixing issue even if each seller later signs a listing agreement.
Common misconception: Telling the parties does not make every payment lawful. Client consent covers pay from both sides. RESPA has a separate rule for mortgage and settlement referrals.
Check your recall
It asks whether the broker's work was a direct and proximate cause of the transaction, rather than a remote introduction. The agreement may add conditions for earning the fee.
Price fixing, market allocation, group boycotting and tie-in arrangements.
No. RESPA can still bar payment for referring covered settlement-service business.
Exam rule
Agency can end when the work is done. It can also end when the time expires or both sides agree. Revocation and renunciation end it too. So can death, incapacity, loss of the property or a change in the law. Some duties outlive the relationship, because the former agent must still account for property already held and must still protect the client's confidential information. Ending an agency may also break a contract.
Why it matters
The authority to act may stop before every legal duty does. Ask what ended, what property remains, and whether a contract was broken.
New York scenario
A listing expires. The former agent may not use the seller's confidential need for a quick sale to help a later buyer.
Common misconception: A principal often may revoke the agent's authority. The principal may still owe damages for ending the contract without a lawful reason.
Check your recall
Examples include performance, expiration, mutual agreement, revocation, death and operation of law.
No. The agent must still account for money or property already held.
Yes. Ending the agency does not make the former client's confidential information free to use.
Chapter 2
Master fiduciary duties, authority, customer protections, broker supervision and the liability that can follow another person's acts.
Exam rule
New York's forms name six fiduciary duties. They are reasonable care, undivided loyalty, confidentiality, full disclosure, obedience and the duty to account. Obedience covers lawful orders only. Accountability means the agent answers for conduct and for property handled. A secret profit can breach loyalty, and so can self-dealing, while misrepresentation opens the way to discipline, to a lawsuit and to lost pay. Personal interest raises the stakes. Full disclosure and informed consent are vital.
Why it matters
The six duties are the center of agency law. Learn what each duty requires and where a conflict, secret benefit or false statement breaks it.
New York scenario
An agent wants to buy the client's property through a hidden company. The agent must reveal the personal interest and cannot put personal profit ahead of the client.
Common misconception: Confidentiality does not allow a lie. It does not hide a fact that the law says must be disclosed.
Check your recall
Reasonable care, undivided loyalty, confidentiality, full disclosure, obedience and the duty to account.
No. Obedience applies only to lawful instructions.
It puts the agent's interest against the client's interest and can violate loyalty and full disclosure.
Exam rule
Actual authority runs from the principal to the agent, and it can be express or implied. Apparent authority is different. It comes from the principal's words or conduct toward a third party, so an agent cannot create it by claiming to have it. An agent who acts beyond actual authority may be personally responsible. Later ratification may bind the principal, but it does not erase every consequence for the agent.
Why it matters
Ask who spoke to whom. This separates actual from apparent authority. It also reveals an unauthorized act.
New York scenario
A seller lets a broker announce approvals in the seller's presence many times. A buyer may rely on the seller's conduct as apparent authority.
Common misconception: An agent's title or claim cannot create apparent authority. The belief must come from the principal's conduct.
Check your recall
The principal communicates actual authority to the agent.
The principal creates it through words or conduct that reach a third party.
No. The reasonable belief must trace back to the principal.
Exam rule
A client receives fiduciary advocacy. A customer does not receive undivided loyalty. Duties to the other side depend on the agent's role. A seller's or landlord's agent must use reasonable skill and care and act honestly. The agent also discloses known property facts that have a material effect on value or appeal, unless law provides otherwise. A buyer's or tenant's agent owes similar care and honesty. That agent discloses known facts about the client's ability or willingness to perform when it does not conflict with duties to the client.
Why it matters
The opposite party is protected, but the disclosure rule is not identical for every agent. Read the role before choosing what must be revealed.
New York scenario
A seller's agent may not reveal the seller's confidential minimum price. The agent still cannot lie about the property and must make disclosures required by law.
Common misconception: Some facts are not material defects under Section 443-a. A buyer may submit a written inquiry. The seller may choose whether to reply.
Check your recall
The agent's client receives undivided loyalty.
Reasonable skill and care, honest and fair dealing, good faith and required disclosure of known material property facts.
Known facts about the buyer's ability or willingness to perform when disclosure is consistent with duties to the buyer.
Exam rule
A salesperson or associate broker performs licensed work under a broker's supervision, and that broker must give regular guidance and oversight. Cooperation between firms does not decide agency. Agreements and disclosures do. Section 443 gives a special liability rule for a broker's agent. The principal has no direct relationship with that agent, and no vicarious liability for the agent's acts. Liability falls instead on the listing, buyer's or tenant's agent that directs the work.
Why it matters
Keep supervision, cooperation and representation apart. Then ask who may be responsible for someone else's act.
New York scenario
An outside broker agrees to act as the listing agent's broker's agent. The seller cannot direct that outside broker, but the listing agent can.
Common misconception: Tax treatment as a contractor does not end Article 12-A supervision. It also does not decide the cooperating broker's role.
Check your recall
The sponsoring real estate broker supervises that work.
No. The agreements and disclosures identify the role.
The agent that directs the broker's agent can be liable. The principal has no vicarious liability under that rule.
Chapter 3
Compare seller, buyer, landlord, tenant, subagency, dual agency and company policy choices without losing track of the client.
Exam rule
A seller's or landlord's agent represents the owner and owes that owner fiduciary duties, and an affiliated salesperson serves the same client through the broker. Contact with a buyer or tenant does not change the role. An in-house deal becomes dual agency when the brokerage represents both sides. Informed written consent is required to perform that dual role lawfully. In a cooperative deal the outside broker may be a buyer's agent, a broker's agent or a subagent. Cooperation alone does not choose.
Why it matters
Listing-side questions add showings, offers and other firms to hide the client. Keep the role tied to the agency agreement and disclosure.
New York scenario
A buyer asks the listing salesperson for the seller's lowest price. The salesperson must protect the seller's bargaining position unless the seller allows disclosure.
Common misconception: An in-house sale is not automatically dual agency. Look at whether the firm represents both sides. If it does, lack of consent makes the dual role improper, not nonexistent.
Check your recall
The agent represents the owner who is selling or leasing.
No. Presenting the offer does not change the listing-side role.
The broker may be a buyer's agent, broker's agent or subagent, depending on the agreement and disclosure.
Exam rule
A buyer's or tenant's agent is engaged to find property or negotiate terms for that client. The agent owes the buyer or tenant fiduciary duties and does not represent the owner. A person may choose to stay a customer, so everyone does not need an agent. Compensation may come from the client, the listing side or another agreed source. The payment route does not decide representation. In a New York City apartment rental, a landlord's agent or listing agent cannot charge that agent's fee to the tenant. A tenant may choose and pay their own broker.
Why it matters
Buyer and tenant agency gives the property seeker an advocate. The exam often tries to change the role by changing who pays.
New York scenario
A buyer's agent learns that the buyer can pay more. The agent does not volunteer that fact to the seller unless the buyer allows it or law requires it.
Common misconception: Seller-funded compensation does not turn a buyer's agent into the seller's agent.
Check your recall
The agent represents the buyer or tenant who engaged the agent.
No. A person may remain an unrepresented customer.
No. The agency agreement and conduct decide the role.
Exam rule
A subagent serves a principal through another agent. The subagent owes fiduciary duties to that principal and customer duties to the other side, and the principal may face vicarious liability for a subagent's authorized acts. A blanket unilateral offer of subagency was an old practice in the multiple listing service, or MLS. It is not an automatic rule today. A seller may reject it. Firms can still work together through buyer agents or broker's agents. A broker's agent has no direct relationship with the principal and follows the engaging agent's direction.
Why it matters
Subagency is not required when firms cooperate. Ask who created the role, who is served and who may direct the outside broker.
New York scenario
An outside broker brings a buyer to a listing. Check the agreement and forms before assigning a role. The outside broker may represent the buyer instead of serving the seller as a subagent.
Common misconception: MLS access or an offer of compensation does not create subagency by itself.
Check your recall
A subagent serves the principal through another agent.
Yes. Cooperation can instead use buyer agency or a broker's agent relationship.
A broker's agent has no direct relationship with the principal and takes direction from the agent that engaged it.
Exam rule
Dual agency exists when one agent or brokerage represents both sides of the same deal, and it can arise through a single licensee or through different affiliated licensees of one broker. Both principals must give informed written consent. The agent has to explain the conflict and the loss of undivided loyalty. Undisclosed dual agency breaches fiduciary duties. It can lead to discipline, loss of compensation and civil liability.
Why it matters
Dual agency limits the advice and loyalty either side can receive. Consent must come before the agent performs the conflicting role.
New York scenario
A listing firm also wants to represent the buyer. A compensation disclosure is not enough. Both clients must understand the dual role and consent in writing.
Common misconception: Silence, oral notice or consent from only one side does not create lawful dual agency.
Check your recall
It exists when one agent or brokerage represents opposing sides in the same transaction.
Both principals must give informed written consent.
It can cause discipline, loss of compensation and civil liability for breaching fiduciary duties.
Exam rule
A dual-agent broker may appoint one affiliated salesperson or associate broker for each client, and both principals must give informed written consent. Each designated sales agent advocates for the assigned client in negotiations. Neither can provide the full range of fiduciary duties or undivided loyalty. The supervising broker remains a dual agent. The form must name the agent appointed for each client.
Why it matters
Designation gives each client a day-to-day advocate, but it does not remove the brokerage-level conflict.
New York scenario
One salesperson is named for the seller and another for the buyer. The written form identifies both agents and explains the limits of the arrangement.
Common misconception: A designated sales agent does not become a separate brokerage. The supervising broker is still a dual agent.
Check your recall
Both principals must give informed written consent.
It names the sales agent appointed for each client.
No. The supervising broker remains a dual agent.
Exam rule
A brokerage may represent only sellers, only buyers, or one side in each deal. It may allow consensual dual agency for in-house deals, or use designated sales agents instead. Policy is not consent. A company policy does not replace disclosure or consent, and the other party may stay unrepresented or hire an agent with no tie to the brokerage at all. A licensee should spot the conflict early, explain the lawful choices that remain, then document the role the parties finally selected. Personal interest needs the same care. Buying a client's property requires full disclosure and careful consent.
Why it matters
A clear company policy can help stop hidden dual agency. Each deal still needs the right forms and agreements.
New York scenario
A listing firm's buyer prospect wants undivided loyalty. The buyer may hire an outside buyer's agent while the listing firm remains the seller's single agent.
Common misconception: The choice that creates the largest commission is not automatically the lawful or loyal choice.
Check your recall
The brokerage represents one side of the transaction, not both.
No. Both clients still must give the consent required by law.
Identify it early, explain lawful choices and document the role the parties select.
Chapter 4
Apply Section 443 to covered property, current forms, first substantive contact, refusals, agreements and changes in agency role.
Exam rule
Section 443 covers residential real property improved by a one-to-four family dwelling or a condominium or cooperative apartment used or intended as a home. It excludes vacant land where a dwelling is still to be built. Since January 1, 2011, New York has used one form for buyers and sellers and another for landlords and tenants. The earlier form is historical. The current form explains agency roles and says it is not a contract.
Why it matters
Check the property and transaction before choosing a form. Then keep the disclosure separate from the agreement that creates representation.
New York scenario
A co-op apartment used as a home is covered. Vacant land for a future home is not.
Common misconception: Signing the disclosure form does not create a listing agreement or an exclusive buyer agreement.
Check your recall
It covers improved one-to-four family homes and residential condo or co-op apartments.
No. The definition excludes that unimproved land.
One form covers buyers and sellers. The other covers landlords and tenants.
Exam rule
A listing agent gives the form to the owner before the listing agreement, and a seller's or landlord's agent gives it to the other side at first substantive contact. A buyer's or tenant's agent gives it to the client before the agency agreement and to the other side at first substantive contact. The statute does not define that phrase. Treat it as the point where casual talk becomes a meaningful discussion of a property, needs, finances or transaction terms. Give a copy of the signed form to the other party. Keep one for at least three years.
Why it matters
Timing, role and records decide most disclosure questions. Deliver the form before advice or facts make the contact substantive.
New York scenario
A buyer refuses to sign. The agent does not sign for the buyer. The agent writes the facts under oath or affirmation and keeps the declaration for at least three years.
Common misconception: Waiting for an offer, contract or closing is too late. Refusal changes the record to keep, not the duty to deliver the form.
Check your recall
Before entering into the listing agreement.
It identifies the licensee, brokerage, represented party, agency role, signatures and date.
The agent makes a written declaration under oath or affirmation and keeps it for at least three years.
Exam rule
An open listing lets several brokers compete, and compensation usually follows procuring cause. Under an exclusive right to sell, the owner owes the agreed commission even if the owner finds the buyer. Under an exclusive agency, the owner pays no commission when the owner alone finds the buyer, but if another broker finds the buyer, New York's required explanation says the owner owes both that broker and the present broker. Rentals may use an exclusive right to rent. Buyer brokers may use an exclusive right to represent.
Why it matters
The agreement type controls services and commission rights. Read the name, the duration and who found the buyer before choosing a rule.
New York scenario
An owner signs an exclusive agency and personally finds the buyer without broker help. The owner does not owe the listing broker under that stated arrangement.
Common misconception: The agency disclosure form is not a contract. It cannot replace a listing, rental or buyer-representation agreement.
Check your recall
The owner still owes the agreed commission when the owner finds the buyer.
The owner pays no commission when the owner alone finds the buyer.
A rental may use an exclusive right to rent, and a buyer may use an exclusive right to represent.
Exam rule
A seller, landlord, buyer or tenant may give advance informed consent to dual agency on the statutory form. Advance consent to designated agency must identify the agent appointed for each side. Consent must match the role actually performed. If a deal changes from single agency to dual agency, disclose the change and obtain the required written consent before acting in the new role. A vague earlier conversation is not enough.
Why it matters
Agency roles can change during a deal. The documents must keep pace so each client understands the conflict and the person assigned to that client.
New York scenario
A buyer represented by the listing firm becomes interested in the firm's own listing. The broker gets both clients' written consent before the firm acts for both sides.
Common misconception: Advance consent is not permission to hide a conflict or leave the designated-agent names blank.
Check your recall
It may be recorded on the statutory disclosure form.
It identifies the agent appointed for each principal.
The change is explained and both principals give the required informed written consent.
Chapter 5
Keep federal tax, New York unemployment, workers' compensation and mandatory broker supervision in their correct lanes.
Exam rule
Start with the governing law. New York unemployment law has a specific exclusion for qualified real estate agents in Labor Law §511(19). If no statutory exclusion applies, the general test weighs the actual relationship, including supervision, direction and control. A Form 1099 or contractor label does not settle that test. An independent business may set its hours and pay, bear expenses, risk profit or loss and serve other customers.
Why it matters
Worker status depends on the program and the actual facts. A written label cannot overcome daily control that points the other way.
New York scenario
A firm controls an unlicensed clerical worker's hours and methods. Calling the worker a contractor does not establish independence. The licensed-real-estate-agent exclusion does not apply to that worker.
Common misconception: Check the legal exclusion first. Then use the right test for the work. A broker must still supervise licensed acts. That duty alone does not make the agent an employee.
Check your recall
No. The real relationship and the governing test control.
Check whether a statutory exclusion applies, including Labor Law §511(19) for qualified real estate agents.
Investment, expenses, schedule control, profit or loss risk and services offered to others are useful signs.
Exam rule
Federal tax law treats a qualified real estate agent as a statutory nonemployee when three conditions are met. The worker is a licensed real estate agent. Substantially all pay is tied to sales or other output rather than hours. A written contract states that the worker will not be treated as an employee for federal tax purposes. It does not include property-management services.
Why it matters
Section 3508 is a federal tax rule, not a universal worker test. Check every element before applying self-employed tax treatment.
New York scenario
A licensed salesperson is paid by completed transactions and signs the required federal tax contract. Those facts fit Section 3508. Hourly property management is outside that category.
Common misconception: A license alone is not enough. The pay method and written federal tax agreement also matter.
Check your recall
A real estate license, output-based pay and a written federal nonemployee contract.
No. Substantially all pay must relate to sales or other output.
No. They fall outside this federal real estate agent category.
Exam rule
Labor Law §511(19) has a New York unemployment exclusion for qualified real estate agents. Substantially all pay must relate to sales or output. A written contract is required. It must have been executed within the past twelve to fifteen months, without duress. The listed terms must be included. They cover contractor and tax treatment, no hourly pay, chosen hours and the right to work from home or the firm's office. They also cover outside work, expenses, Article 12-A compliance and the right of either party to end the contract on notice. Workers' compensation has a separate exclusion. The Board lists output-based pay and eight written-contract terms. These include chosen hours and location, outside work, expenses, license-law compliance and ending the contract on notice. Apply each law on its own terms.
Why it matters
A federal tax result does not settle a New York program. Identify the program, then use its conditions and consequences.
New York scenario
A salesperson earns commissions but relies on a contract signed 20 months ago. That contract fails the unemployment exclusion's contract-age condition. Federal tax status does not repair the missing New York condition.
Common misconception: Do not treat commissions, a contractor label or a federal tax result as proof of every exclusion. Check the New York pay terms, contract date, required provisions and actual work.
Check your recall
No. Apply Labor Law §511(19), including its specific pay and written-contract conditions.
The contract must have been executed within the past twelve to fifteen months and not under duress. It must also contain the listed provisions.
No. Both the unemployment provision and the WCB criteria preserve license-law compliance. The other conditions still must be met.
Exam rule
Article 12-A requires a broker to supervise licensed work. The guidance must be regular, frequent and consistent, covering instruction, oversight and supervision, alongside the transaction records that Section 175.23 requires of the firm. New York workers' compensation guidance preserves that Article 12-A compliance. It does not defeat contractor status. Enforcing license law is one thing. Controlling every hour and every ordinary work method is another. The unemployment exclusion preserves this duty as well, under Labor Law §511(19).
Why it matters
The broker must protect the public without assuming that every contractor is an employee. Keep legal supervision and day-to-day method control in separate lanes.
New York scenario
A broker requires lawful ads, disclosures, escrow steps and transaction files. A qualifying contractor can still choose ordinary hours and work methods.
Common misconception: A contractor still needs broker supervision. Supervision alone does not decide worker status.
Check your recall
Yes. The sponsoring broker must supervise the salesperson's licensed activity.
It requires the broker to maintain covered transaction records.
No. The workers' compensation guidance says compliance alone does not defeat the exclusion.
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Choose the answer that follows the rule without adding assumptions.
Scenario lab
Scenario 1
A listing agent helps an unrepresented buyer submit an offer. The seller remains the client and the buyer remains a customer. The help alone does not create buyer agency.
Under Section 443, an agent is a licensed broker, associate broker or salesperson acting as a fiduciary, and the principal is the client that agent represents. A customer may receive help but is not represented. Fiduciary duties follow the client. Honest and fair dealing is owed to everyone. A general agent may handle a broad range of ongoing matters, while a special agent has limited authority for a stated task. A real estate listing broker is usually a special agent.
Scenario 2
An outside broker brings a buyer to a listing. Check the agreement and forms before assigning a role. The outside broker may represent the buyer instead of serving the seller as a subagent.
A subagent serves a principal through another agent. The subagent owes fiduciary duties to that principal and customer duties to the other side, and the principal may face vicarious liability for a subagent's authorized acts. A blanket unilateral offer of subagency was an old practice in the multiple listing service, or MLS. It is not an automatic rule today. A seller may reject it. Firms can still work together through buyer agents or broker's agents. A broker's agent has no direct relationship with the principal and follows the engaging agent's direction.
Scenario 3
A broker requires lawful ads, disclosures, escrow steps and transaction files. A qualifying contractor can still choose ordinary hours and work methods.
Article 12-A requires a broker to supervise licensed work. The guidance must be regular, frequent and consistent, covering instruction, oversight and supervision, alongside the transaction records that Section 175.23 requires of the firm. New York workers' compensation guidance preserves that Article 12-A compliance. It does not defeat contractor status. Enforcing license law is one thing. Controlling every hour and every ordinary work method is another. The unemployment exclusion preserves this duty as well, under Labor Law §511(19).
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Clients, customers, principals, agents, subagents, and broker's agents
Loyalty, confidentiality, disclosure, obedience, reasonable care, and accounting
Creation, scope, ratification, estoppel, and termination of agency
Seller, landlord, buyer, and tenant agency
Dual agency, designated sales agents, informed consent, and undisclosed dual agency
Real Property Law section 443 disclosure forms and timing
Listings, buyer-representation agreements, compensation, and antitrust risks
Independent contractor and employee distinctions
Identify whom the licensee represents before choosing a duty.
Section 443 timing depends on the licensee's role. First substantive contact is not the deadline for every recipient.
Dual agency requires informed consent from the affected principals.
At 11 hours, Law of Agency is the largest subject in the course. It covers representation, fiduciary duties, disclosure, consent, compensation, and independent-contractor status. This guide covers 23 lessons with New York scenarios, common mistakes, documents, worked examples, selected web practice and direct links to the sources used.
Subject vocabulary
Open any term for a direct definition, the exam cue, a New York example, the common mix-up and links to the source material.
Exam traps
Agent, principal, client and customer
A license permits brokerage work. It does not make every person the licensee helps a client.
Actual, apparent and unauthorized authority
An agent's title or claim cannot create apparent authority. The belief must come from the principal's conduct.
Subagency and the broker's agent alternative
MLS access or an offer of compensation does not create subagency by itself.
Listing and representation agreements
The agency disclosure form is not a contract. It cannot replace a listing, rental or buyer-representation agreement.
Required supervision versus control of methods
A contractor still needs broker supervision. Supervision alone does not decide worker status.
Forms and records
The exam often gives you a document and asks who uses it, what it proves or when it belongs in the transaction.
Identifies the agency role in a covered residential sale and explains fiduciary duties.
Exam cue: Timing changes with the recipient and the licensee's role. Read the scenario before choosing the deadline.
Provides the parallel agency disclosure for covered residential leasing.
Exam cue: Disclosure is not the same as consent to dual agency.
Creates the broker's authority to market property and states term, duties and compensation.
Exam cue: The listing belongs to the broker, even when a salesperson negotiated it.
Defines the buyer-agent relationship, scope, term and compensation obligations.
Exam cue: Compensation does not decide agency. The agreement and conduct do.
Primary sources
These are the government, statutory and other authoritative materials cited in the lessons and questions above.
12 CFR Part 1024: Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
IRS Employment Tax Guidelines: Qualified Real Estate Agents
Internal Revenue Service
Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses Act FAQ
New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection
Real Estate License Law: March 2026
New York Department of State
Real Estate Salesperson 77-Hour Curriculum
New York Department of State
Unemployment Insurance and Independent Contractors FAQ
New York State Department of Labor
SPRE Realty, Ltd. v Dienst, 119 AD3d 93 (2014)
New York State Law Reporting Bureau
Real Property Law §443: Agency Disclosure
New York State Legislature
Labor Law §511(19): Qualified Real Estate Agent
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Real Property Law §443-a: Disclosure obligations
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Workers’ Compensation Coverage: Licensed Real Estate Agents
New York State Workers’ Compensation Board
Separate required course
11 of 77 course hours
New York assigns this time within its required pre-licensing course. It is not the time needed to use this exam-prep guide or mobile app.
23
lessons
185
mobile questions
5
free web samples
11
sources
Editorial record
Built from the mobile app's reviewed New York lesson and question bank, then checked against the official curriculum and cited sources.
Scope note
This guide supports exam study and issue recognition. It does not replace an approved 77-hour course or advice from an attorney, tax professional, lender, engineer, inspector or other qualified specialist.
