Mississippi Agency Law: What Every Real Estate Exam Candidate Must Know

Mississippi Agency Law Guide

Agency law is one of the highest-tested topics on the Mississippi real estate exam state section. Understanding how Mississippi defines agency relationships, what disclosures are required, and what duties agents owe to each party is essential for passing.

What Is Agency?

Agency is the legal relationship in which one party (the agent) is authorized to act on behalf of another party (the principal). In real estate, the agent is the licensee, and the principal is typically the buyer or seller.

Mississippi real estate agency is governed by Mississippi Code Title 73, Chapter 35, and related MREC regulations.

Types of Agency Relationships in Mississippi

Seller's Agency (Listing Agency) The listing broker represents the seller. The broker and all affiliated salespersons owe fiduciary duties to the seller: loyalty, confidentiality, disclosure, obedience, reasonable care, and accounting.

Buyer's Agency The buyer's broker represents the buyer. All fiduciary duties run to the buyer. The buyer's agent must disclose to sellers only what is legally required, not confidential buyer information.

Dual Agency Dual agency occurs when the same broker (or brokerage) represents both buyer and seller in the same transaction. In Mississippi, dual agency is permitted only with informed written consent from both parties. A dual agent cannot fully advocate for either party and must maintain confidentiality of both clients' negotiating positions.

Designated Agency When a brokerage represents both parties, Mississippi allows designated agency — assigning different salespersons from the same brokerage to each party. The designated salespersons represent their respective clients as full agents, while the broker acts as a dual agent in the background.

Agency Disclosure Requirements

Mississippi licensees must disclose their agency relationship to all parties in a transaction. The disclosure should occur at the first substantive contact — before any confidential information is shared.

Key rule: The disclosure must be made in writing. Mississippi does not allow verbal-only agency disclosure to satisfy the written disclosure requirement in a transaction.

Fiduciary Duties

Mississippi agents representing a client owe the following duties, commonly remembered by the acronym OLD CAR or COALD:

Loyalty — Put the client's interests first
Confidentiality — Protect the client's private information
Disclosure — Share all material facts known to the agent
Obedience — Follow lawful instructions
Reasonable care — Act with competence
Accounting — Properly handle client funds

Trust Account Rules

Trust account handling is closely tied to agency duties. When a salesperson receives earnest money from a buyer:

The salesperson must deliver the funds to the broker by the next business day
The broker must deposit the funds into the trust account within 3 business days

Commingling (mixing trust funds with personal or operating funds) is a license law violation and grounds for suspension or revocation.

Sub-Agency

Sub-agency arises when one broker authorizes another broker to act as an agent of the first broker's client. Sub-agency is rare in modern practice but can still appear on the Mississippi exam. When a salesperson from a cooperating brokerage shows a listed property and is a sub-agent of the seller, they owe fiduciary duties to the seller, not the buyer they are working with.

Common Exam Pitfalls

Confusing loyalty (client duty) with honesty (owed to all parties)
Forgetting that dual agency requires written consent in Mississippi
Missing that confidentiality survives the end of the agency relationship
Forgetting the next-business-day rule for salesperson trust fund delivery

For Mississippi-specific agency law practice questions, visit [CARealestate.com/states/mississippi](https://carealestate.com/states/mississippi). The state section of the exam will test you on these details specifically — national prep courses often gloss over state-specific agency frameworks.