Designated agency
Designated agency is an arrangement in which a principal or supervising broker assigns different licensees of one firm to represent different clients, such as the seller and the buyer, in the same residential transaction. A designated licensee with only one client is not a dual agent, but the broker supervising the transaction is considered a dual agent or representative.
One client per licensee, and a broker the law still counts as dual
Dual agency puts one licensee on both sides of a sale; designated agency puts two licensees from the same firm on opposite sides, one client each, and Virginia still treats the broker over both of them as a dual agent.
The arrangement starts with an assignment. In a residential real estate transaction, a principal or supervising broker may assign different licensees affiliated with the broker as designated agents or representatives for different clients in the same transaction, to the exclusion of all other licensees in the firm. So the seller's designated licensee represents the seller, and the buyer's designated licensee represents the buyer.
| Dual agency | Designated agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Licensees involved | One licensee with brokerage relationships with seller and buyer | Different licensees of one firm, each assigned to one client |
| Who is treated as dual | The licensee who holds both relationships | The principal or broker supervising the transaction, not a designated licensee who represents only one client |
| How it comes about | Written consent of all parties, given after written disclosure of its consequences | Assignment by a principal or supervising broker, with the written consent of all clients |
| Written consent due | From the buyer by the time the offer reaches the licensee who will present it; from the seller by the time it reaches the seller | The same deadlines, under the same regulation |
Use of such designated agents or representatives shall not constitute dual agency or representation if a designated agent or representative is not representing more than one client in a particular real estate transaction; however, the principal or broker who is supervising the transaction shall be considered a dual agent or representative as provided in this article.
Va. Code 54.1-2139.1
Both halves of that sentence matter. The first says a designated licensee with one client is not a dual agent. The second says someone in the firm still is. Designated agency narrows dual agency down to the supervising broker; it does not remove it. The one-licensee version, with its disclosure of what the licensee stops advising on, is set out under dual agency, and what a buyer's licensee owes a buyer in the ordinary case is under buyer agency.
Confidences that travel no further than the broker, and consent by the offer
Two licensees in one firm, working opposite sides of the same sale, raise an obvious question about what one of them may pass to the other. Virginia's designated agency statute answers it directly.
Designated agents or representatives may not disclose, except to the affiliated licensee's broker, personal or financial information received from the clients during the brokerage relationship and any other information that the client requests during the brokerage relationship be kept confidential, unless otherwise provided for by law or the client consents in writing to the release of such information.
Va. Code 54.1-2139.1
Read the exception carefully. The affiliated licensee's broker is the one person inside the firm the statute lets that information reach. The designated licensee on the other side of the sale is not on that list, and the protection also yields where the law provides otherwise or the client consents in writing.
Consent in writing runs under the same regulation as dual agency, 18VAC135-20-220 A 3, with the same offer-stage deadlines for the buyer and the seller.
The consent sits alongside the brokerage agreement each client makes with the firm, and what that agreement has to contain is set out in what a Virginia brokerage agreement has to include. Designation settles who represents whom. Which duties a licensee owes under an agreement is a separate matter, and in a residential transaction an agreement that leaves out one or more of the standard duties the Code names makes the licensee a limited service agent.
Seller and buyer both working with the same firm?
Virginia lets a broker assign a separate licensee to each client when both sides of a residential sale use one firm. Describe the sale, and ask what each client would consent to in writing. No cost, no obligation.
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Questions about this term
Can a designated agent pass my information to anyone else at the firm?
Only to the broker, unless the law provides otherwise or you consent in writing. Virginia's designated agency statute bars designated agents or representatives from disclosing personal or financial information received from their clients, and any other information a client asks to keep confidential, except to the affiliated licensee's broker. The designated licensee working for the other side of the sale is not within that exception.
Do the seller and the buyer have to agree to designated agency in writing?
Yes. Under the Real Estate Board's regulation 18VAC135-20-220 A 3, a licensee acting as a designated agent or representative must obtain the written consent of all clients to the transaction at the earliest practical time: from the buyer no later than when an offer to purchase is presented to the licensee who will present it, and from the seller no later than when the offer is presented to the seller. The principal or supervising broker keeps each disclosure and consent for three years from the date of execution.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Va. Code 54.1-2139.1, Designated standard agency or designated representation authorized in a residential real estate transaction Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 54.1-2139, Disclosed dual agency and dual representation authorized in a residential real estate transaction Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 54.1-2130, Definitions Code of Virginia
- 18VAC135-20-220 A 3, Disclosure of brokerage relationships (eff. April 1, 2026) Virginia Real Estate Board
- 18VAC135-20-185 C 1, Maintenance and management of records (Regulations of the Real Estate Board, Chapter 20) Virginia Real Estate Board