At Home in Upland

The real estate forums on Facebook are often informative and engaging. And then there was tonight, where a licensee in a state where my license has reciprocity came out with this one: 

She claimed that her broker had no right to see the files on a transaction she was working on. No right. When shocked voices piped up about such an assertion, she went on to say that in her firm, files were locked away from the broker until a few days before the closing. There was some stuff about the agency relationship with the client and the "office," that exceptions could be made if there were a problem (imagine a problem coming up?) and then I got a headache.  

Wow. 

Here's the deal: In the states where I hold a license (NY and CT), every shred of paper related to a transaction file is owned by me as the broker. I not only have a right to see my firm's files, I have an obligation. 

The agency relationship the consumer has with the "office" is the agency relationship the consumer has with me as the broker. Not with the agent or associate broker. Me. THE broker. I think it is that way in all 50 states. 

I cannot think of a matter or scenario in this plane of existence where an agent's right to see, or manage a file supercedes their broker's ownership and responsibility for that very same file. 

The client belongs to the broker. 
The file belongs to the broker. 
Every piece of paper is for the broker's eyes first, last and always. 

The broker has complete and total vicarious liablilty for every action the agent takes on a file with a client or customer. Can we see the file? Folks, it belongs to me. It is my file. The client is my client. 

Yes. I can see the file. Let me rephrase that: Yes, I can see my file. 

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