an advertisement cannot in any way imply that a sales agent is the person responsible for the operation of a real estate brokerage. a license holder shall not use the license holder’s expertise to the disadvantage of a person with whom the license holder deals. if the license holder is an agent of the buyer, the license holder owes a fiduciary duty to the buyer. a sales agent may not accept compensation for a real estate transaction from anyone other than the broker the sales agent was associated with at the time the commission was earned and may not pay a commission to a person except through the sales agent’s sponsoring broker. a name used in advertising by an associated broker that is not the associated broker’s licensed name must be registered as a team name by the broker he or she is associated with and meet all the requirements for a team name. [trela §1101.002] further to receive or maintain a license, a business entity must designate an individual holding an active texas real estate broker license, in good standing, who is an officer, manager, or general partner of the entity to act for it. [rule 535.155(b)(1)] a broker is not required to directly supervise sponsored sales agents; this responsibility may be delegated to another person with the required level of experience and expertise to provide proper supervision under the law. like a listing agreement, the buyer representation agreement must be in writing and signed by the buyer to be binding. when the sponsoring broker is a licensed business entity, it must have a designated broker to be active. trec requires licensure if the person seeks or has an expectation of compensation for offering to locate a unit in an apartment complex to a prospective tenant. yes, unless the person is an employee of the owner of the apartments or otherwise exempt, residential rental locators are required to be licensed as either a real estate broker or sales agent. [rule 535.154(a)(3)] an intermediary is a broker who negotiates the transaction between the parties when the broker or a sales agent sponsored by the broker has obtained consent from the parties to represent both the buyer and the seller. to apply as an out of state broker, you must submit the paper application for broker licenseby an individual along with requested documents and the applicable fee. a license holder should fully complete and provide the disclosure of relationship with residential service company (rsc-3) when the license holder will receive a fee from a residential service company because a party to the transaction purchases a contract from that company. trec does not require a pre-inspection or employment contract to be signed by the parties to the inspection. failure to repay a loan constitutes a breach of your private agreement with the license holder and is not a violation of trela or the rules. if it does, trec will ask you to provide a copy of the order of expungment or non-disclosure and upon receipt will not consider that offense in determining a person's fitness for licensure. if the transaction concerns a residential lease of less than one year and a sale is not being considered, the locator is not required to provide the tenant with a copy of the statutory information about agency (information about brokerage services). it is not a violation of trela or the rules for a license holder to rebate a portion of their compensation to a party in the transaction.