Loyalty
National Real Estate Exam glossary · Agency
Definition
The fiduciary duty requiring an agent to place the principal's interests above the agent's own and above all others'. It forbids self-dealing, undisclosed personal profit, and—absent informed consent—representing adverse interests. Loyalty is the L in OLD CAR.
Loyalty in plain English
Loyalty is the rule that an agent must put their client's interests ahead of their own and ahead of everyone else's — no secret side-deals, no hidden profit, no quietly working for the other side unless the client knows and says it's okay. It's the strongest promise in the trust relationship between an agent and the person they represent (called the 'principal'). Picture hiring someone to sell your car: you'd expect them to fight for *your* best price, not secretly buy it cheap for their cousin. It's the 'L' in the memory trick OLD CAR, which lists an agent's core duties.
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