agency

Customer and Ministerial Acts (DC)

DC agency law is statutory and abrogates conflicting common law. A customer is a person who has not entered a brokerage relationship but for whom the licensee performs ministerial acts, meaning routine acts involving no discretion or judgment, such as unlocking a door, delivering documents, or passing along factual information. Without a brokerage agreement, a person is presumed to be a customer, not a client. Payment of compensation alone does not create a brokerage relationship, and neither does using the MLS.