The three arrangements
Single agency is the straightforward case: the licensee represents one side — the buyer or the seller — and owes that client fiduciary duties. It is established by a written agency agreement between the client and the qualifying broker or their licensees, and a broker offering single agency must include the agreement form in the office policy.
Dual agency, previously called limited consensual dual agency, arises where one licensee represents both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction. It requires the written consent of both parties, and the licensee has to manage duties that can pull in opposite directions.
Transaction facilitator, previously called transaction broker, describes a licensee assisting one or more parties without being the agent, fiduciary or advocate of either. Those parties are customers, not clients. A brokerage that formalizes this relationship must include its facilitator agreement form in the office policy.
What changed recently
Alabama's terminology has been modernized. 'Sub-agent' is no longer recognized as a brokerage role, 'limited consensual dual agency' is now simply dual agency, and 'transaction broker' is now transaction facilitator.
There is also a substantive change worth internalizing: dual agency now means one licensee holding both sides. If two different agents in the same brokerage each represent one party, that is no longer dual agency under Alabama law, and each agent may act as a single agent for their own client without dual agency's restrictions.
Disclosure forms should reflect the current vocabulary, drop retired terms, and include general information about how the company may be compensated — for example that commissions may be shared, or that a buyer may pay a fee.
The office policy and the annual briefing
The written agency disclosure office policy is not optional. It must list the brokerage service arrangements the company's licensees can offer or engage in, and it must include the agreement forms for each arrangement the company actually offers.
The qualifying broker must give every licensee a copy of the policy and explain it to all licensees at least once annually. Treat that briefing as a scheduled event with an attendance record, because that is what makes it provable.
Acknowledgments are the evidence
After receiving and understanding the policy, each licensee signs a form acknowledging receipt and comprehension. The brokerage retains that signed acknowledgment for at least three years.
An office audit looks for exactly this: not just that the policy exists, but that every licensee's acknowledgment is documented and retrievable. Track acknowledgments per licensee per policy version — when the policy is revised, the old acknowledgment no longer covers the new text.