In this case study, an agent takes funds that are supposed to be put into an escrow account and deposits them into her personal bank account without letting her broker know of her actions. Immediately upon learning of her actions, the Principal Broker reports the behavior to DPOR and returns her license, demonstrating her commitment to safeguarding the public and supervising the agents in her firm.

In this case study, the agent failed to make a timely deposit of the escrow funds. Despite having signed an acknowledgment of the Broker’s Policy and Procedure Manual, the agent still failed to input the contract and timely deposit the funds. Nevertheless, because of these policies and procedures, the Principal Broker was still able to discover the error and report the escrow violation to DPOR, ensuring that she properly supervised the agents in the firm.

In this case, an agent performs regulated activities outside of her brokerage firm. Real estate licensees must not perform regulated activities outside of their brokerage firm.

Business continuity planning creates systems and procedures for what happens when the unexpected happens—whether that’s weather, illness, or death. This type of planning is essential to agents, teams, brokers, and firms. The law in Virginia addresses what happens if the sole broker at a firm dies or becomes disabled.

This case looks to an escrow violation, where the agent failed to timely deposit the EMD check by one day. Even a late deposit of only one day is an escrow violation. However, the brokerage firm had clear policies regarding escrow and the agent took full responsibility for his actions, which the board took into consideration.