Timothy B. Anderson Quoted in Central Penn Business Journal Article, 'Guest View: What Real Estate Needs to Learn from the Legal Industry'
Timothy B. Anderson, a partner in the Harrisburg office of Pepper Hamilton, was quoted in the October 11, 2017 Central Penn Business Journal article, " Guest View: What Real Estate Needs to Learn from the Legal Industry."
Tim Anderson, partner at Pepper Hamilton LLP, represents a variety of clients in real estate conveyancing, leasing, financing, foreclosures and litigation. He shares his perspective on conflicts of interest in real estate transactions.
"In real estate law, we take conflicts of interest very seriously. For example, we cannot represent both parties to a single transaction. We may represent each party in separate transactions if we conclude that we can provide competent and diligent representation to each affected client, the representation is not prohibited by law, and each affected client gives informed consent in writing," explained Anderson.
"I routinely caution clients about the inherent risks of dual agency in real estate transactions. I warn clients about the risk that their agent’s representation of their interests may be limited by the same agent’s responsibilities to the other party. I’ve found that clients who agree to dual agency, because they think they can protect their own interests, often do not treat their own agent with complete candor," said Anderson.
Lastly, Anderson offered this advice, "In my opinion, the real estate industry would benefit from adopting rules similar to the rules for lawyers. This does not necessarily require real estate agents to represent only buyers or sellers (landlords or tenants), but real estate agents should not try to represent the buyer and seller (landlord and tenant) in the same transaction."