http://www.greab.state.ga.us/about/grec.html
The Georgia Real Estate Commission administers the license law that regulates brokers, salespersons, and community association managers. In addition, the Real Estate Commission supplies staff support to the Georgia Real Estate Appraisers Board, but has no authority over the administration of the Georgia Appraisal Act.
As a regulatory body, the role of the Commission is not to protect the industry or the profession that it regulates nor to protect consumers. It is not the role of regulators to be advocates for either a profession or consumers. Instead, the role of the regulators is to protect the public interest.
Protecting the public interest means assuring every individual's right to justice and equal opportunity. Regulators protect the public interest when they deny the right to practice to the incompetent and unscrupulous. Regulators protect the public interest when they eliminate barriers that unreasonably limit entry into a field of practice. Regulators protect the public interest when they refuse to use licensing or registration laws to settle private disputes. Regulators protect the public interest when they refuse to use licensing or registration laws to advance the interest of private trade associations. Regulators protect the public interest when they encourage free and open markets. Therefore, the public interest demands that regulators use their best efforts to achieve impartiality.
To enforce these laws fairly and impartially, the members of the Real Estate Commission and its staff must:
Understand the attitudes and actions of both consumers and licensees in brokerage transactions and in their relationship with the Commission while relying on their experience as consumers and licensees to provide background for this understanding and to render fair and impartial treatment;
Make judgments and reach conclusions only after careful review of all relevant facts and opinions regarding allegations of wrongdoing and recommend modifications to the existing laws or new laws or regulations;
Supervise and administer the regulatory and disciplinary powers of the license law to provide that licensees and the public receive due process rights;
Generate rules and regulations that are reasonable, within the limits of the legislative law, and economically feasible to administer and enforce;
Communicate with licensees and the public to assure the appropriate dissemination of the laws and to obtain opinions and concerns regarding the nature and content of the laws;
Develop policies and procedures that are administratively feasible and not unduly burdensome to the public and licensees;
Respect and consider all opinions and views concerning the nature of the laws and their administration;
Express opinions on matters of conscience and policy in appropriate forums;
And cooperate with their colleagues in the real estate community to improve the level of professionalism and knowledge concerning the nature and transaction of real property.
Assuring due process rights also requires that Commission members never exceed the limits of the law while striving to fulfill all requirements of the law. In the hearing process members may discover that a licensee or a member of the public committed what appears to be an improper act. However, unless the law expressly prohibits that act, the Commission may not use its authority to correct the error or to impose punishment.
In proposing a rule, Commission members seek to determine whether a real need exists for the rule and what economic impact it may have. If the implementation of a new rule will result in higher costs of operating businesses, which licensees will in turn pass on to consumers, then the Commission does not seek to adopt such rules unless a compelling need for the rule exists. If a need exists and a rule is economically feasible, then the Commission member must ask two further questions. First, is the proposed rule reasonable? Second, is the rule within the limits of the legislative law? Any rule the Commission creates must meet both tests. Thus, if the Commission wishes to make a rule the content of which is reasonable, it may not do so if the rule exceeds the limits of the law. For example, if the law expressly required that licensees pay all renewal fees by a cashier's check or money order, the Commission could not make a rule that allowed persons who personally deliver their application to the Commission's office to pay that fee by personal check or cash.
