What is dual agency in real estate?
One licensee representing both the buyer and the seller in the same sale, legal in Nevada only with each party's written consent.
Dual agency is one real estate licensee representing both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction. It is what people mean when they say an agent is working both sides. Several states call it limited dual agency, because the agent's duties to each party are cut back the moment the second one is added. Designated agency is a different arrangement with a similar shape: the brokerage assigns one licensee to the seller and another to the buyer, so the firm sits on both sides of the deal but no individual does.
Nevada permits it with written consent. Under NRS 645.253 a licensee may not act for more than one party to a transaction without the informed consent of each, given on the Real Estate Division's Consent to Act form and signed before the licensee begins acting for both. What the consent buys is a narrower agent. A dual agent may still write the contract, order the inspection, keep the timelines and carry the file through escrow. What they may not do is pass either party's confidential information to the other, advise one side on what to offer or accept against the other, or disclose the seller's lowest acceptable price or the buyer's highest. Both parties lose the advocate on price, which is the part of the job worth the most money.
It usually arrives by accident: a buyer with no agent of their own calls the number on the sign or the listing page, and the agent who answers already represents the seller. Nothing is wrong with that provided the consent is signed and the buyer understands what they gave up, but it saves nobody money by default. The listing fee was negotiated in the listing agreement the seller already signed, and whether any of it comes back because one licensee did both jobs is a negotiation at the point of the offer. Several states prohibit the arrangement outright and substitute a transaction-broker or intermediary role owing fiduciary duty to neither side; Colorado, Florida, Kansas and Texas are among them. And since the National Association of Realtors settlement of August 2024 a buyer signs a written agreement with their own agent, stating that agent's fee, before touring homes, which makes the moment a buyer would slide into dual agency far more visible than it used to be.
A worked example
The agents behind Las Vegas sales
Questions people ask
Is dual agency legal in Nevada?
Yes, with the informed written consent of both parties. NRS 645.253 requires each party to sign the Real Estate Division's Consent to Act form before the licensee begins acting for both, and without it the licensee may not represent more than one party to the sale.
Do you save money by using the listing agent as your agent?
Not automatically. The listing fee was negotiated in the agreement the seller already signed, and whether any part of it comes back because one licensee did both jobs is something to raise before writing the offer. It does not happen on its own.