Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 62 > Chapter 13 - Tennessee Real Estate Broker License Act of 1973

• Acquisition agent: means a person who by means of personal inducement, solicitation, or otherwise attempts directly to encourage any person to attend a sales presentation for a time-share program. See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Adverse facts: means conditions or occurrences generally recognized by competent licensees that have negative impact on the value of the real estate, significantly reduce the structural integrity of improvements to real property or present a significant health risk to occupants of the property. See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affiliate broker: means any person engaged under contract by or on behalf of a licensed broker to participate in any activity included in subdivision (4). See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Agency contract: means a valid written contract authorizing a real estate licensee to act as a party's exclusive agent for the purchase, sale or lease of real estate. See Tennessee Code 62-13-601
• Agency relationship: means the relationship resulting from an agency contract. See Tennessee Code 62-13-601
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Broker: means any person who, for a fee, commission, finders fee or any other valuable consideration or with the intent or expectation of receiving a fee, commission, finders fee or any other valuable consideration from another, solicits, negotiates or attempts to solicit or negotiate the listing, sale, purchase, exchange, lease or option to buy, sell, rent or exchange for any real estate or of the improvements on the real estate or any time-share interval as defined in the Tennessee Time-Share Act, compiled in title 66, chapter 32, part 1, collects rents or attempts to collect rents, auctions or offers to auction or who advertises or holds out as engaged in any of the foregoing. See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Client: means a party to a transaction with whom the broker has entered into a specific written agency agreement to provide services. See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Commercial real estate: means any real estate other than:
  (i) Real estate containing one (1) to four (4) residential units. See Tennessee Code 62-13-501
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Customer: means any party, other than a client in a transaction, for whom or to whom a licensee provides services. See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Designated agent: refers to a licensee who has been chosen by the licensee's managing broker to serve as the agent of an actual or prospective party to a transaction, to the exclusion of other licensees employed by or affiliated with the broker. See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Dual agency: refers to a situation in which the licensee has agreements to provide services as an agent to more than one (1) party in a specific transaction and in which the interests of the parties are adverse. See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Facilitator: means any licensee:
  (A) Who assists one (1) or more parties to a transaction who has not entered into a specific written agency agreement representing one (1) or more of the parties. See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• License: means a license, certification, registration, permit, approval or other similar document issued to an individual evidencing admission to or granting authority to engage in a profession, trade, occupation, business, or industry, or to hunt or fish, but does not include a license to practice law unless the supreme court establishes guidelines pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 36-6-501
• Licensee: means any individual holding a license, certification, registration, permit, approval, or other similar document evidencing admission to or granting authority to engage in a profession, trade, occupation, business, or industry, or to hunt or fish. See Tennessee Code 36-6-501
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Material: means any statement, representation or fact relative to a transaction that would affect a reasonable person's decision to enter into an agreement and that has been identified by the person as being of significance to a particular party. See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Not in compliance with an order of visitation: means that one parent has intentionally interfered with implementation of a schedule of court-ordered visitation on two (2) or more occasions in any six-month period. See Tennessee Code 36-6-501
• Notice: means a notice specifically referencing an agreement entered into after October 1, 1997, to pay commissions in any brokerage contract or lease or memorandum of the foregoing, sworn to and executed by the broker, identifying the subject real estate by lot and block number or by a metes and bounds description and in the form of notice set out in this subdivision (3) and containing only the information provided for in the form, recorded as provided for in §. See Tennessee Code 62-13-501
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Order of visitation: means any order granting a noncustodial parent the right to visit with such parent's child on days and times determined by the court. See Tennessee Code 36-6-501
• Owner: means the person or persons to whom the fee interest of real estate is titled and does not include a lessee or renter. See Tennessee Code 62-13-501
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Party: means any person or persons seeking to obtain or divest an interest in real estate or a business opportunity as a buyer, seller, landlord, tenant, option grantee or option grantor. See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Person: means and includes individuals, corporations, partnerships or associations, foreign and domestic. See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real estate: means and includes leaseholds, as well as any other interest or estate in land, whether corporeal, incorporeal, freehold or nonfreehold, situated in this state. See Tennessee Code 62-13-501
• Real estate: means and includes leaseholds, as well as any other interest or estate in land, whether corporeal, incorporeal, freehold or nonfreehold, and whether the real estate is situated in this state or elsewhere. See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Referral fee: means a commission or any other type of compensation for the referral of a potential buyer, seller, lessor or lessee of real estate. See Tennessee Code 62-13-601
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Savings and loan association: includes a building and loan association, a federal or state savings and loan association, a federal savings bank, and any other financial institution, the accounts of which are insured by the [former] federal savings and loan insurance corporation (FSLIC) or any successor [repealed] of such corporation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• sex: means a person's immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth and evidence of a person's biological sex. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subsequent owner: means a transferee or purchaser of commercial real estate from the owner or from a previous subsequent owner, but will not include the transferee or purchaser of commercial real estate pursuant to a sale conducted pursuant to title 67, chapter 5, part 25. See Tennessee Code 62-13-501
• Time-share salesperson: means any person acting as a seller of any time-share interval under contract with or control of a licensed real estate broker pursuant to a registered time-share program. See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Transaction: means the purchase, sale, rental or option of an interest in real estate or business opportunity. See Tennessee Code 62-13-102
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105