What Tenant Representation Is and How It Is Regulated in Georgia
Tenant representation means acting in the interests of a tenant in the process of finding office or industrial space and concluding a lease agreement: selecting properties, negotiating terms and preparing the document. The Civil Code of Georgia does not contain a separate, special status of a tenant representative: the commission-based model tied exclusively to the tenant's side, widespread in American practice, is not singled out as a distinct institution under Georgian legislation. Instead, such a relationship is governed by the general rules of brokerage, the norms on brokerage in the lease of a dwelling, and lease contract law. This means that the representative's fee, authority and responsibility must be clearly documented in the agreement by which the brokerage is undertaken, and it is precisely that document which determines who pays for the service and when.