Which type of agent has continuing authority to act for the principal, but within a specific trade or business; sales associates and broker associates are general agents?

• A. Universal Agent
• B. Special Agent
• C. Subagent
• D. General Agent

Answer: (D)

Continuing authority to act for the principal in a specific trade or business describes a general agent. In a real estate brokerage, the broker is the principal and hires sales associates or broker associates to work within that brokerage. These associates handle a range of ongoing tasks—listing properties, showing them, negotiating offers, coordinating closings—within the normal course of the brokerage’s business. That enduring, in-scope authority is what makes them general agents of the broker.

A universal agent would have power over all matters of the principal, not just the brokerage business, which isn’t the typical setup here. A special agent is limited to a single transaction or narrowly defined task, not the broad, ongoing duties the sales and broker associates perform. A subagent is someone the agent appoints to help carry out duties for the principal, which is a different relationship than the ongoing representation of the broker by the associates.