Several Texas Association of REALTORS®-supported reforms were made to the Texas Real Estate License Act.
These changes increase consumer protections, better prepare licensees to represent consumers, and improve education for applicants and licensees. Several of the changes include:
Effective date: September 1, 2011
- A business entity must designate one of its managing officers as its agent and maintain errors and omissions insurance of $1 million if the managing agent owns less than 10 percent of the business entity.
- All business entities must be licensed in order to act as a real estate broker. Any business entity that receives compensation on behalf of licensees must be licensed.
- A licensee will be allowed to renew late if a license has been expired for more than 90 days but less than six months (down from one year.)
- If a license has been expired for six months (was one year) or longer, that license may not be renewed.
Effective date: December 1, 2011
- Current licensees must provide TREC with an e-mail address, if one is available, and update the address provided if necessary.
- A salesperson must have four years active experience for issuance of a broker license.
Effective date: September 1, 2012
- A broker who sponsors a salesperson, or a license holder who supervises another license holder, must take a six-hour broker responsibility course, which will count toward the required 15 hours of MCE all license holders must take.
- An applicant applying for the first renewal of a salesperson license must provide to the commission satisfactory evidence of completion of six additional semester hours (90 classroom hours) of core real estate courses within the two-year first renewal period. (The requirement was based on a one-year first renewal period and required four semester hours (60 classroom hours) in core real estate courses during that year.
Click here for a list of all the provisions in the legislation as well as their effective dates.
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