Alabama Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

In Alabama, a real estate company that engages associate brokers and salespersons must operate under a:

• a.Registered agent filed with the Secretary of State
• b.Qualifying broker responsible for supervising the company's licensees✓
• c.Notarized partnership agreement filed with the commission
• d.Temporary qualifying broker license renewed annually

Alabama separates the company license from the individual who answers for it. Section 34-27-2(a)(15) defines the qualifying broker as "a broker under whom a sole proprietorship, corporation, partnership, branch office, or lawfully constituted business organization ... is licensed, or a broker licensed as a company to do business as a sole proprietorship who is responsible for supervising the acts of the company or proprietorship and all real estate licensees licensed therewith." Section 34-27-32 requires the application for a company or branch office license to be made by a qualifying broker, who "shall be an officer, partner, or employee of the company," and each company or branch office "shall be under the direction and supervision of a qualifying broker licensed at that address." Filing a registered agent with the Secretary of State identifies who may receive legal papers and says nothing about who may broker real estate. A notarized partnership agreement is a private business document, not a credential the commission issues. A temporary qualifying broker license is an emergency measure available for no more than six months after a qualifying broker's death or disability, not a standing arrangement to be renewed.

Which broker is eligible to serve as an Alabama qualifying broker for a salesperson?

• a.One licensed in Alabama, whose principal business is brokerage, able to supervise full-time✓
• b.One licensed in any state, whose principal business is brokerage, able to supervise full-time
• c.One licensed in Alabama, whose principal business is anything, able to supervise part-time
• d.One licensed in Alabama, holding an inactive license, able to supervise full-time

Section 34-27-34(a)(1) sets three conditions and joins them with "and": "A broker may serve as qualifying broker for a salesperson or associate broker only if licensed in Alabama, his or her principal business is that of a real estate broker, and he or she shall be in a position to actually supervise the real estate activities of the associate broker or salesperson on a full-time basis." An out-of-state license fails the first condition; a broker whose real work is something else fails the second, which is what stops a licensed broker from lending a credential to a firm he does not actually run; and part-time availability fails the third, since the statute asks for a position to supervise on a full-time basis rather than occasional oversight. An inactive license is not a license to act at all under Section 34-27-35(k), and Rule 790-X-3-.15(1) treats "failing to maintain an active broker's license with the Commission and thereby compromising the licensing status of those licensed under the qualifying broker" as a supervision failure in its own right.

A salesperson's violation of the Alabama license law injures a buyer. Under Section 34-27-34, what is the qualifying broker's exposure?

• a.Responsible to the commission only; civil liability rests with the salesperson
• b.Responsible to the injured party only if the broker knew of the violation
• c.Responsible to the commission and the public, and liable to the injured party✓
• d.Responsible for nothing, because the salesperson is an independent contractor

Section 34-27-34(a)(2) runs the qualifying broker's accountability in two directions at once. "A qualifying broker shall be held responsible to the commission and to the public for all acts governed by this chapter of each salesperson and associate broker licensed under him or her and of each company for which he or she is the qualifying broker," and then: "Additionally, the qualifying broker shall be responsible to an injured party for the damage caused by any violation of this chapter by any licensee engaged by the qualifying broker." So regulatory exposure is not the whole of it, and the subsection ends by making clear that the broker's liability is on top of, not instead of, the licensee's: "This subsection does not relieve a licensee from liability that he or she would otherwise have." Nothing in the text conditions the duty on the broker's prior knowledge; the duty is to see that all transactions comply, which is a supervisory obligation rather than a fault standard. Independent-contractor status does not switch it off either — subsection (a)(3) says the supervision responsibilities "are not intended to and should not be construed as creating an employer-employee relationship," which preserves the tax and contract arrangement without disturbing the statutory responsibility.

Since October 1, 2025, an Alabama broker may be the qualifying broker for two companies only if, on top of written consent from every company filed with the commission:

• a.Each company employs fewer than ten licensees
• b.Each company holds its own branch office license
• c.All of the companies share the same company address✓
• d.All of the companies are owned by the same person

Section 34-27-32, as amended by Act 2025-380, allows the arrangement only where "(1) All companies for which he or she is and proposes to be the qualifying broker consent in writing. (2) He or she files a copy of the written consent with the commission. (3) All companies for which he or she is and proposes to be the qualifying broker share the same company address." The Act rewrote that third condition, which previously read that the broker "will be doing business from the same location" — the same idea expressed as a shared address rather than a shared operation. Common ownership is not the test, and neither is company size. Separate branch office licenses are required for a different reason and do not cure the address requirement: the same section requires a company or branch office license for each separate location, provides that "no person may serve as qualifying broker at more than one location," and makes the branch qualifying broker and the company qualifying broker share equal responsibility for the real estate activities of all licensees assigned there. Rule 790-X-2-.04(5) adds that a broker "shall hold a separate license for each firm which he represents as a qualifying broker."

An Alabama company's qualifying broker dies. The company designates a salesperson of four years' standing, and the commission issues her a temporary qualifying broker license. How long may the company operate under her?

• a.Six months from the date the former qualifying broker died
• b.Six months from the date the commission issues that license✓
• c.Twelve months from the date the commission issues that license
• d.Until the end of the current license period

Act 2025-380 moved the start of this clock, and that is what the question turns on. Section 34-27-32 provides that a company license becomes invalid on the death or disability of a qualifying broker; that within 30 days the corporation, or the remaining partners or successor partnership, may designate another of its officers, members, or salespersons to apply for a license as temporary qualifying broker; that the designee "shall either be a broker or have been a salesperson for at least one year prior to filing the application"; and that if the application is granted, "the company may operate under that temporary qualifying broker for no more than six months after the commission issues the temporary qualifying broker license." Before the Act, the six months ran from the death or disability itself, so any time spent applying came out of the company's window; now it does not. Twelve months is not a period the section uses, and tying the window to the license period would give one company a year and another a week. Unless a fully licensed broker is designated as qualifying broker within that six-month period, the company license and all licenses under the company are classified inactive after two weeks' prior electronic notice.

An Alabama broker in a rural area wants to run his brokerage out of his house. Under the license law's definition of a place of business, what is required?

• a.An office anywhere in the home, provided a sign is posted at the road
• b.An office shared with the licensees he engages, to keep supervision close
• c.An office approved in advance by the probate judge each license period
• d.An office not used for living purposes, with its own entrance and telephone✓

Section 34-27-2(a)(13)a permits it on strict terms: "A licensed broker living in a rural area of this state who operates from his or her home, provided that he or she sets up and maintains an office for the conduct of the real estate business, which shall not be used for living purposes or occupancy other than the conduct of the real estate business. The office shall be used by the broker only and not as a place of business from which any additional licensee operates under his or her license. The office shall have a separate business telephone, separate entrance, and be properly identified as a real estate office." A corner of the den with a sign at the road meets none of that. Sharing the office with the licensees he engages is the one thing the paragraph names and forbids. No probate judge approves a place of business; paragraph b instead requires licensees inside a municipality's city limits or police jurisdiction to operate from a separate office there, subject to a hardship waiver from the commission, and paragraph c requires all business records and files to be kept at the place of business. Rule 790-X-2-.07 governs the sign, and Act 2025-380 added Section 34-27-32(k): "An individual may use any office of a company under which he or she is licensed."