District of Columbia Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Which body licenses and disciplines real estate brokers, salespersons, and property managers in the District of Columbia?

• a.The Real Estate Commission, administered through the District's licensing department✓
• b.The Council of the District of Columbia, acting through its housing committee
• c.The National Association of Realtors, through its member board in the District
• d.The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, through a regional office

D.C. Official Code § 47-2853.06(h) establishes a Board of Real Estate and provides that it "shall regulate the practices of real estate brokers, real estate salespersons, and property managers"; Mayor's Order 2009-11 re-designated that board as the Real Estate Commission, and 17 DCMR § 2600.2 places it under the administrative control of the Mayor through the District's consumer and licensing department, today the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection. The Council writes the District's statutes but does not take applications, seat examinations, or rule on complaints. The National Association of Realtors is a private trade group whose membership is voluntary and confers no authority to practice. HUD administers federal housing and fair-housing programs; occupational licensing of real estate practitioners is not a federal function.

A DC broker has received a final decision from the Real Estate Commission revoking the broker's license. Where does an appeal from that decision go?

• a.The Superior Court of the District of Columbia
• b.The District of Columbia Court of Appeals✓
• c.The Mayor, on administrative reconsideration
• d.The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

D.C. Official Code § 47-2853.23 states that "[a]ny person aggrieved by a final decision of a board may appeal the decision to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals pursuant to § 2-510" — review of the agency record by the District's highest court, not a fresh trial. The Superior Court is the District's trial court and hears the Commission's subpoena enforcement under § 47-2853.22(f)(3), not appeals from its final decisions. The Mayor issues and revokes the license at the board's direction under § 47-2853.17(c) and has no reconsideration role over the board's adjudication. A federal district court is not in the review path the statute lays out.

After a hearing, the Real Estate Commission finds that a DC licensee committed a disciplinary violation. What is the largest civil fine the statute lets the Commission direct for each violation?

• a.$1,000
• b.$2,500
• c.$5,000✓
• d.$25,000

D.C. Official Code § 47-2853.17(c)(5) lets a board direct the Mayor to "[i]mpose a civil fine not to exceed $5,000 for each violation" — the cap is per violation, so several violations in one matter can be fined separately. The $25,000 figure belongs to a different provision: § 47-2853.27(b) sets it as the maximum criminal fine on a person previously convicted under the subchapter, and § 47-2853.27(a) sets $10,000 for a first conviction. Both criminal figures require a conviction in court, which is not what a Commission disciplinary hearing produces. The $1,000 and $2,500 figures appear nowhere in the licensure statute.

The Mayor summarily suspends a DC broker's license without a hearing after finding that the broker's conduct presents an imminent danger. How long does the broker have to request a hearing?

• a.24 hours after service of the notice
• b.15 days after service of the notice
• c.30 days after service of the notice
• d.72 hours after service of the notice✓

D.C. Official Code § 47-2853.18(c) gives the licensee "the right to request a hearing within 72 hours after service of notice of the summary suspension or restriction," and the board must then hold the hearing within 72 hours of a timely request and decide within 72 hours after it. The whole point of the timetable is speed, because the license has already been taken without any hearing at all. The 15-day figure is the notice period for an ordinary disciplinary hearing under § 47-2853.22(d), not the window to ask for one after a summary suspension. The 24-hour and 30-day figures do not appear in the section.

Several clients hold unpaid final judgments against the same DC licensee arising out of a single transaction. What is the most the Real Estate Guaranty and Education Fund will pay on that transaction?

• a.$10,000, divided among the claimants in proportion to their judgments
• b.$25,000, divided among the claimants in proportion to their judgments
• c.$50,000, divided among the claimants in proportion to their judgments✓
• d.$50,000 for each claimant who obtained a separate final judgment

D.C. Official Code § 42-1707(d) sets "[t]he aggregate of claims by judgment creditors against the Fund based upon an unpaid final judgment arising out of the acts of the licensee in connection with a single transaction" at $50,000 "regardless of the number of claimants," and directs that if the claims exceed that figure the money is paid "in proportion to the amounts of their final judgments." That is why the per-claimant reading is wrong: the cap is on the transaction, not on each claimant. The $10,000 and $25,000 figures are early rungs on the phase-in schedule in § 42-1707(c), which reached $50,000 in the fifth year after March 10, 1983 and has stayed there. A licensee whose account is paid from the Fund is automatically suspended under § 42-1707(g) until the money is repaid with interest.