Requirements for a Kentucky License
Eight of the fifty state items. The bulletin's subtopics are activities requiring a license; eligibility; renewal; license procedures, including changes to be reported and inactive status; continuing and post-license education; errors and omissions insurance, with extended reporting period coverage required to deactivate a license; and the criminal background check.
Activities requiring a license, and the exceptions
KRS 324.010(1) defines real estate brokerage as a single, multiple or continuing act of dealing in timeshares or options, selling, buying, negotiating a purchase, sale or exchange, engaging in property management, leasing, renting, or referring or offering to refer for the purpose of securing prospects — any real estate, for others, for a fee or other valuable consideration — and includes advertising for sale an equitable interest in a contract for the purchase of real property. KRS 324.020(2) forbids practicing brokerage as to Kentucky real estate without a license or compliance with the commercial-brokerage provisions of 324.235 to 324.238. The exceptions in KRS 324.030 are the ones tested: an owner or lessor and his regular employees acting as an incident to managing the property; an attorney in fact under a duly executed power of attorney; an attorney at law doing his own work; a receiver, trustee, administrator or executor; a person in property management who is a regular employee of the owner or principal broker or whose primary compensation is the use of a rental unit; and an unlicensed person under a broker's supervision who contacts the public to set appointments and gives out general public information the broker specifically authorized. KRS 324.980 adds one more: a person engaged solely in compiling rental availability information for a fee.
Eligibility for the broker license
KRS 324.046(1)(a) requires not less than twenty-one academic credit hours or the equivalent from an accredited institution or approved real estate school, of which twelve shall be in real estate courses and three of those twelve a course in broker management skills. 201 KAR 11:210 Section 2(1)(a) splits the twenty-one into nine real estate hours (not counting sales associate prelicense education), three of Broker Management and nine of approved broker electives; PSI bulletin 2312 also states the alternatives of 336 classroom hours from a Kentucky-approved school, or a combination of twelve academic credit hours or 192 classroom hours in real estate plus nine college elective hours. KRS 324.046(1)(b) requires the applicant to have 'been engaged in the real estate business as a sales associate averaging at least twenty (20) hours per week for a period of twenty-four (24) months prior to application.' There is no lookback window — the twenty-four months must immediately precede the application. Proof is a sworn notarized statement signed by the principal broker or other documentation satisfactory to the commission, and 324.046(3) lets the applicant complain to the commission if a principal broker unjustly refuses to sign. KRS 324.046(4) permits the commission to reduce the two years to one where the applicant holds an associate degree in real estate or a baccalaureate with a real estate major or minor. Every applicant must also be at least eighteen and hold a high school diploma or equivalent (KRS 324.040(3)).
Renewal, changes and inactive status
KRS 324.090(1) expires licenses biennially. 201 KAR 11:210 Section 8 sets renewal on or before March 31 through the Online Services Portal, and 201 KAR 11:011 Section 1(35) defines the renewal cycle as April 1 to March 31 two calendar years later. A late renewal draws a fine of up to $200 before a new license issues (324.090(2)), and an unrenewed license reverts to expired status, reactivatable within one year on payment of delinquent fees (324.090(3)); a canceled license may be renewed within one year of cancellation on paying all fees and meeting active-licensure requirements (324.160(2)). Neither a canceled nor a suspended licensee may broker real estate or take compensation for it. 201 KAR 11:210 Section 9(7) makes failure to report a change — legal name, nickname, assumed name, residential address, email or phone, and for a principal broker the company location, firm name, branch offices, designated managers or escrow accounts — within ten days a violation of KRS 324.160(4)(t). To go inactive under KRS 324.310(2) a licensee must stop all real estate activity for others, keep paying the biennial renewal fees, and obtain one year of extended reporting period coverage first; reactivation under 324.310(4) needs a fresh criminal record check, all outstanding continuing education, and the reactivation fee.
Education, insurance and the background check
KRS 324.085(1) requires twelve classroom or online hours of continuing education per biennial license period, six of them completed in the first year 'or the license shall be automatically canceled,' and six of the twelve in real estate law; 201 KAR 11:210 Section 11(1) states the same duty annually as six hours a year, three in law and three elective, completed by December 31 of the first year of the renewal cycle. KRS 324.085(2) requires a licensee issued an initial sales associate license after January 1, 2016 to complete forty-eight hours of commission-approved post-license education within two years of receiving or activating the license, and 324.085(3) cancels the license of anyone who does not. KRS 324.395(1) makes errors and omissions insurance mandatory for all active licensees and requires an inactive licensee to buy one year of extended reporting period coverage before entering inactive status; 201 KAR 11:220 sets the minimums at $100,000 per claim and $1,000,000 annual aggregate, firm aggregates of $1,000,000 for one to forty licensees and $2,000,000 for forty-one or more, and maximum deductibles of $2,500 for judgment or settlement and $1,000 for investigation and defense. KRS 324.045(5) requires a national FBI criminal history check completed within the ninety calendar days before the commission receives the application, with a signed affidavit returned within 120 days; 201 KAR 11:210 Section 6 requires the check to be requested before the examination, treats it as valid for ninety days, and directs the commission to investigate any felony conviction in the previous ten years or misdemeanor conviction in the previous five.
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State-specific details
State exam facts
- State regulator
- Kentucky Real Estate Commission (KREC)
- Exam vendor
- PSI
- Prelicensing education
- 21 academic credit hours (12 in real estate, 3 of them a broker management skills course) or 336 classroom hours from a Kentucky-approved school (KRS 324.046(1)(a); 201 KAR 11:210 § 2(1)(a) splits the 21 as 9 real estate + 3 Broker Management + 9 approved electives)
- Passing score
- 75% correct on each portion
- Scored questions
- 125
- Time limit
- 240 minutes
Who regulates real estate brokers in Kentucky?
The Kentucky Real Estate Commission (KREC) licenses brokers and sales associates under KRS Chapter 324 and 201 KAR Chapter 11. KRS 324.281(5)(c) lets the Commission conduct the examinations or contract them out, and it contracts with PSI.
What experience do I need before the Kentucky broker exam?
KRS 324.046(1)(b) requires the applicant to have been engaged in the real estate business as a sales associate averaging at least 20 hours per week for 24 months prior to application — there is no lookback window, so the 24 months must immediately precede the application. KRS 324.046(4) lets the Commission cut it to one year for an applicant with an associate degree in real estate or a bachelor's with a real estate major or minor. Proof is a sworn notarized statement signed by the principal broker, or other documentation satisfactory to the Commission (KRS 324.046(3)); if a principal broker unjustly refuses to sign, the applicant may complain to the Commission.
How is the Kentucky broker exam structured?
PSI bulletin 2312 gives the broker exam as a 75-question general portion scored to 80 points in 150 minutes plus a 50-question Kentucky state portion worth 50 points in 90 minutes — 240 minutes in total — and says "In order to pass the examinations, you must receive a score of at least 75% correct." The portions are graded separately, and a candidate who passes one and fails the other retakes only the section failed, but must pass both within 4 months of passing the first.
What does the Kentucky state portion actually test?
PSI bulletin 2312's Kentucky State Content Outline splits the 50 broker items six ways: the Real Estate Commission (7), Requirements for a License (8), Brokerage Activities and Requirements (18), License Law Requirements for Contracts (6), Disclosures and Agency Issues (8) and Property Management (3). Brokerage Activities alone is 36% of the state exam, and now names team and group management and rules (broker only), broker lien law (KRS 376.075), the zero (no-call) list and unlicensed brokerage among its subtopics. Beware the copy of this bulletin hosted on proctor2.psionline.com: it is dated 7/1/2015, says the state portion is 40 items, and every area count in it differs from the live one.
Sources: https://krec.ky.gov, https://test-takers.psiexams.com/api/content/bulletin/2312, https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/chapter.aspx?id=38853, https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/kar/titles/201/011/
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