Minnesota Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Under Minnesota's real estate definitions, a brokerage's "primary broker" is:

• a.The salesperson who closed the largest sales volume for the firm last year
• b.The broker on whose behalf the firm's salespersons are licensed to act✓
• c.The attorney the firm retains to review its purchase agreements and deeds
• d.The county official who indexes the firm's listing contracts for the public

Minn. Stat. 82.55, subd. 15 defines "primary broker" as the broker on whose behalf salespersons are licensed to act under section 82.63, subdivision 4; in a corporation, partnership, or limited liability company it is each officer or partner individually licensed to act as broker for the entity. Sales volume is a production measure and confers no license status, so the firm's top producer holds whatever license the firm's top producer happens to hold. Retained counsel advises the firm but is not licensed to act as its broker, and the definition turns on licensure rather than on legal services. County offices index and record instruments affecting title and take no part in designating who is responsible for a brokerage.

Minnesota presumes a person is engaged in the business of selling real estate, and so must be licensed, on engaging as principal in how many transactions in any 12-month period?

• a.Five or more, unless represented by a licensed broker or salesperson✓
• b.Two or more, unless every property sold is residential real property
• c.Ten or more, unless the properties are titled in a business entity
• d.Any number, because an owner selling in person is never exempt

Minn. Stat. 82.55, subd. 19, clause (g) presumes a person is engaged in the business of selling real estate — and therefore within the broker definition — if the person engages as principal in five or more transactions during any 12-month period, unless the person is represented by a licensed real estate broker or salesperson. Two transactions is below the statutory trigger, and the residential character of the property is not what the clause turns on. Ten transactions overshoots the figure the statute names, and holding title in an entity does not move the count. The last option states the opposite of Minnesota law, which regulates dealing for another and reaches an owner selling for the owner's own account only through this pattern-of-sales presumption.

Minnesota's statutory definition of a real estate "trust account" requires that the account itself:

• a.Be opened at the same institution that funds the buyer's mortgage
• b.Be closed and reopened at the beginning of each 24-month license period
• c.Be titled in the name of the salesperson who took the earnest money
• d.Bear interest at the highest current passbook savings account rate✓

Minn. Stat. 82.55, subd. 25 defines a trust account as an account maintained to segregate trust funds from other funds, and requires that it be an interest-bearing account paying the highest current passbook savings account rate of interest and that it not allow the financial institution a right of setoff against money the licensee owes it. Nothing ties the account to the buyer's lender; that would give the lender a relationship to funds it has no claim on. Titling the account to a salesperson contradicts section 82.75, under which the broker maintains the account. Periodic closing and reopening is not required, and section 82.75, subdivision 6 in fact requires ten days' written notice to the commissioner before a broker closes an existing trust account.

Every application for the Minnesota broker examination must be accompanied by proof of how much licensed salesperson experience?

• a.Two years of actual experience within the previous three-year period
• b.Five years of actual experience within the previous seven-year period
• c.One year of actual experience within the previous two-year period
• d.Three years of actual experience within the previous five-year period✓

Minn. Stat. 82.59, subd. 4, paragraph (b) requires proof of a minimum of three years of actual experience within the previous five-year period prior to application as a licensed real estate salesperson in Minnesota or in another state having comparable requirements, or that the applicant is otherwise or similarly qualified in the commissioner's opinion by reason of education or practical experience. Two years within three is the standard several other states use and is shorter than the period Minnesota's statute names. Five years within seven demands more than the statute does, and no such window appears in chapter 82. One year within two is well short of the experience gate, which exists because the broker examination is required to be more exacting than the salesperson examination.

Minnesota's prelicense education requirement for a broker applicant is a course of:

• a.15 hours, of which one hour must be trust account training
• b.90 hours, of which six hours must be fair housing training
• c.60 hours, of which two hours must be agency disclosure training
• d.30 hours, of which three hours must be fair housing training✓

Minn. Stat. 82.59, subd. 8, paragraph (b) requires a broker applicant to complete a commissioner-approved course of study of 30 hours of instruction, of which three hours must consist of training in state and federal fair housing laws, regulations, and rules, and the course must have been completed within 12 months prior to the date of application for the broker's license. Ninety hours describes the total salesperson prelicense sequence rather than the broker course. Sixty hours with two hours of agency training is the salesperson's second course under paragraph (a) of the same subdivision, not the broker course. Fifteen hours matches nothing in chapter 82; the nearest figure is the 15 continuing education credits that section 82.61 requires in the first 12 months of a licensing period.

To pass the Minnesota real estate licensing examination, a candidate must score:

• a.70 percent or higher on the combined total of both examination portions
• b.80 percent or higher on the state portion and 70 percent on the uniform
• c.75 percent or higher on the uniform portion and on the state portion✓
• d.60 percent or higher on either portion if the combined average is 75

Minn. Stat. 82.59, subd. 6 sets a passing grade for both the salesperson's and the broker's examination at a score of 75 percent or higher on the uniform portion and a score of 75 percent or higher on the state portion, and the PSI candidate bulletin repeats that a candidate must get 75 percent correct to pass. A combined total misreads a two-portion standard as one score and would let a strong national result carry a failing state result. Splitting the standard into two different percentages invents a distinction the subdivision does not draw. Averaging the two portions defeats the point of scoring them separately, which is why a candidate who passes one portion needs to retake only the other.

The commissioner may waive the broker examination's experience requirement for an applicant who is:

• a.A licensed practicing attorney whose practice involves real estate law✓
• b.A certified residential appraiser holding an active Minnesota license
• c.An officer of a title insurance company that closes Minnesota sales
• d.A licensed home inspector with ten years in residential construction

Minn. Stat. 82.59, subd. 5, paragraph (b) lists three qualified applicants for a waiver of the real estate licensing experience requirement: an individual with a degree in real estate from an accredited college or university, a licensed practicing attorney whose practice involves real estate law, and a public officer whose official duties involve real estate law or real estate transactions. Home inspection, appraisal, and title work all touch real estate transactions, but none of the three appears in the list, and a waiver provision is read to its terms. The waiver is also time-limited: under paragraph (e) it lapses if the applicant fails to complete the broker's examination within one year from the date it was granted.

When a Minnesota salesperson terminates activity on behalf of a broker, the broker must notify the commissioner within:

• a.Ten days of the termination, on the prescribed form✓
• b.Three days of the termination, by certified mail
• c.Thirty days of the termination, on the prescribed form
• d.Sixty days of the termination, at the next license renewal

Minn. Stat. 82.63, subd. 6 provides that when a salesperson terminates activity on behalf of a broker the salesperson's license becomes ineffective, and within ten days of the termination the broker must notify the commissioner in the form the commissioner prescribes. Three days is shorter than the period the subdivision sets, and no certified-mail requirement appears in it. Thirty and sixty days both run past the statutory window; waiting for renewal would leave the department's record of who is licensed to whom stale for as long as two years, which is the record the ten-day duty exists to keep current. A salesperson may apply to transfer to another broker at any time during the remainder of the license period.

On the death or incapacity of a Minnesota broker, the commissioner may issue a temporary broker's permit lasting:

• a.10 days, renewable twice on payment of the renewal fee
• b.45 days, renewable once on a showing of good faith effort✓
• c.90 days, renewable once on completion of the broker course
• d.24 months, matching the ordinary Minnesota license period

Minn. Stat. 82.63, subd. 12 lets the commissioner issue a 45-day temporary permit on the death, incapacity, or loss of license of a broker to an individual with a minimum of three years of actual experience as a licensed salesperson who is otherwise reasonably qualified, and the permit is renewed once if the applicant shows a good faith effort to obtain a broker's license and an extension will not harm the public interest. Ten days is far too short to wind up or continue a brokerage's pending files. Ninety days and a course condition appear nowhere in the subdivision. Twenty-four months is the ordinary license term under subdivision 5 and would turn an emergency measure into a substitute for licensure.

Minnesota's continuing education requirement for brokers and salespersons is:

• a.24 hours per 24-month period, with at least 8 in the first 12 months
• b.15 hours per 12-month period, with at least 5 taken in a classroom
• c.30 hours per 24-month period, with at least 15 in the first 12 months✓
• d.45 hours per 36-month period, with at least 20 in the first 18 months

Minn. Stat. 82.61, paragraph (a) requires all real estate salespersons and brokers to complete 30 hours of approved real estate continuing education during the initial license period and during each succeeding 24-month license period, and at least 15 of the 30 credit hours must be completed during the first 12 months of the 24-month licensing period. The other three combinations rearrange the totals, the period, or the front-loading rule, and none of them appears in section 82.61. The section also requires at least one hour each license period on agency representation and disclosure and at least one hour on fair housing and other antidiscrimination law.

A Minnesota real estate salesperson may hold a license to act on behalf of:

• a.Two brokers at a time if both primary brokers consent
• b.Any number of brokers if each transaction is disclosed
• c.Two brokers at a time if the firms are affiliated entities
• d.One broker at a time during the same period of time✓

Minn. Stat. 82.63, subd. 4 provides that a salesperson must be licensed to act on behalf of a licensed broker and may not be licensed to act on behalf of more than one broker in this state during the same period of time. Consent of the two brokers does not change that, because the limit is a condition of licensure rather than a private arrangement between firms. Per-transaction disclosure likewise cannot create a second license the statute forbids. The affiliated-entity idea borrows from section 82.63, subdivision 2, which lets a broker hold an additional broker's license for an affiliated business entity; that provision governs brokers, not salespersons.

A written purchase agreement is silent on when earnest money is to be deposited. The listing broker must deposit it within:

• a.One business day of receipt or final acceptance, whichever is earlier
• b.Three business days of receipt or final acceptance, whichever is later✓
• c.Five business days of receipt or final acceptance, whichever is later
• d.Ten business days of receipt or final acceptance, whichever is earlier

Minn. Stat. 82.75, subd. 5, paragraph (c) provides that earnest money received from a potential buyer is deposited into the listing broker's trust account under the terms of the parties' written agreement, and that if the written agreement is silent as to timing, the listing broker deposits the earnest money within three business days of either receipt of the earnest money or final acceptance of the purchase agreement, whichever is later. One and five business days name periods the paragraph does not use. Ten business days is the outside limit in paragraph (d) for disbursement after a transaction is consummated or terminated, not for the initial deposit, and each option that reads "whichever is earlier" reverses the tie-breaker the statute actually applies.

A seller rejects an offer after the listing broker has taken the buyer's earnest money. The broker must return the funds to the buyer:

• a.Not later than the next business day after the rejection✓
• b.Not later than three business days after the rejection
• c.Not later than ten business days after the rejection
• d.Only after both parties sign a written cancellation

Minn. Stat. 82.75, subd. 5, paragraph (c) closes with a plain rule: if the offer is rejected, the earnest money is returned to the potential buyer not later than the next business day after rejection. Three and ten business days both extend a deadline the paragraph states in a single day, and the ten-day figure belongs to paragraph (d), which addresses disbursement after a transaction is consummated or terminated. Requiring a signed cancellation confuses a rejected offer with a disputed deposit; a rejected offer never became a contract, so there is nothing for the parties to cancel and no competing claim to the money.

Minnesota permits a broker to disburse trust funds only on one of a closed list of events. Which is on that list?

• a.A written demand from the party who deposited the funds
• b.A determination by the broker of who is legally entitled
• c.The passage of 30 days after the closing date in the contract
• d.A court order directing disbursement of the funds✓

Minn. Stat. 82.75, subd. 5, paragraph (d) allows disbursement only on a closing of the transaction, a written agreement between the parties, an affidavit as required in section 559.217, or a court order, and requires disbursement within ten business days following consummation or termination if the agreements are silent. A one-sided written demand is not a written agreement between the parties, so it does not open the account. The broker's own view of entitlement is exactly what the closed list removes from the broker's hands, and acting on it risks discipline under section 82.81, subdivision 12. A calendar date is not one of the four events, so time alone never authorizes release.

Which deposit of the broker's own money into a Minnesota trust account is permitted?

• a.A sum advanced to a client to cover the client's earnest money deposit
• b.A sum retained from a commission the broker expects to earn at closing
• c.A sum equal to one month of the brokerage's ordinary operating expenses
• d.A sum identified and used to pay service charges or meet a minimum balance✓

Minn. Stat. 82.75, subd. 4 requires a broker, salesperson, or closing agent to deposit only trust funds in a trust account and not to commingle personal or other funds, with one exception: a sum from personal funds that is specifically identified and used to pay service charges or satisfy the minimum balance requirements relating to the trust account. Advancing a client's earnest money puts the broker's money into a transaction as a party's deposit and is not the identified service-charge cushion the exception describes. Holding an expected commission in trust treats the broker's future revenue as client money. Parking operating funds there is straightforward commingling, which section 82.81, subdivision 12 lists among fraudulent, deceptive, or dishonest practices.

Interest accruing on a Minnesota broker's pooled trust account, less reasonable transaction costs, is paid to:

• a.The Minnesota Department of Commerce for the recovery fund
• b.The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency for the housing trust fund✓
• c.The broker, as compensation for administering the account
• d.The county treasurer where the brokerage maintains its office

Minn. Stat. 82.75, subd. 8, paragraph (a) requires each broker to maintain a pooled interest-bearing trust account for client funds and provides that the interest accruing on it, less reasonable transaction costs, must be paid to the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency for deposit in the housing trust fund account created under section 462A.201, unless the parties to a transaction expressly agree otherwise in writing. The Department of Commerce administers the education, research, and recovery fund under section 82.86, but that fund is financed by licensing fees rather than by pooled trust interest. Paying the interest to the broker would convert client funds' earnings into brokerage income, and county treasurers have no role in the scheme.

A Minnesota broker must retain listings, purchase agreements, trust account records, and canceled checks for:

• a.Three years from closing, or from the listing date if not consummated
• b.Two years from closing, or from the offer date if not consummated
• c.Six years from closing, or from the document date if not consummated✓
• d.Ten years from closing, or from the document date if not consummated

Minn. Stat. 82.72, subd. 3 requires a licensed broker to retain for six years copies of all listings, buyer representation and facilitator services contracts, deposit receipts, purchase money contracts, canceled checks, trust account records, and other documents reasonably related to the brokerage business, with the period running from the date of closing or from the date of the document if the transaction is not consummated. Note that this rule sits in section 82.72, which is titled RECORDS; the PSI outline labels the 82.72-82.73 range "Standards of Conduct," but standards of conduct are section 82.73. Three, two, and ten years each restate the period incorrectly. Storage may be electronic, and disposal must follow the confidential record destruction procedures of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003.

How long must a Minnesota broker keep the complaint file maintained for each individual licensed to the broker?

• a.One year from receipt of the written complaint
• b.Six years from receipt of the written complaint
• c.Three years from receipt of the written complaint✓
• d.Until the commissioner closes the related investigation

Minn. Stat. 82.73, subd. 3, paragraph (c) requires a broker to investigate and attempt to resolve complaints about the practices of any individual licensed to the broker, and to maintain for each such individual a complaint file containing all material relating to any complaints received in writing for a period of three years. One year is shorter than the paragraph provides. Six years is the transaction-document retention period in section 82.72, subdivision 3, and applying it here mixes two different rules. Tying the period to a departmental investigation would make retention depend on whether the regulator ever opened one, while the duty attaches to every written complaint the brokerage receives.

A Minnesota brokerage with several offices designates an individual broker to direct and supervise each one. This designation:

• a.Transfers responsibility for each office to the designated individual broker
• b.Ends the primary broker's duty to review the firm's trust account records
• c.Leaves the primary broker with ultimate responsibility for licensees' actions✓
• d.Requires the commissioner's written approval before each office may open

Minn. Stat. 82.73, subd. 3, paragraph (a) requires each place of business of a brokerage to be under the direction and supervision of an individual broker licensed to act on behalf of the brokerage, and states plainly that designation of another broker to supervise a place of business does not relieve the primary broker of the ultimate responsibility for the actions of licensees. That sentence rules out any transfer of responsibility. Supervision is defined in the same paragraph to include review of all trust account books and records, so the duty continues rather than ending. The subdivision calls for the primary broker to keep records naming the supervising broker for each office and to file a written statement of procedures on the commissioner's written request, not for advance approval of each location.

The commissioner of commerce investigates a Minnesota brokerage and finds no violation. Under chapter 45, the brokerage:

• a.May not be charged the costs of that investigation✓
• b.Must pay the investigation costs the commissioner assesses
• c.Must pay half the investigation costs as a shared expense
• d.May recover its own legal costs from the general fund

Minn. Stat. 45.027, subd. 1, paragraph (a), clause (8) lets the commissioner assess a person or entity the necessary expenses of an investigation performed by order of the commissioner, and then provides that a natural person or entity licensed under chapter 60K, 82, or 82B shall not be charged costs of an investigation if the investigation results in no finding of a violation. Charging the full or a shared amount ignores that carve-out, which is the whole point of the sentence for a chapter 82 licensee. Recovery of the licensee's own legal costs from the general fund is a separate remedy the clause does not create; it directs money collected into the general fund, and does not pay money out of it.

Which conduct is an independent ground for the commissioner to deny, suspend, or revoke a Minnesota real estate license?

• a.Failing to join a state or local real estate trade association
• b.Failing to reasonably supervise licensees so as to harm the public✓
• c.Failing to close a transaction within the time the contract names
• d.Failing to obtain a client's consent before advertising a listing

Minn. Stat. 82.82, subd. 1, paragraph (d) lists failure to reasonably supervise brokers, salespersons, or closing agents so as to cause injury or harm to the public among the grounds on which the commissioner may by order deny, suspend, or revoke a license or censure a licensee, provided the order is in the public interest. Trade association membership is voluntary and private; section 82.81, subdivision 12, clause (7) in fact makes it a violation to claim a membership the licensee does not hold. A missed closing date is a contract matter between the parties rather than a licensing ground. Advertising a listing is governed by section 82.69, which requires the brokerage name to be clearly and conspicuously displayed.

The Minnesota real estate education, research and recovery fund may pay an aggrieved person up to what amount per claimant, per transaction?

• a.$50,000, with a $150,000 cap per licensee
• b.$25,000, with a $100,000 cap per licensee
• c.$150,000, with a $250,000 cap per licensee✓
• d.$250,000, with a $500,000 cap per licensee

Minn. Stat. 82.86, subd. 7 lets an aggrieved person with a final judgment apply for the actual and direct out-of-pocket loss in the transaction, excluding attorney's fees and interest, up to $150,000 of the amount unpaid on the judgment, provides that nothing obligates the fund for more than $150,000 per claimant per transaction, and caps the fund's exposure at $250,000 per licensee regardless of the number of claims. Fifty and twenty-five thousand dollars understate the per-claimant figure. The last option shifts each number one step up and would double the fund's exposure to a single licensee. Joint tenants or tenants in common count as a single claimant.

Recovery from the Minnesota real estate recovery fund requires the applicant to have obtained:

• a.A written finding by the commissioner that a licensee acted unreasonably
• b.A signed settlement agreement with the licensee and the licensee's insurer
• c.A referral from a local real estate board after its own ethics hearing
• d.A final judgment against a licensee for a dishonest practice or conversion✓

Minn. Stat. 82.86, subd. 7 opens the fund only when an aggrieved person obtains a final judgment in a court of competent jurisdiction against an individual licensed under chapter 82 on grounds of fraudulent, deceptive, or dishonest practices, or conversion of trust funds arising directly out of a transaction in which the judgment debtor was licensed. A commissioner's finding supports discipline under section 82.82 but is not the judgment the fund provision requires. A private settlement replaces the judgment the statute conditions payment on. A trade-association ethics referral has no statutory role, and the subdivision also bars a licensee from recovering for the loss of a commission or similar fee.

Minnesota's statutory agency disclosure form must be provided to a consumer:

• a.At the signing of the purchase agreement in any real estate transaction
• b.At the first substantive contact in a residential real property sale✓
• c.At the first showing of a property in any real estate transaction
• d.At the closing of a residential real property transaction

Minn. Stat. 82.67, subd. 1 requires a broker or salesperson to provide a consumer, in the sale and purchase of a residential real property transaction, an agency disclosure form at the first substantive contact with the consumer, and states that the disclosures apply only to residential real property transactions. Two of the wrong answers extend the duty to any real estate transaction, which the subdivision's closing sentence rules out. Waiting for the purchase agreement or the closing puts the disclosure after the consumer has negotiated or completed the deal, defeating a form whose stated purpose is to describe the available agency and facilitator options before the consumer chooses. The form is a disclosure, not a contract; representation still requires a written agreement.

Under the Minnesota agency disclosure form, a facilitator owes the party which duty in the absence of a written facilitator services agreement?

• a.Loyalty, and no other fiduciary duty
• b.Confidentiality, and no other fiduciary duty✓
• c.Obedience, and no other fiduciary duty
• d.Reasonable care, and no other fiduciary duty

The statutory form set out in Minn. Stat. 82.67, subd. 3, paragraph IV states in capitals that the facilitator broker or salesperson does not owe any party any of the listed fiduciary duties EXCEPT CONFIDENTIALITY unless those duties are included in a written facilitator services agreement. Loyalty, obedience, and reasonable care are three of the six fiduciary duties the form defines, and they are precisely the duties a facilitator does not owe absent a written agreement. The form also provides that if a facilitator working with a buyer shows a property the facilitator has listed, the facilitator must act as a seller's broker, and the mirror rule applies when a facilitator working with a seller accepts a showing by a buyer the facilitator is representing.

Which situation creates a dual agency under Minnesota law?

• a.Two salespersons licensed to the same broker each represent a party✓
• b.One broker represents the seller while the buyer is unrepresented
• c.Two brokers from unrelated firms each represent a party to the sale
• d.One broker represents the seller and also holds the closing escrow

Minn. Stat. 82.55, subd. 6 defines dual agency as a situation in which a licensee owes a duty to more than one party to the transaction, and lists two establishing circumstances: one licensee representing both the buyer and the seller, and two or more licensees licensed to the same broker each representing a party. The statutory agency disclosure form in section 82.67, subdivision 3 repeats both. Licensees at unrelated firms are two separate brokerages, which is an ordinary cooperative sale. A represented seller and an unrepresented buyer is single agency with a customer on the other side. Holding escrow is a closing function governed by section 82.75 and does not by itself create a second principal.

When circumstances create a dual agency in a Minnesota residential transaction, the required consent of all parties must be obtained:

• a.In a separate letter delivered to each party before closing
• b.In the listing agreement only, signed by the seller alone
• c.In the purchase agreement, set off in a boxed format✓
• d.Orally at the time the conflicting representation first arises

Minn. Stat. 82.67, subd. 4 requires the broker to make full disclosure to all parties of the change in relationship, and then to obtain the consent of all parties in residential real property transactions in the purchase agreement, in the statutory form the subdivision prints, which shall be set off in a boxed format to draw attention to it. A separate letter is not the instrument the subdivision names. A seller-only signature in the listing agreement cannot supply the buyer's consent, and the statute requires the consent of all parties. Oral consent fails a provision that prescribes specific language in a specific document and even prescribes how it is to be laid out on the page.

Which of the following is NOT a material fact a Minnesota licensee must disclose about a property offered for sale?

• a.That a lien recorded against the property secures an unpaid judgment
• b.That the roof leaks whenever there is a sustained heavy rainfall
• c.That the property was the site of a suicide or an accidental death✓
• d.That the septic system was found noncompliant at the last inspection

Minn. Stat. 82.68, subd. 3, paragraph (b) states that it is not a material fact that the property is or was occupied by someone suspected to be infected with HIV or diagnosed with AIDS, was the site of a suicide, accidental death, natural death, or perceived paranormal activity, or is in a neighborhood containing an adult family home, community-based residential facility, or nursing home. The other three are physical or legal conditions that could adversely and significantly affect an ordinary purchaser's use or enjoyment of the property, which is the disclosure standard paragraph (a) sets. Paragraph (c) separately relieves a licensee of any duty to disclose predatory offender registry information if the required written notice is given in a timely manner.

A buyer tells the listing licensee that the buyer will not perform under the signed purchase agreement. The licensee must:

• a.Immediately disclose the intent not to perform to the other party✓
• b.Wait until the contractual closing date and then notify the seller
• c.Keep the statement confidential unless the buyer authorizes release
• d.Report the statement to the commissioner within ten business days

Minn. Stat. 82.68, subd. 4 requires a licensee put on notice by a party that the party will not perform according to a purchase agreement or similar written agreement to convey real estate to immediately disclose that intent to the other party or parties, and, if reasonably possible, to inform the nonperforming party of that obligation before making the disclosure. Waiting for the closing date is the opposite of immediate and would leave the seller acting on a contract the licensee knows is dead. Treating the statement as confidential inverts a duty the subdivision imposes without regard to who the licensee represents. The commissioner is not the recipient; the disclosure runs to the other party to the transaction. The duty does not extend to notice that a party cannot fulfill a contingency.

A Minnesota salesperson may accept a commission or referral fee for acts requiring a real estate license from:

• a.Any party to the transaction who agrees to pay the salesperson directly
• b.The salesperson's own broker, or as that broker authorizes in writing✓
• c.Any licensed broker in the state who participated in the transaction
• d.The title company handling the closing, out of the seller's proceeds

Minn. Stat. 82.70, subd. 1 forbids a licensee to pay or accept a commission, compensation, referral fee, broker price opinion fee, or other valuable consideration for the performance of acts requiring a real estate license from anyone except the broker to whom the licensee is licensed, or was licensed at the time of the transaction, unless that broker authorizes otherwise in writing. Direct payment by a party bypasses the broker through whom compensation must flow. Payment by a cooperating broker is likewise outside the rule unless the licensee's own broker has authorized it in writing; under subdivision 4 the seller authorizes the listing broker, not the salesperson, to share compensation. A title company disbursing to a salesperson is the same defect at the closing table.