Duties and Powers of the North Dakota Real Estate Commission
Area I of the North Dakota state outline. PSI publishes no item count for it; the share shown here is derived from the number of lettered subtopics PSI prints under the heading. The law is North Dakota Century Code chapter 43-23 and the Commission's rules in North Dakota Administrative Code article 70-02.
General Powers
Section 43-23-01 provides that the state real estate commission consists of five members, three of whom must be active real estate brokers, appointed by the governor. Members serve staggered five-year terms and may not serve more than two consecutive terms, and a majority in a duly assembled meeting may exercise all of the commission's duties and powers (section 43-23-02). The commission employs an executive director who keeps its records and is custodian of license money (section 43-23-03). Section 43-23-05 makes the license the commission issues the thing a person must hold to act as a broker or salesperson, and section 43-23-18 lets the commission sue in district court for an injunction to enforce the chapter without giving bond. The powers have limits set by rule as well: under section 70-02-01-17 the commission is not authorized to hear disputes over fees or commissions between licensees, and under section 70-02-01-18 it neither recommends nor recognizes any agreement to fix uniform commission rates.
Investigations, Hearings, and Appeals
Section 43-23-11.1(1) separates power from duty: the commission upon its own motion may investigate, and upon the verified written complaint of any person it shall investigate. Rule 70-02-01-16 sets the machinery. A complaint must be in writing on commission forms, verified, naming the complainant and the respondent and stating the facts with times, places, and persons. The respondent must answer within twenty days of receipt, in affidavit form and properly certified. If the investigation shows no violation the complaint is dismissed without a formal hearing and both sides are notified in writing; if it may justify discipline, a formal hearing is held on at least twenty days' notice served with a copy of the complaint. Section 43-23-11.1(3) applies chapter 28-32, the Administrative Agencies Practice Act, to those proceedings, which is also the route to judicial review. Where the commission declines an application, section 43-23-11.1(2) gives the applicant twenty days to request a hearing, which must then be set within sixty days.
Sanctions; License Suspension and Revocation; Misdemeanor
Note that PSI's document prints this as two lettered items, C and D, but the break falls mid-phrase and is a line-wrap defect in the bulletin: it is one topic. Section 43-23-11.1(1) lists the grounds, which run from material false statements on an application through substantial and willful misrepresentation, acting for more than one party without the knowledge and consent of all, failing to account for or remit others' money, commingling, secret compensation, refusing to produce records on demand, discrimination in showing or selling, paying compensation to unlicensed persons, omitting a fixed expiration date from a listing, failing to deliver a closing statement, and any conduct constituting dishonesty. The sanctions available are suspension, revocation, a monetary fine plus the commission's actual costs, required course attendance, or a letter of reprimand, in any combination. Section 43-23-11.1(4) caps the fine at five thousand dollars, plus actual costs including attorney's fees, and sends collected fines to the commission's license fee account. None of it may issue except after a hearing on charges served on the licensee. Criminal penalties are separate and specific: under section 43-23-17 a person violating the license requirement in section 43-23-05 is guilty of a class B misdemeanor, and a person violating the trust-account section 43-23-14.1 is guilty of an infraction.
Examination of Records
Section 43-23-14.1 requires the broker to keep books, records, contracts, and other necessary documents at the broker's usual place of business so the adequacy of the trust account may be determined at any time, and provides that trust accounts and other records must be open to inspection by the commission and its duly authorized agents at all times during regular business hours at that place of business. Rule 70-02-01-15(1)(c) makes each broker sign an authorization consenting to examination and audit of the account, and 70-02-01-15(1)(b) requires notice to the commission on a prescribed form within ten days of any change to the trust account, including a change of depository, account number, business name, or method of doing business. Records of funds and property of others must be kept for not less than six years from receipt. Refusing to produce a document, book, or record on demand is itself a disciplinary ground under section 43-23-11.1(1)(h).
Keep going: the full North Dakota Real Estate Broker guide covers every section of the exam. North Dakota Real Estate Broker Exam Study Guide (2026) — PDF + EPUB, $19.99 · 14-day refund →
State-specific details
State exam facts
- State regulator
- North Dakota Real Estate Commission (NDREC)
- Exam vendor
- PSI
- Prelicensing education
- 150 hours (90-hour salesperson prerequisite + 60 broker hours)
- Passing score
- 75 of 100 points (national); 30 of 40 points (state)
- Scored questions
- 130
- Time limit
- 240 minutes
Who regulates real estate brokers in North Dakota?
The North Dakota Real Estate Commission (NDREC) licenses real estate salespersons and brokers. The Commission contracts with PSI to deliver both portions of the licensing examination. North Dakota does not issue licenses by specialty — there is no separate residential or commercial license.
What experience do I need before the North Dakota broker exam?
Broker applicants must have been actively engaged full-time as a licensed real estate salesperson for at least two years (N.D.C.C. § 43-23-08(3), with "actively engaged" defined as full time by N.D. Admin. Code § 70-02-01-02(3)), or have experience the Commission determines to be substantially equal. On education, watch the word "additional" in § 43-23-08(4): a salesperson needs 90 approved hours and a broker applicant must complete "an additional sixty hours," so a broker's pre-license total is 150 approved hours, not 60. The Commission may waive the two-year experience requirement where local conditions made salesperson employment unobtainable (§ 43-23-08(5)), but it may not waive the education. North Dakota then distinguishes two broker roles: the designated broker who is responsible for a firm or sole proprietorship, and the broker associate who holds a broker license but is not the designated broker and may not act independently (N.D. Admin. Code § 70-02-01-09).
How is the North Dakota broker exam structured?
The combined broker examination is divided into a general portion and a state portion, which are scored and passed separately. The national broker portion has 90 questions worth 100 points — scenario-based items can be scored up to two points each — with 150 minutes allowed and 75 points required to pass. The state portion has 40 questions worth 40 points with 90 minutes allowed and 30 points required to pass.
What does the North Dakota state portion actually test?
PSI bulletin 4662 prints four state areas — Duties and Powers of the Real Estate Commission; Licensing Requirements; Statutory Requirements Governing the Activities of Licensees; and Additional Topics — with 25 lettered subtopics beneath them, and, unusually, no item count and no percentage for any of the four. That absence is real, not a bad scan: the Commission's own hosted copy of the same bulletin carries a line-for-line identical state outline. So treat any source that quotes a North Dakota per-area split as unsourced. What is published is the total: 40 items, 40 points, 90 minutes, 30 to pass. Four subtopics are marked broker-only and are the state content the salesperson paper does not reach — branch office and license display, trust accounts, record keeping, and closing statements. One printing quirk to know: area I shows "C. Sanctions; License Suspension and" and "D. Revocation, Misdemeanor" as separate letters, but that is a single subtopic broken by a line wrap in PSI's own document.
Sources: https://realestatend.org/how-to-apply/, https://realestatend.org/image/cache/NDREC_Candidate_Information_Bulletin.pdf, https://test-takers.psiexams.com/api/content/bulletin/4662, https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t43c23.pdf
In the North Dakota Real Estate Broker guide: A 60-question national practice exam, with a key that explains all four options and not just the right one. Practice here stays free.