North Dakota Licensing Requirements
Area II of the North Dakota state outline: license types, the activities that require a license, reciprocity, renewal, changes in license, and education. PSI publishes no item count for this area either; the share shown here is derived from the lettered subtopics it prints.
Types of Licensing and the Activities That Require One
North Dakota licenses real estate salespersons, real estate brokers, and broker associates. Section 43-23-06.1(9) defines the acts that make a person a broker when done for another for compensation, and they include listing, selling, exchanging, purchasing, leasing, negotiating, dealing in options, advertising as being in the business, and referring prospects. Subdivision (i) adds publicly marketing an equitable interest in a purchase contract, which is the wholesaling activity section 43-23-24 then regulates by disclosure. A salesperson under subsection 11 is a person employed or engaged by a licensed broker to do those acts for that broker. A broker associate, under rule 70-02-01-09, is a broker with no office in the broker's own name who is affiliated with another licensed broker: that person must not act independently as a broker and may not perform any real estate service without the supervising broker's full knowledge and consent, and the designated broker is responsible for the associate exactly as for a salesperson. Section 43-23-07 lists who is outside the definition, including bona fide owners and lessors and their regular employees, attorneys handling court-supervised sales, auctioneers where the sale is advertised as a bona fide public auction, banks and trust companies, holders of a power of attorney used non-recurrently, fiduciaries acting under court order or under a deed, trust, or will, and public officers. Section 43-23-05.1 allows a salesperson, broker, or broker associate to license a personal organization on strict conditions, and expressly does not relieve the employing broker of the duty to supervise.
Reciprocity and Nonresident Licensing
Section 43-23-10 provides that a nonresident broker who is regularly engaged in the business, maintains a definite place of business, and is licensed in another state may not be required to maintain a place of business within North Dakota, and that the commission shall recognize the other state's license as satisfactorily qualifying the applicant for a broker license here, provided the applicant qualified in the applicant's own state. Every nonresident applicant must file an irrevocable consent to service of process on a member of the commission or the executive director. Rule 70-02-01-06 adds the operating detail. A nonresident applicant is subject to the same rules as a resident; the designated broker must hold a nonresident license before an associate broker or salesperson under that broker can be issued one; the applicant must hold a currently valid license in the state of the applicant's principal place of business, which must certify good standing with no complaints pending; and a nonresident broker must maintain an active place of business in that state. Reciprocity itself is narrow: subsection 4 says North Dakota will not recognize another state's licensee for a reciprocal license unless the commission has made an agreement granting reciprocal privileges to North Dakota licensees with that state's regulator, and that agreement sets the terms. Subsection 5 covers everyone else: an applicant currently licensed in a nonreciprocal state who has passed that state's licensing examination need only take the state portion in North Dakota, and no prelicensure course is required.
Renewal and Change in License
Rule 70-02-01-04 fixes the calendar: all licenses expire on December thirty-first, and a person wishing to continue in business must make proper renewal application on or before November fifteenth. Failing to do so risks loss of the right to charge a commission and prosecution for doing business without a license after December thirty-first, and a license canceled for failure to renew can only be replaced by a new application with fees and by passing the examinations again. Section 43-23-13.1 allows a late application with a late fee for each month or fraction of a month after the deadline, up to a date the commission sets, after which the license must be canceled without notice or hearing; a licensee may not engage in any activity after the renewal date unless the license has been renewed. Renewal also requires proof of continuing education and, under section 43-23-19 and rule 70-02-05-02, proof of errors and omissions insurance through the commission's group plan or certified equivalent coverage. On a change of license, section 43-23-12(2) requires prompt written notice within five days to the commission of a salesperson's change of broker and of the new broker's name; changing broker without notice automatically cancels the license, and the salesperson may not act until the license is reissued. The former broker must notify the commission in writing on termination and, under rule 70-02-01-07, destroy the released license and remove the licensee's name and number from the firm's website. Rule 70-02-01-08 supplies the transfer and release form executed by the licensee and both brokers, and rule 70-02-01-05 governs placing a license on inactive status and reactivating it.
Education: Prelicensing and Continuing Education
Section 43-23-08(4) requires a salesperson applicant to complete at least ninety hours in courses of study approved by the commission, and a broker applicant to complete an additional sixty hours, so the broker's prelicense total is one hundred fifty approved hours. An applicant may sit the examination before finishing, but the commission may not issue a license until proof of completion is furnished. Subsection 5 allows the commission to waive the two-year experience requirement where local conditions made salesperson employment unobtainable, but says the educational requirements may not be waived. Under section 43-23-08(3) the broker applicant must have been actively engaged as a licensed salesperson for at least two years before application, or have experience the commission determines to be substantially equal; rule 70-02-01-02(3) defines actively engaged as full time and requires a letter from the applicant's broker. A prelicensure course is valid for two years from completion (rule 70-02-01-03(6)), a broker applicant must pass the broker examination within twelve months of the first attempt (subsection 5 of the same rule), and a course hour means fifty minutes (rule 70-02-02-10). For continuing education, rule 70-02-04-02 requires twelve hours of approved courses in each continuing education period, defined as the twelve months preceding the renewal application deadline; the commission may require part or all of the hours in named areas such as fair housing and antitrust, environmental issues, license law and ethics, agency law and principles, and contracts. Rule 70-02-04-15 exempts a broker for the period in which the broker passed the broker licensing examination and a salesperson from the first renewal after completing the ninety prerequisite hours, and rule 70-02-04-04 allows exceptions for health, military service, or other good cause and exempts a nonresident licensee who meets the requirements of the state of residence.
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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
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