New Hampshire Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

A new environmental ordinance leaves a landowner with no economically viable use of a parcel, although the government takes no title to it. The owner's strongest constitutional claim is:

• a.The ordinance is void because zoning cannot restrict use
• b.A regulatory taking entitling the owner to payment✓
• c.Escheat has occurred and the state now owns the parcel
• d.Spot zoning, since only this parcel lost its value

Regulation that goes so far it denies an owner all economically viable use is treated as a regulatory taking, and just compensation is owed even though the government never took title. Arguing that zoning simply cannot restrict use fails, because regulating land is a valid exercise of the police power and owners have no right to the most profitable use. Escheat moves property to the state only when an owner dies with no will and no heirs, which has nothing to do with an ordinance. Spot zoning describes singling out one parcel for a different classification, not a general environmental rule applied to a class of land.

Reviewing a title report, a broker finds an old recorded covenant, written decades ago, that bars resale of the lot to members of a specified race. Its legal effect today is:

• a.It binds the buyer because it was recorded before purchase
• b.It is void, so a court will never enforce it or enjoin it✓
• c.It stays valid until the homeowners association removes it
• d.It is enforceable by the association but not by an owner

A private restriction that discriminates on a protected basis is void and unenforceable under the federal Fair Housing Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, so no court will order compliance or enjoin a violation, and the association has no power the courts would back. Recording rescues nothing, because an illegal restriction gains no force from sitting in the public record. No association vote is required to strip it of effect, although many states let an owner have the language formally struck. Valid CC&Rs, by contrast, are enforced privately by injunction brought by an owner or the association. A broker must never repeat or give effect to such language.

A grantor signs and notarizes a deed naming a nephew as grantee, locks it in a safe deposit box, and tells no one. The grantor later dies. What is the deed's effect?

• a.Title passed when the grantor signed the deed
• b.Title passed because the deed was acknowledged
• c.No title passed, because delivery never occurred✓
• d.Title passes when the estate later records it

A deed operates only when the grantor delivers it with the present intent to pass title and the grantee accepts, and both must happen while the grantor is alive. Signing accomplishes nothing while the instrument stays under the grantor's control in a box no one knows about. Acknowledgment before a notary serves recording, not validity, so notarizing it changes nothing here. An estate representative cannot supply the delivery the grantor failed to make, and recording an undelivered deed does not revive it. The nephew takes only through the will or the intestacy statute, which is why closings hand over the executed deed rather than merely signing it.

A deed is signed by a competent grantor and handed to a grantee who accepts it, but the grantor's signature was never notarized. As between those two parties, the deed is:

• a.Void, since notarizing is a validity requirement
• b.Valid, though it cannot be recorded as it stands✓
• c.Valid only if the grantee later pays a recording fee
• d.Voidable at the option of the grantor's creditors

Acknowledgment is a recording requirement, not an element of a valid deed. Delivered and accepted, the deed transfers title between grantor and grantee even with no notary, but the recorder will reject it, leaving the grantee exposed to later purchasers and lienholders who record first. Calling it void confuses the two ideas: validity turns on a competent grantor, an identifiable grantee, words of conveyance, an adequate legal description, the grantor's signature, and delivery and acceptance. Paying a fee cannot cure a missing acknowledgment, because the recorder cannot accept the instrument at all. Creditors of the grantor gain no power to undo a completed conveyance.

In a deed, which clause opens with the words 'to have and to hold' and defines the extent of the estate the grantee is receiving?

• a.The granting clause containing the words of conveyance
• b.The habendum clause, following the granting clause✓
• c.The acknowledgment taken before a notary public officer
• d.The legal description identifying the land conveyed

The habendum clause follows the granting clause, begins with the traditional phrase 'to have and to hold,' and spells out the estate conveyed, for example a fee simple absolute or a life estate. The granting clause holds the words of conveyance that actually transfer the interest and names the grantee. The acknowledgment is the notary's certificate that the signature is genuine, which the recorder requires but the transfer does not. The legal description identifies the land by metes and bounds, lot and block, or government survey, and it fixes what is conveyed rather than how much of an estate. Reading both clauses tells a broker exactly what the buyer is getting.

A relocation company that has owned a home for three months conveys it, warranting title only against defects that arose during its own ownership. The deed it delivers is a:

• a.Bargain and sale deed implying ownership without covenants
• b.General warranty deed covering the entire chain of title
• c.Quitclaim deed conveying only the interest actually held
• d.Special (limited) warranty deed covering the grantor's period✓

Warranting only against defects created or suffered while the grantor held title describes the special or limited warranty deed, the customary instrument for corporate, relocation, and fiduciary sellers who cannot vouch for what earlier owners did. A general warranty deed reaches back through the whole history of the property and offers the broadest protection, which is more than this seller is giving. A quitclaim carries no warranties at all and passes only whatever interest the signer happens to hold. A bargain and sale deed implies that the grantor owns the property but adds few or no covenants. A buyer taking narrower covenants should lean on an owner's title policy.

A title search shows that a seller's former spouse may still hold a possible interest in the property. What is the usual instrument used to release that interest and clear the record?

• a.A quitclaim deed from the former spouse✓
• b.A general warranty deed from the former spouse
• c.A trustee's deed issued after a foreclosure
• d.A correction deed fixing the legal description

A quitclaim releases whatever interest the signer may hold, with no warranties attached, which makes it the standard tool for removing a cloud such as a possible marital interest, a stale easement claim, or a name discrepancy. Demanding a general warranty deed asks the former spouse to guarantee title he or she may never have owned, and it is normally refused. A trustee's deed is what the trustee under a deed of trust issues to the purchaser at a foreclosure sale. A correction deed reforms a mistake in an earlier deed between the same parties and cannot release an outsider's claim.

A court-appointed personal representative sells a decedent's home during probate, and the buyer's broker asks what instrument will convey title. The answer is:

• a.A trustee's deed given after a nonjudicial foreclosure
• b.A sheriff's deed issued following a judicial sale
• c.A general warranty deed with full title covenants
• d.An executor's or personal representative's deed✓

Estate property is conveyed by an executor's deed when a will names the executor, or by a personal representative's or administrator's deed when the court makes the appointment; these deeds recite the court authority and give only limited covenants. A trustee's deed comes from the trustee under a deed of trust after a nonjudicial foreclosure sale. A sheriff's deed, called a referee's deed in some states, follows a judicial sale ordered by a court. A general warranty deed is not used, because a fiduciary will not personally guarantee title against the acts of the decedent or of owners further back in the chain.

After closing under a general warranty deed, a buyer discovers a recorded utility easement that the deed never disclosed. Which covenant did the grantor breach?

• a.Quiet enjoyment, a promise against eviction by better title
• b.Seisin, a promise that the grantor owns the estate conveyed
• c.Against encumbrances, a promise of no undisclosed burdens✓
• d.Further assurance, a promise to sign curative papers

The covenant against encumbrances promises that no liens, easements, or similar burdens exist beyond those the deed discloses, so a recorded easement left unmentioned breaches it at the moment of delivery. Seisin promises the grantor actually owns the estate being conveyed, which is not the trouble when ownership is sound but burdened. Quiet enjoyment shields the grantee from later eviction by someone holding superior title, and an easement holder's use is not an eviction. Further assurance obliges the grantor to sign additional documents needed to perfect title. A general warranty deed carries all of these along with the right to convey and warranty forever.

A neighbor has openly farmed and fenced a strip of an absentee owner's land, excluding others and never asking permission. To take title by adverse possession the neighbor must prove:

• a.Payment of the owner's property taxes for every year
• b.Open, notorious, continuous, hostile, and exclusive possession✓
• c.A written agreement signed by the record title owner
• d.A recorded deed describing the disputed strip of land

Adverse possession requires possession that is open and notorious, continuous, hostile in the sense of being without permission, and exclusive, held for the statutory period set by state law. Some states add payment of taxes or color of title, but those elements are not universal, so a broker should never assume them from another state's rule. A written agreement from the record owner would destroy the claim outright, since permission defeats hostility. Recording a deed creates no possession and cannot manufacture the required years of use. Adverse possession is one form of involuntary alienation, alongside descent, escheat, foreclosure, eminent domain, and accretion.

An owner dies leaving no will, and after a diligent search no heirs can be located. A broker asked to list the property should understand that title:

• a.Passes by devise to the beneficiaries named in a will
• b.Descends to the decedent's nearest surviving creditors
• c.Vests permanently in the administrator the court appoints
• d.Escheats to the state, an involuntary transfer of title✓

Escheat is the state's claim to property when an owner dies intestate and no heirs can be found, and it is a classic involuntary transfer rather than a voluntary one by deed or will. Devise is a gift of real property by will, so it cannot operate where there is no will and no named beneficiary. Descent carries property to heirs under the intestacy statute, but creditors are paid as claimants out of the estate and never inherit the land itself. An administrator has authority to manage and convey estate property during probate, not to own it permanently. Each state sets its own escheat procedure and waiting period.

A search reveals an old mortgage of record that was paid off but never released, and the lender no longer exists. Which step clears that cloud so title is marketable?

• a.Ordering an abstract of title with an attorney's opinion
• b.Buying an owner's title policy that insures over it
• c.Filing a quiet title action asking a court to clear it✓
• d.Recording a correction deed signed by the current seller

A quiet title action asks a court to determine ownership and extinguish a stale or unreleasable claim, which is the practical cure when the mortgagee has vanished and no release can be obtained. An abstract of title with an attorney's opinion summarizes and evaluates the recorded chain; it reports the cloud rather than removing it, and it offers no indemnity. An owner's policy may insure over a known risk, but insurance pays for loss and leaves the defect on the record for the next buyer to confront. A correction deed fixes a drafting error between the original parties and cannot release a third party's lien.

A seller deeds a parcel to one buyer and later deeds the same parcel to a second buyer, who records first. Which framework decides who owns the land?

• a.A federal recording statute applied in all fifty states
• b.The state's recording act, race, notice, or race-notice✓
• c.The order in which the two deeds were signed and dated
• d.The county recorder's discretion over competing claims

Priority between competing grantees is governed by the recording act of the state where the land lies, and the schemes differ: a pure race state protects whoever records first, a notice state protects a later purchaser who took without notice of the earlier deed, and a race-notice state protects one who took without notice and recorded first. No federal statute governs land recording. Signing dates do not decide the contest, which is precisely why a public recording system exists. Recorders act ministerially and have no power to resolve claims. Because the gap between closing and recording is the danger zone, a broker should press for prompt recording.

A buyer pays for a lender's title policy at closing and asks the broker whether it also protects the buyer's equity in the home. The correct answer is that the policy:

• a.Protects both parties equally up to the full purchase price
• b.Protects the buyer once the mortgage has been fully repaid
• c.Protects the buyer against defects arising after closing
• d.Protects only the lender, declining with the balance✓

A lender's, or mortgagee's, policy insures only the lender's security interest, and its coverage shrinks as the principal is paid down, ending altogether when the loan is satisfied. It never covers the buyer's equity, which is why a separate owner's policy is offered at closing for a one-time premium and lasts as long as the insured holds an interest. Repaying the mortgage does not convert the lender's coverage into the buyer's; it extinguishes it. And no title policy insures defects that first arise after its date. Brokers should explain this plainly before a buyer waives owner's coverage to save money.

Six months after closing, a contractor the buyer hired records a mechanic's lien against the home. The buyer files a claim under the owner's title policy. The insurer will most likely:

• a.Deny, because the defect arose after the policy was issued✓
• b.Pay, because owner's policies cover all future liens
• c.Pay, because the standard exceptions were removed
• d.Deny, because only a lender may file a title claim

Title insurance looks backward: it covers defects that already existed when the policy was issued but were not discovered or excepted, not events that happen later. A lien for work the buyer ordered after closing is a new problem the buyer must resolve directly. Buying extended coverage removes standard exceptions and broadens what is insured as of the policy date, but it does not push coverage forward in time. Owners plainly may claim under their own policies; the lender's policy is the one limited to the lender. Extended coverage typically depends on a current survey, which reveals encroachments and boundary issues a records search alone cannot.

A buyer tours a house and finds an occupant who is not the seller living there under an unrecorded lease. What kind of notice does that occupancy give the buyer?

• a.Actual notice, given by the seller's written disclosure
• b.Constructive notice, given by the public record
• c.No notice at all, since the lease was not recorded
• d.Inquiry notice, requiring the buyer to ask about it✓

Someone in possession who is not the seller puts a buyer on inquiry notice: the buyer is charged with whatever a reasonable investigation of that occupancy would have turned up, including an unrecorded lease or an option to purchase. Actual notice is what a party genuinely knows, typically from a disclosure or a conversation, and no one has told this buyer anything. Constructive notice comes from the public record, which by definition cannot reveal an unrecorded lease. Treating an unrecorded interest as invisible is the classic error, because possession is itself notice. A broker should always ask who occupies a property and on what terms.

RSA 331-A:1 states the policy behind licensing New Hampshire real estate brokers and salespersons. What does that section say the regulation is meant to achieve?

• a.Ensuring licensees meet and maintain minimum standards that promote public confidence in brokerage✓
• b.Ensuring commission rates charged to consumers stay inside a published statutory range
• c.Ensuring the number of licensees in each county matches local housing demand each year
• d.Ensuring every brokerage firm carries errors and omissions coverage before it opens for business

RSA 331-A:1 reads: "It is the policy of this state to regulate the practice of real estate brokers and salespersons in order to ensure that they meet and maintain minimum standards which promote public understanding and confidence in the business of real estate brokerage." The purpose is competence and public confidence, not price control: nothing in RSA 331-A sets or caps a commission, and Rea 404.04(b)(4) treats the professional fee as a term the parties negotiate and write into the contract. Nor is the chapter an economic-supply statute; the qualifications in RSA 331-A:10 are individual thresholds of age, education, examination, experience and character, and no provision ties the number of licences to housing demand. Errors and omissions coverage is not a New Hampshire licensing condition at all - the financial-protection device the chapter does impose is the surety bond under RSA 331-A:14, and it applies only to principal and managing brokers.

RSA 331-A:5, II sets who sits on the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission. Its five members are:

• a.Two licensed brokers, one licensed salesperson, one lawyer and one public member✓
• b.Five licensed brokers, one drawn from each of the state's executive council districts
• c.Three licensed brokers, one licensed appraiser and one residential mortgage banker
• d.Four licensed brokers and one representative of the state association of Realtors

RSA 331-A:5, II lists the membership exactly: "(a) Two licensed real estate brokers. (b) One licensed real estate salesperson. (c) One lawyer. (d) One public member." Rea 102.01(a) restates that "the commission consists of 5 members appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the council pursuant to RSA 331-A:5." An all-broker board would defeat the point of the seats the statute reserves: RSA 331-A:5, IV requires the public member to be a person who is not and never was a member of the real estate profession and who has had no material financial interest in real estate services for the five years before appointment. Appraisers are regulated separately under RSA 310-B and hold no seat here, and no mortgage-lending seat exists. A trade association has no statutory seat either; RSA 331-A:9, III goes the other way and bars more than one commission member from serving as an officer of a professional association representing brokers or salespeople.

A New Hampshire licensee is found after a hearing to have committed professional misconduct. Under RSA 310:12, I-a(e), the largest administrative fine the board may assess is:

• a.$1,000 per offense, or $100 for each day a continuing violation continues
• b.$2,500 per offense, or $250 for each day a continuing violation continues
• c.$3,000 per offense, or $300 for each day a continuing violation continues✓
• d.$5,000 per offense, or $500 for each day a continuing violation continues

RSA 310:12, I-a(e) authorizes discipline "by assessing administrative fines in amounts established by the board which shall not exceed $3,000 per offense, or, in the case of continuing offenses, $300 for each day that the violation continues, whichever is greater." The other three ladders are invented figures. Read the citation trail carefully here: the PSI content outline still sends this subtopic to "Disciplinary procedures-NH RSA 331-A:28, 29, 34, 35", and all four of those sections were repealed by 2023, 79:336, effective September 1, 2023, when the discipline, investigation and hearing machinery for every board inside the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification moved into RSA 310. The grounds in RSA 331-A:26 are still live and still the substance of a New Hampshire misconduct case; the sanctions menu - reprimand, suspension, revocation, probation and the fine above - now comes from RSA 310:12.

Which of the following is expressly exempt from the New Hampshire Real Estate Practice Act under RSA 331-A:4?

• a.An unlicensed assistant paid a share of the commission on each closing
• b.A loan originator who refers buyers to a listing firm for a referral fee
• c.A home inspector who negotiates the purchase price on a client's behalf
• d.An attorney at law acting in the performance of duties as an attorney✓

RSA 331-A:4, III exempts "an attorney at law in the performance of duties as an attorney," and the list around it exempts owners dealing in their own property, attorneys-in-fact, licensed auctioneers, public officials, court-appointed and testamentary fiduciaries, manufactured housing park operators, certain corporate site consultants and on-site condominium rental offices. Nothing exempts the other three. Paying an unlicensed assistant out of the commission runs straight into RSA 331-A:26, XXIV, which forbids paying valuable consideration to any person not licensed under the chapter. A paid referral of buyers is licensed activity under RSA 331-A:2, III(h), which reaches anyone who "assists or directs in the procuring of prospects" for compensation. And negotiating price for a client is licensed activity under RSA 331-A:2, III(c) and III(i); an inspection license carries no authority to do it.

RSA 331-A:10, II(c) lets a New Hampshire broker applicant qualify on part-time experience instead of a year of full-time employment by an active principal broker. How many part-time hours as a licensed salesperson in this state does it require, within five years of the application date?

• a.1,000 hours
• b.1,500 hours
• c.2,000 hours✓
• d.3,000 hours

RSA 331-A:10, II(c) gives three routes: "(1) Has been employed full time by an active principal broker for at least one year within 5 years of the date of application; or (2) Has at least 2,000 part-time hours as a licensed salesperson in this state within 5 years of the date of application; or (3) Proves to the office ... that the applicant has experience equivalent." The figure is 2,000 hours and the hours must be in New Hampshire. The other three numbers appear nowhere in the section. Two further conditions travel with the experience requirement and are easy to lose: RSA 331-A:10, II(g) demands evidence of at least six separate transactions in which the applicant was actively involved and compensated, and II(b) sets 60 hours of approved study completed before the examination date, against 40 hours for a salesperson under RSA 331-A:10, I(b).

RSA 331-A:14 conditions the issue or renewal of a New Hampshire principal or managing broker license on a surety bond in a sum of not less than:

• a.$10,000
• b.$25,000✓
• c.$50,000
• d.$100,000

RSA 331-A:14 provides that no principal or managing broker's license "shall be issued or renewed until the applicant gives to the commission a surety bond in any form approved by the commission in a sum of not less than $25,000," executed by the applicant and a surety company authorized to do business in the state. Rea 301.01(f) and Rea 401.01(g) repeat the $25,000 figure for original applications and for renewals, and require the bond to run concurrently with the dates of licensure. The other amounts are invented. Note who is covered: RSA 331-A:10, II(f) excludes associate brokers and excludes the corporation, partnership, limited liability company or association itself, so the bond attaches to the individuals who carry supervisory responsibility. The bond is payable to the state for the benefit of any aggrieved person and is conditioned on faithful accounting for entrusted funds, and RSA 331-A:14 lets the commission revoke the license if the bond ever ceases to be in full force.

Rea 403.01 sets the continuing education a New Hampshire licensee must complete to renew on active status. It is:

• a.A three-hour accredited core course plus 12 hours of accredited elective courses✓
• b.A three-hour accredited core course only, with no elective-hour requirement
• c.A six-hour accredited core course plus six hours of accredited elective courses
• d.Fifteen hours of accredited elective courses, with no core-course requirement

Rea 403.01(a) requires every active and inactive renewal applicant to complete "a minimum 3-hour continuing education core course that has been accredited by the commission," and Rea 403.01(b) adds, for applicants renewing on active status and for inactive licensees moving to active status, "an additional 12 hours of continuing education elective courses." That is 15 hours in total, but the split matters: RSA 331-A:25, IX authorizes exactly this structure, and the core course is the part that RSA 331-A:20, II(a) aims at changes in state and federal law. Dropping the elective hours, halving them, or replacing the core with electives all describe requirements the rule does not impose. One trap for first-time renewals: under Rea 403.01(c) and (d), a salesperson renewing for the first time must take the 12 elective hours as designated post-licensing courses, one from each of the four required topics in Rea 302.03 - purchase and sale agreements, ethics, disclosure forms and agency.

A New Hampshire license has expired because the renewal application was not filed by the expiration date. Under RSA 310:8, III, how long after expiration does the license lapse, after which it can no longer be renewed but only reinstated?

• a.Thirty days
• b.Six months
• c.One year✓
• d.Two years

RSA 310:8, III provides that licences "shall expire when completed renewal applications, renewal fee, and supporting documents have not been filed by the expiration of the license," that holders of an expired license are not authorized to practice, and that "expired licenses shall lapse one year from expiration," after which the holder "shall not be able to renew, but shall be eligible to reinstate." RSA 310:8, II sets the license term itself at two years, and IV requires the office to send a renewal notice at least two months before expiration while making clear that failing to receive it excuses nothing. Watch the citation here as well: the PSI outline still points "License renewal" at RSA 331-A:19 and "Change in license/status" at RSA 331-A:17 and :18, and all three were repealed by 2023, 79:336, effective September 1, 2023. Renewal mechanics for this board now sit in RSA 310:8 and in Rea 401.01.

A New Hampshire salesperson places an online advertisement that shows her personal cell phone number. RSA 331-A:16, IV(b) requires that the advertisement also carry:

• a.The name and telephone number of the principal broker or the brokerage firm✓
• b.The salesperson's license number and the date the license was first issued
• c.The listing's MLS number and the seller's daytime contact telephone number
• d.A statement that the property is offered subject to prior sale or withdrawal

RSA 331-A:16, IV(b) provides that any advertising containing a home telephone number, cell-phone number, beeper or pager number, home fax number, direct office number, electronic mail address "or any other means of contacting directly an individual salesperson or broker, or a team of such licensees, shall also include the name and telephone number of the individual principal broker or brokerage firm through which the advertising licensees operate," with language clearly identifying each number. Rea 404.05(b) says the same thing from the rule side. The point is that a consumer who dials the number must be able to see whose brokerage stands behind the advertisement. A license number, an MLS number or a subject-to-prior-sale line would not supply that, and none of the three appears in the statute. RSA 331-A:16, IV(c) supplies the one relief valve: on limited electronic media such as a thumbnail or a text message, a link to an internet display carrying the required information satisfies the rule.

Under RSA 331-A:26, XI, a New Hampshire licensee may accept something other than cash or its equivalent as earnest money only if:

• a.The item is converted into cash before the offer is presented to the owner
• b.The principal broker records approval of the arrangement in the office file
• c.The buyer signs a promissory note for the amount payable at the closing
• d.The fact is put in writing to the owner before the owner accepts the offer✓

RSA 331-A:26, XI makes it prohibited conduct to accept "other than cash or its equivalent as earnest money, unless that fact is communicated in writing to the owner prior to the owner's acceptance of the offer to purchase, and such fact is shown in the earnest money receipt and acknowledged in writing by the owner." There are three linked requirements - written notice before acceptance, the fact shown on the receipt, and the owner's written acknowledgment - and the timing is what makes them work, because a seller who has already accepted has lost the ability to price the risk. Converting the item to cash first is a different transaction and does not address the disclosure the paragraph demands. Internal approval by the principal broker is not a substitute for telling the owner. A promissory note is precisely the sort of non-cash deposit the paragraph regulates rather than a way around it.

RSA 331-A:26, XXIV forbids paying valuable consideration to a person not licensed under the chapter. Which payment does the paragraph expressly allow?

• a.A referral fee paid to a past client who introduced the buyer
• b.A finder's fee paid to the unlicensed assistant who located the property
• c.A bonus paid to the loan officer who steered the buyer to the brokerage
• d.A commission share with a licensed broker of another jurisdiction✓

RSA 331-A:26, XXIV bars paying or offering valuable consideration to any person not licensed under the chapter, "except that valuable consideration may be shared with a licensed broker of another jurisdiction who is doing business regularly and legally within that broker's own jurisdiction, or shared in accordance with RSA 331-A:16-b." The out-of-state broker is the exception the paragraph names. The paragraph also closes the obvious workaround: no licensee may knowingly pay a licensed person knowing that the money will be passed on to someone unlicensed, which disposes of the past-client referral fee and the unlicensed assistant alike. Paying a lender's loan officer for steered business is worse still, because RSA 331-A:26, XXI separately prohibits directing a transaction to a lending institution, escrow company or title company in a manner prohibited under RESPA. Rea 101.01(i) fixes the threshold: valuable consideration is anything worth more than $100.

Rea 701.03 requires a New Hampshire licensee listing a one-to-four family dwelling served by a private water supply to ask the seller for specified information. That information must reach the buyer:

• a.Orally, at the first showing of the property to that prospective buyer
• b.In writing, within ten days after the seller accepts the buyer's offer
• c.At the closing, as a line item on the settlement statement for the sale
• d.In writing, prior to or during the preparation of an offer on the property✓

Rea 701.03(a) makes the licensee ask the seller for at least the type of system, its location, malfunctions, the date of installation, the date of the most recent water test, and whether the seller has had a problem such as an unsatisfactory test or a test with notations. Rea 701.03(b) then requires that this "and any other information pertinent to the private water supply shall be conveyed, in writing, to a buyer prior to or during the preparation of an offer," and - the part candidates miss - that the absence of the information "shall also be conveyed, in writing, when such is the case." Writing is required, so an oral account at a showing does not discharge it. Timing is the whole design: a buyer told after acceptance or at closing has already committed. Rea 701.04 and Rea 701.05 impose the same before-or-during-the-offer written rule for insulation and for private sewage disposal systems.

Rea 701.04 requires a New Hampshire licensee listing a one-to-four family dwelling to ask the seller about the insulation. The two items the rule names are:

• a.The type of insulation and the location of the insulation✓
• b.The R-value of the insulation and its installation date
• c.The insulation manufacturer and the installing contractor
• d.The cost of the insulation and its remaining warranty term

Rea 701.04(a) is short and closed: the licensee "shall ask the seller for at least the following information: (1) Type of insulation; and (2) Location of insulation." R-value, installation date, manufacturer, contractor, cost and warranty are all sensible things to know and none of them is what the rule requires. The obligation is to ask and then to pass on: Rea 701.04(b) requires the answers and any other pertinent insulation information to be conveyed in writing to a buyer prior to or during the preparation of an offer, and requires the licensee to state in writing when the information is not available. Note the scope limit shared by Rea 701.03 through 701.05 - these three disclosure rules apply to property used or proposed to be used as a one-to-four family dwelling, which is the same line RSA 331-A:2, IV-a draws between residential property and commercial real estate.

Under Rea 701.05, a licensee listing a New Hampshire home served by a private sewage disposal system must ask the seller for the location of the system, any malfunctions, the name of the person who services it, and:

• a.The date of the most recent servicing of the system✓
• b.The original construction cost of the installed system
• c.The name of the town official who approved the system
• d.The number of bedrooms the system was designed for

Rea 701.05(a) lists four items and only four: "(1) Location of system; (2) Malfunctions; (3) Date of most recent servicing; and (4) Name of contractor or person who services the system." The date of the most recent servicing is the missing one. Cost, the approving official and the design capacity are not in the rule, however useful the last of these is in practice. Rea 701.05(b) then requires the answers to be conveyed in writing to the buyer prior to or during the preparation of an offer, and requires a written statement when the information is unavailable - so a listing agent who simply cannot find out when the tank was last pumped still has a written duty rather than a silence. Do not confuse this rule with RSA 485-A:38, the separate subdivision-approval regime that the state administers for septic system design and construction.

RSA 331-A:26, XVIII and XIX require a New Hampshire principal broker to keep escrow and trust account records, and records relating to a real estate transaction, for a period of:

• a.One year
• b.Two years
• c.Three years✓
• d.Seven years

RSA 331-A:26, XVIII makes it prohibited conduct to fail "to keep for a period of 3 years, records of escrow and trust accounts pertaining to funds entrusted with the principal broker relating to a real estate transaction showing date deposited, date of withdrawal, to whom paid, and such other pertinent information as the commission may require," and to fail to produce them to the commission on demand. RSA 331-A:26, XIX imposes the same three years on a principal broker for "records relating to any real estate transaction," running from consummation. Three years is the recurring New Hampshire retention period: RSA 331-A:16-b, I(d) uses it for records of commissions paid to unlicensed business entities, Rea 701.01(f) uses it for a brokerage relationship disclosure form a consumer declined to sign, and RSA 331-A:20, IV(n) uses it for an accredited course provider's attendance records. One footnote on the source list: the PSI outline cites "Recordkeeping-NH RSA 331-A:26 XVII and XVIII", but paragraph XVII is the antidiscrimination provision; the retention pair is XVIII and XIX.

Rea 404.02 requires a New Hampshire licensee to report a change of residential address, legal name or trade name to the commission. The rule's deadline for doing so is:

• a.No later than 5 days after the change
• b.No later than 10 days after the change✓
• c.No later than 30 days after the change
• d.At the licensee's next license renewal

Rea 404.02(a) requires every licensee and firm to keep the commission informed at all times of the current resident address, mailing address, email address, contact telephone numbers, work location address, legal name and any trade names. Rea 404.02(b) then requires that "any such changes in the information listed in (a) above shall be reported, in writing or electronically, to the commission no later than 10 days after the change." A separate and shorter clock governs affiliation: under Rea 404.02(c), when a salesperson, associate broker or managing broker changes affiliation from one principal broker to another or ceases to represent one, the principal broker must notify the commission in writing no later than 5 business days after the change. Waiting for renewal is never an option; the license record is what tells a consumer and the commission which principal broker is answerable for the licensee's conduct.

In a New Hampshire brokerage firm, who is accountable to the Commission for the firm's trust accounts and the supervision of its affiliated licensees?

• a.Each individual salesperson, for that salesperson's own transactions
• b.The local board of Realtors to which the firm belongs
• c.The principal broker of the firm✓
• d.The closing attorney handling the transaction

New Hampshire concentrates the accountability in one person. RSA 331-A:2, VIII defines the principal broker as the individual broker "whom the New Hampshire real estate commission holds responsible for the actions of licensees who are assigned to such individual broker." RSA 331-A:13, I puts the escrow account in the principal broker's hands, and RSA 331-A:13, V makes the principal broker sign a permit letting the commission audit it. RSA 331-A:16, II requires all licensees and employees associated with an office to be reasonably supervised by the principal broker or managing broker, and RSA 331-A:26, XXVII makes failure to exercise reasonable supervision over licensees and unlicensed staff prohibited conduct for a principal broker or branch manager. Making each salesperson answerable only for their own files would leave the trust account with no responsible custodian; Rea 702.02 in fact requires a salesperson or associate broker to deliver all money received immediately to the managing or principal broker. A Realtor board is a private association with no statutory authority, and the closing attorney handles the settlement rather than the firm's license obligations.

A New Hampshire firm operates two offices. The licensee designated to supervise the day-to-day activity of a branch office on the principal broker's behalf is best described as the:

• a.Transaction coordinator for that office
• b.Managing broker of that branch✓
• c.Designated seller's agent of the firm
• d.Independent salesperson in charge

RSA 331-A:2, VI defines a managing broker as "a broker who manages a branch office," and RSA 331-A:16, I requires that every real estate office and branch office be directed, supervised and managed by a licensed real estate broker, that the principal broker file a branch office application before opening one, and that the principal broker "designate a managing broker for each branch office the principal broker opens." Ultimate responsibility for the firm still rests with the principal broker, who under RSA 331-A:2, VIII is the person the commission holds answerable for assigned licensees. A transaction coordinator performs administrative work on files and supervises nobody. A designated seller's agent under RSA 331-A:25-e is a licensee appointed to represent one party in one transaction, which is a client relationship rather than an office role. And there is no such thing as an independent salesperson here: RSA 331-A:2, X defines a salesperson as an individual licensed under a broker. Note that the managing broker, like the principal broker, must file the $25,000 surety bond required by RSA 331-A:14.

A New Hampshire principal broker receives an earnest money deposit on a fully executed contract. To comply with RSA 331-A:13, the broker must:

• a.Deposit it into the firm's general operating account and track it on a separate client ledger
• b.Keep it in the broker's personal savings account until the closing date
• c.Endorse it directly to the seller before any contingency has been met
• d.Deposit it promptly in a separate escrow account at an insured New Hampshire institution✓

RSA 331-A:13, I requires the principal broker to "maintain an escrow account or accounts, separate and apart from the individual or office account, in which all deposits on fully executed contracts shall be promptly deposited," and requires that the account be "maintained in an insured financial institution within the state of New Hampshire." Rea 702.01(a) and (b) say the same from the rule side. Careful bookkeeping is not a substitute for separation, so an operating account with a client ledger fails the plain words of the section, and a personal savings account is worse. Endorsing the deposit to the seller before performance runs into RSA 331-A:13, IV, which bars withdrawal until the contract has been terminated by performance, by contemporaneous written agreement of all parties, or by court order. Two narrow allowances exist: under RSA 331-A:13, VII the broker may put in personal or business funds to cover bank service charges or a required minimum balance, and under III no check may be drawn against uncollected deposits.

A New Hampshire salesperson believes a commission was underpaid and wants to sue. Under RSA 331-A:32, II, the salesperson may bring that action in their own capacity only:

• a.Against the broker with whom the salesperson is or was licensed✓
• b.Against the seller who signed the listing agreement for the property
• c.Against the cooperating firm whose buyer client bought the property
• d.Against the closing agent who disbursed the proceeds of the sale

RSA 331-A:32, II provides that "no salesperson may sue in such person's own capacity for the recovery of a fee, commission or compensation for services as a salesperson unless the action is against the broker with whom the person is licensed or was licensed with at the time the act or service was performed." The rule follows the structure of the license itself. RSA 331-A:26, XX makes it prohibited conduct for a salesperson or broker to accept a commission from anyone "except the licensed real estate principal broker with whom the salesperson or broker is licensed," so the only party who ever owes the salesperson money is that principal broker. The seller and the cooperating firm pay the principal broker, not the individual licensee, and the closing agent merely disburses on instruction. RSA 331-A:32, I adds the wider bar: nobody may sue for compensation for brokerage services at all unless they were duly licensed at the time.

Rea 404.04(f) defines a listing on which the commission is the difference between the selling price and a minimum price acceptable to the seller. In New Hampshire that arrangement is:

• a.Permitted where the seller consents to it in a signed writing
• b.Prohibited outright by the commission's brokerage contract rules✓
• c.Permitted only on commercial real estate, not on dwellings
• d.Permitted only where the licensee is acting as a facilitator

Rea 404.04(f) states it in two sentences: "Net listings shall be prohibited. 'Net listing' means a listing wherein the commission to be received is the difference between the selling price and a minimum selling price acceptable to the seller." The prohibition is flat, so consent, the commercial character of the property and the licensee's capacity make no difference. The reason is the conflict the structure creates: on a net listing the licensee's pay rises with every dollar the seller gives up, which sits directly against the RSA 331-A:25-b, I(b)(1) duty to seek a sale at the price and terms stated in the brokerage agreement or otherwise acceptable to the seller. What Rea 404.04(b)(4) requires instead is a professional fee "stated as a dollar amount, percentage or other specific consideration" written into the contract, alongside the execution date, the property and asking price, the names and addresses of the parties, and the expiry date.

Rea 404.04(g) governs a New Hampshire licensee acting for a buyer or lessee on a purchase, exchange or lease. The licensee may act on the buyer's behalf only:

• a.After the buyer has been prequalified by a lender
• b.Once the buyer has made a written offer on a home
• c.Under a written contract signed by all the parties✓
• d.When the listing broker agrees to share a commission

Rea 404.04(g) provides that "no broker or salesperson shall act on behalf of a buyer or lessee with regard to the purchase, exchange or lease of any real estate or of the improvements thereon without a written contract signed by all parties," mirroring the seller-side requirement in Rea 404.04(a). Rea 404.04(h) then lists what that buyer agency or tenant representation contract must contain: the date of execution, a general description, location and price range of the real estate sought, the names and addresses of all parties, the professional fee stated as a dollar amount, percentage or other specific consideration, and the date the contract expires. Prequalification, a written offer and a cooperating commission are all features of transactions, not preconditions to representation. Rea 404.04(i) adds one thing to look for inside the same document: consent to designated agency must be obtained within the buyer agency contract itself, under RSA 331-A:25-e, II.

RSA 331-A:25-a, II names the relationships a New Hampshire licensee may hold: seller agent, buyer agent, disclosed dual agent or subagent. If some other relationship is intended, the statute requires that it be:

• a.Approved in advance by the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission
• b.Described in writing and signed by all parties before services begin✓
• c.Disclosed orally at the first showing and noted in the transaction file
• d.Recorded at the registry of deeds for the county where the land lies

RSA 331-A:25-a, II reads: "A licensee may be a seller agent, a buyer agent, a disclosed dual agent, or a subagent. If another relationship between the licensee who performs the services and the seller, landlord, buyer, or tenant is intended, it must be described in writing and signed by all parties to the relationship prior to services being rendered." Three elements travel together - in writing, signed by everyone, and before the work starts - and an oral disclosure noted in the file satisfies none of them. The commission does not pre-approve individual brokerage relationships; it licenses and disciplines. Recording is for instruments affecting title under RSA 477:3-a, not for agency arrangements. RSA 331-A:25-a, I supplies the backdrop: a licensee serving a client through a brokerage agreement is bound by loyalty, obedience, disclosure, confidentiality, reasonable care, diligence and accounting.

Rea 701.01 requires a New Hampshire licensee to give a consumer a written brokerage relationship disclosure. When must it be given, and on what document?

• a.At the first showing of a property, on a brokerage relationship form of the firm's own design
• b.Before any written offer is prepared, on the purchase and sale agreement itself
• c.Within three days of a signed listing, on the commission's dual agency consent form
• d.At the time of the first business meeting, on the commission's Brokerage Relationship Disclosure Form✓

Rea 701.01(a) requires the licensee to "provide a written brokerage relationship disclosure to the consumer at the time of first business meeting," and Rea 701.01(c) requires the specific document: "Licensees shall use the 'Brokerage Relationship Disclosure Form', effective June 2017, adopted by the commission." A firm's own form is not a substitute, and the purchase and sale agreement comes far too late, since the whole purpose is to tell the consumer whom the licensee may represent before the consumer confides anything. There is one carve-out and one fallback. Rea 701.01(d) excuses the form at an open house if the licensee discloses the brokerage relationship with the seller by sign, poster, pamphlet or other conspicuous means. Rea 701.01(f) covers refusal: if the consumer will not sign, the licensee notes that fact on a copy of the form and retains it for three years.

RSA 331-A:25-b, II requires a New Hampshire seller's agent to disclose to a prospective buyer any material physical, regulatory, mechanical or on-site environmental condition of which the licensee has actual knowledge. The same subparagraph adds that this duty:

• a.Requires a professional home inspection before any offer may be written
• b.Creates no affirmative obligation to investigate any material defects✓
• c.Requires the licensee to obtain a signed waiver of defects from the buyer
• d.Applies only once the buyer has signed a purchase and sale agreement

RSA 331-A:25-b, II(c) requires the disclosure "at any time prior to the time the buyer or tenant makes a written offer to purchase or lease the subject property" and then closes with: "This subparagraph shall not create an affirmative obligation on the part of the licensee to investigate material defects." The duty is triggered by actual knowledge and discharged by telling the buyer before the offer; it is not a duty to inspect, so nothing in it forces a professional inspection or a signed waiver. Nor does it wait for a signed agreement - by then the buyer has committed, which is exactly what the timing rule prevents. New Hampshire repeats the identical sentence three times for the three capacities a licensee may hold: RSA 331-A:25-b, II(c) for the seller agent, RSA 331-A:25-c, I(e) for the buyer agent, and RSA 331-A:25-f, II for the facilitator, with Rea 701.02 restating it in rule form.

Under RSA 331-A:25-e, V, when a designated agent is appointed in a New Hampshire firm, information known or acquired by that designated agent:

• a.Is imputed to every licensee affiliated with the same brokerage firm
• b.Must be reported in writing to the principal broker within 24 hours
• c.Becomes the property of the firm once the transaction has closed
• d.Is not imputed to the appointing agent or to other firm licensees✓

RSA 331-A:25-e, V provides that "when a designated agent is appointed, information known or acquired by the designated agent shall not be imputed to the appointing agent or to other licensees within the same firm." That non-imputation is the mechanism that lets one firm represent both sides through separate designated agents without either client's confidences leaking. RSA 331-A:25-e, X carries the same logic up a level, so dual agency does not occur between appointing agents who have separately appointed the designated seller agent and the designated buyer agent within one firm. Two limits are worth remembering. Under RSA 331-A:25-e, II the appointment needs the party's written consent at the commencement of the relationship, obtained inside the listing or buyer agency contract under Rea 404.04(c) and (i). And under RSA 331-A:25-e, VIII the appointment does not limit the liability of the appointing agent or the principal broker for a designated agent's breach.

A New Hampshire licensee assists both parties without representing either. Unless the parties agree otherwise, RSA 331-A:25-f, III provides that this facilitator:

• a.Owes both parties the confidentiality that a disclosed dual agent owes
• b.Has no duty to keep information received from either party confidential✓
• c.May not present an offer without the written consent of both parties
• d.Must become a disclosed dual agent before any written offer is made

RSA 331-A:25-f, III states that "unless otherwise agreed, the licensee acting as a facilitator shall have no duty to keep information received from the seller or landlord or the buyer or tenant confidential." That is the central difference between a facilitator and an agent, and it is why the brokerage relationship disclosure matters so much here: Rea 701.01(e) requires the commission's form to tell the consumer that a facilitator may only perform ministerial acts as defined in RSA 331-A:2, VI-a, is not obligated as an agent to either side, and could later change into an agency relationship before an offer is prepared. A dual agent under RSA 331-A:25-d, II(e) is bound to preserve confidences, which is the opposite position. The facilitator still owes real duties: honest treatment of both sides under RSA 331-A:25-f, VI, timely presentation of all offers and agreements under VIII, and disclosure of known material conditions under II.

Rea 703.01(d)(13) addresses earnest money under a New Hampshire cooperative brokerage agreement with an out-of-state broker on a commercial transaction. Deposits received must be placed in:

• a.The escrow account of the out-of-state broker
• b.A joint account needing both brokers' signatures
• c.The escrow account of the New Hampshire broker✓
• d.The client trust account of the closing attorney

Rea 703.01(d)(13) requires the cooperative brokerage agreement to contain "a statement that if any earnest monies or deposits are received, accepted, or held in accordance with RSA 331-A:13 and Rea 702.01, the same shall be placed in the escrow account of the New Hampshire broker." RSA 331-A:22-a, I(d) says the same thing from the statute side. The design runs through the whole cooperation scheme: the New Hampshire broker remains answerable, so the money must sit where the commission can audit it under RSA 331-A:13, V, in an insured financial institution within this state. Rea 703.01(d)(7) puts negotiations, showing, advertising and listing under the direct supervision of the New Hampshire broker; Rea 703.01(d)(2) caps the agreement's term at one year; and RSA 331-A:22-a, I limits the whole arrangement to commercial real estate, which RSA 331-A:2, IV-a defines as any real estate other than property containing one to four family dwelling units.

Under RSA 331-A:25-d, I, a New Hampshire licensee may act as a disclosed dual agent only where:

• a.The broker judges the arrangement to be in the firm's best interest
• b.The seller alone has agreed to the arrangement in writing
• c.All parties have given written consent no later than the written offer✓
• d.The transaction price exceeds a threshold set by the Commission

RSA 331-A:25-d, I provides that "a licensee may act as a disclosed dual agent only with the written consent of all parties to the anticipated transaction at the time in which a dual agency relationship occurs, but no later than the preparation of a written offer for sale or lease." Consent must come from everyone, it must be written, and it must arrive before the offer is drafted. RSA 331-A:26, XII makes acting for more than one party without that full disclosure and written consent prohibited conduct in its own right. The seller's consent alone is exactly half of what the section requires. The broker's own view of the firm's interest is the opposite of the test, since the firm's interest is what the consent exists to guard against. And no dollar threshold appears anywhere in the section. Rea 404.04(m) sets out what the informed consent agreement must contain, including a clear statement of the dual agent's duties under RSA 331-A:25-d and the date the consent expires.

A New Hampshire disclosed dual agent learns the maximum price the buyer is willing to pay. Under RSA 331-A:25-d, II(e), the agent may:

• a.Share it with the seller to help the transaction close faster
• b.Withhold it from the seller as confidential negotiating data✓
• c.Disclose it to the seller only if the seller asks directly
• d.Disclose it to the seller once an offer has been accepted

RSA 331-A:25-d, II(e) requires a disclosed dual agent to preserve "confidential information received from the parties that is acquired during the written disclosed dual agency relationship, or from any prior brokerage agreement," and says the obligation continues beyond termination, expiration, completion or performance of the fiduciary relationship. The most a buyer will pay is the clearest example of such information, and protecting it is the condition on which both parties agreed to be served by one firm. Passing it to the seller to move the deal along advances the transaction at the buyer's direct expense, which is the harm the paragraph exists to prevent, and a direct question from the seller does not create an exception. Nor does acceptance of an offer release it, since the duty outlives the relationship. The statute lists the only four escapes: written consent of the party to whom the information pertains, information made public from another source, disclosure needed to defend the licensee against an accusation of wrongful conduct, and disclosure otherwise required by law.

RSA 354-A:8 declares equal housing opportunity without discrimination a civil right in New Hampshire. Which pair of characteristics does it protect that the federal Fair Housing Act does not?

• a.Familial status and disability
• b.National origin and religion
• c.Age and marital status✓
• d.Race and color of a person

RSA 354-A:8 recognizes "the opportunity to obtain housing without discrimination because of age, sex, gender identity, race, creed, color, marital status, familial status, physical or mental disability or national origin," and adds that no person shall be denied those rights on account of sexual orientation. The federal Fair Housing Act covers race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin and disability, so the characteristics New Hampshire adds are age, gender identity, marital status and sexual orientation. Familial status, disability, national origin, religion, race and color are all protected under both, which is why the other three pairs cannot be the answer. RSA 354-A:10 turns the right into an enforceable list of unlawful practices in real estate transactions, and RSA 354-A:9, IX reaches "a real estate broker or salesman ... whether licensed or not," so nobody escapes it by acting without a license.

RSA 477:4-a requires a signed notification to the buyer before any contract for the purchase and sale of real property that includes a building. As amended effective January 1, 2025, that notification covers radon, arsenic, lead and:

• a.Asbestos and mould
• b.Wetlands and septic
• c.Formaldehyde and lead
• d.PFAS and flood risk✓

The section is now headed "Notification Required; Radon, Arsenic, Lead PFAS and Flood," and RSA 477:4-a, I sets out five quoted paragraphs the seller or seller's agent must provide, with the buyer acknowledging receipt by signature. The PFAS paragraph tells the buyer these compounds have been detected above federal or state advisories in wells across New Hampshire and that an accredited laboratory can measure them; the flood paragraph warns that a standard homeowners policy typically does not cover flood damage and points the buyer to FEMA's maps. Both were added by 2024, 98:1 and 236:3 effective January 1, 2025, so study material written before that year lists only three notifications and is out of date. Asbestos, mould, wetlands, septic capacity and formaldehyde are regulated elsewhere and are not part of this notice. Read paragraph II before advising anyone: it says the section creates no liability for the seller or the seller's agent for failing to give the notification, and does not affect the validity of title.

A buyer of a New Hampshire resale condominium unit makes the written request for the statements RSA 356-B:58 entitles them to. The association's principal officer must furnish those statements within:

• a.5 days of receiving the request
• b.10 days of receiving the request✓
• c.20 days of receiving the request
• d.30 days of receiving the request

RSA 356-B:58, II requires the principal officer of the unit owners' association, or such other officer as the condominium instruments specify, to "furnish the statements prescribed ... upon the written request of any prospective unit owner within 10 days of the receipt of such request." RSA 356-B:58, I lists what those statements contain, and the list is the practical value of the section: anticipated capital and major maintenance expenditures for the current and next two fiscal years, the status and amount of the reserve fund, last year's income statement and balance sheet, pending suits against the association, the insurance the association carries against what an owner must carry separately, a statement that the prior owner's alterations are not known to violate the condominium instruments, the declaration, by-laws and rules, and the monthly and annual fees plus any special assessments made in the last three years. The right belongs to a purchaser buying from someone other than the declarant; a purchase from the declarant is governed instead by the public offering statement under RSA 356-B:52.

RSA 674:33, I(a)(2) lets a New Hampshire zoning board of adjustment authorize a variance only if five conditions are met. Which of the following is one of those five?

• a.The values of surrounding properties are not diminished✓
• b.The applicant has owned the property for five years
• c.The planning board recommends the variance in writing
• d.No abutter has objected in writing to the application

RSA 674:33, I(a)(2) lists the five conditions exactly: the variance will not be contrary to the public interest; the spirit of the ordinance is observed; substantial justice is done; the values of surrounding properties are not diminished; and literal enforcement of the ordinance would result in an unnecessary hardship. Length of ownership, a planning board recommendation and the absence of abutter objection are not among them, and none of the three appears anywhere in the section. The fifth condition is the one that carries the case law: RSA 674:33, I(b)(1) defines unnecessary hardship as meaning that, owing to special conditions of the property that distinguish it from others in the area, no fair and substantial relationship exists between the general purposes of the ordinance provision and its specific application to the property, and the proposed use is a reasonable one. Under I(b)(3) that definition applies whether the provision is a use restriction, a dimensional limit or any other requirement.