Advanced Fair Housing, Fair Lending and Mortgage Brokerage
Thirteen hours of the broker course and six of the salesperson course go to fair housing and fair lending, plus one hour on mortgage brokerage — twenty hours in all, the second largest block in the curriculum. New York expanded this material hardest after the 2019 Newsday investigation into steering on Long Island, and the rules below are the result.
The protected classes, and where the Department's booklet is out of date
Executive Law § 296(5) is the New York Human Rights Law provision that governs housing. For a housing accommodation, paragraph (a) protects race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, sex, age, disability, marital status, status as a victim of domestic violence, lawful source of income and familial status. Paragraph (c), which binds real estate brokers and salespersons directly, carries the same list. Paragraph (b), for land and commercial space, carries every class except lawful source of income. Read the current statute rather than a reprint: the Department's own Real Estate License Law booklet still prints the pre-2019 version of § 296(5), which omits citizenship or immigration status, gender identity or expression, status as a victim of domestic violence and lawful source of income. 'Lawful source of income' is defined at Executive Law § 292(36) to include child support, alimony, foster care subsidies, social security, any federal, state or local public assistance or housing assistance including section 8 vouchers, 'whether or not such income or credit is paid or attributed directly to a landlord', and any other forms of lawful income.
The two disclosure rules a New York licensee must run every day
19 NYCRR § 175.28 makes the broker responsible for ensuring that every associated licensee gives a prospective purchaser, tenant, seller or landlord the Department's Human Rights Law disclosure notice at first substantive contact. It may go by email, text, electronic messaging, facsimile or hardcopy, and a link is acceptable if the message says what the link contains — but 'oral disclosure does not satisfy the requirements imposed by this section'. Its reach is wider than the agency disclosure form: it applies to all real property regardless of the number of units, expressly including condominiums, cooperative apartments, vacant land and commercial property. Hardcopy delivery requires a signed acknowledgment; electronic delivery requires a duplicate copy; either must be retained for not less than three years; and a refusal to sign requires a written declaration under oath. Section 175.29 is the posting rule: display the Department's notice at every office and branch office, in the window and visible from the sidewalk if listings are posted there, link it conspicuously on the homepage of every website maintained by a broker, associate broker, salesperson or team, and display it at all open houses, where the § 175.28 notice must also be available.
Prohibited conduct and what it costs
19 NYCRR § 175.17(a)(1) prohibits blockbusting: inducing or attempting to induce an owner to sell, lease or list by making representations about the entry or prospective entry into the neighborhood of persons of a protected category. Section 175.17(b) then does something unusual — a finding by any federal, state or local agency or court that a licensee engaged in an unlawful discriminatory practice in licensed activity is 'presumptive evidence of untrustworthiness and will subject such licensee to discipline, including a proceeding for revocation'. Real Property Law § 441-c(1)(a) now lists a violation of Executive Law article 15 committed in the licensee's capacity as its own ground for discipline, allows a fine of up to $2,000, and sends half of all fine money to the anti-discrimination in housing fund created by State Finance Law § 80-a. Section 441-b feeds the same fund from the other direction, adding a $30 surcharge to every broker license fee and $10 to every salesperson fee 'to be used for statewide fair housing testing efforts'. Continuing education carries the message forward: § 441(3)(a) requires, within the 22.5 hours, at least 3 hours of fair housing and discrimination instruction, 2 hours of cultural competency and 2 hours of implicit bias.
Mortgage brokerage and fair lending
The one curriculum hour on mortgage brokerage exists because of a boundary in the license law itself. Real Property Law § 440(1) brings negotiating a loan secured by a mortgage inside the definition of real estate broker, but expressly excludes 'a residential mortgage loan, as defined in section five hundred ninety of the banking law'. Residential mortgage origination is separately licensed under Banking Law article 12-D and supervised by the Department of Financial Services, so a real estate broker license does not authorize it, and a referral fee arrangement with a lender has to be examined under both the license law and federal settlement-services rules. The broker syllabus asks a broker to distinguish a licensed mortgage banker from a licensed mortgage broker by liquidity and line-of-credit requirements, surety bond limits, education, character check and compensation, and to recognize the mortgage broker as agent and fiduciary of the borrower. The fair lending half of the chapter asks the broker to explain disparate impact arising from formalized lending policies and how institutionalized discrimination in lending sustains segregated communities.
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State-specific details
State exam facts
- Prelicensing education
- 152 total hours (77-hour salesperson + 75-hour broker qualifying course)
- Time limit
- 150 minutes
Who regulates real estate brokers in New York?
The New York Department of State (DOS), Division of Licensing Services, licenses real estate brokers and salespersons under Real Property Law article 12-A and the rules at 19 NYCRR parts 175 to 179. New York writes and administers its licensing exam itself, at DOS exam sites scheduled through eAccessNY, rather than through PSI, Pearson VUE or any other outside vendor.
What experience do I need before the New York broker exam?
Real Property Law § 441(1)(b) requires either two years of active participation as a licensed real estate salesperson under a broker's supervision, or the equivalent experience in the general real estate business for at least three years. The experience is documented on the point schedule at 19 NYCRR § 179.3, where 3,500 points equal two years of full-time experience, a residential sale is worth 250 points and an exclusive listing 10. On top of that comes 152 hours of approved qualifying education — the 77-hour salesperson course plus the 75-hour broker course — and Real Property Law § 440-a sets the minimum age for a broker at 20.
How is the New York broker exam structured?
DOS publishes four facts about the paper and no more: it is multiple choice, it is "based on the 152-hour pre-licensing curriculum", applicants "will be allowed 2 1/2 hours to complete the test", and "all exam results are reported as either passed or failed; you will not receive a numerical score". There is no published item count, no published passing percentage and no content outline anywhere on dos.ny.gov — so treat any source that quotes a New York broker question count or topic breakdown as quoting something the Department has never published. There is also no separate national portion; the single state-written exam covers the whole 152-hour curriculum.
What does the 152-hour curriculum actually cover?
It is fixed in regulation, not just in the syllabus PDFs. 19 NYCRR § 176.3 prints the 77-hour salesperson course as 19 subjects, led by Law of Agency (11 hours), Legal Issues (10), Commercial and Investment Properties (10) and Human Rights and Fair Housing (6). 19 NYCRR § 176.4 prints the 75-hour broker course as 11 chapters, led by Agency Law, License Law and Operating a Real Estate Office (26 hours) and Advanced Fair Housing and Fair Lending (13), and requires completion of both courses. Because DOS names the full 152 hours as the exam's basis, material built on the 75-hour broker course alone misses whole subjects — Commercial and Investment Properties, Condominiums and Cooperatives, Municipal Agencies and Property Insurance among them.
Sources: https://dos.ny.gov/become-real-estate-broker, https://dos.ny.gov/real-estate-broker-frequently-asked-questions, https://dos.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2024/10/reb-syllabus-2022.pdf, https://dos.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2024/10/res-syllabus-2022.pdf, https://dos.ny.gov/real-estate-license-law
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