New York Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Which agency issues, renews and revokes real estate broker licenses in New York?

• a.The Department of State, Division of Licensing Services✓
• b.The Office of the Attorney General, Real Estate Finance Bureau
• c.The Division of Housing and Community Renewal
• d.The Department of Financial Services, Real Estate Bureau

Real Property Law § 441 directs a broker applicant to file the application with the Department of State at its office in Albany, § 441-a has the Department issue the license and pocket card, and § 441-c gives the Department the power to revoke or suspend a license or impose a fine. Within the Department that work is done by the Division of Licensing Services. The Department of Financial Services supervises banks, insurers and mortgage bankers, so a real estate credential does not begin or end there. The Attorney General does have a real estate role, but it is reviewing cooperative and condominium offering plans and prosecuting article 12-A crimes under § 442-e(2), not licensing. The Division of Housing and Community Renewal administers rent regulation, which reaches what an owner may charge, not who may broker.

New York's real estate license law and the rules that implement it are found at:

• a.Banking Law article 12-D and 3 NYCRR parts 38 to 42
• b.Real Property Law article 12-A and 19 NYCRR parts 175 to 179✓
• c.Real Property Law article 9-A and 19 NYCRR parts 190 to 194
• d.General Business Law article 23-A and 13 NYCRR parts 20 to 24

The Department of State's own broker syllabus names the pairing verbatim: “article 12A and the Rules and Regulations (R&Rs) found in 19NYCRR, Parts 175 to 179.” Article 12-A runs from § 440 to § 443-a and carries the definitions, the license requirement, discipline and the agency disclosure form; part 175 carries the conduct rules, 176 course approval, 177 continuing education, 178 nonsolicitation orders and 179 the experience point system. Real Property Law article 9-A governs the sale of subdivided land, a separate DOS program. General Business Law article 23-A is the Martin Act, which is where cooperative and condominium offering plans are filed rather than where licensees are regulated. Banking Law article 12-D covers mortgage bankers and brokers, a different license entirely.

A New York licensee who has qualified for a broker license but elects to work under the name and supervision of another broker is:

• a.a supervising branch broker
• b.an associate real estate broker✓
• c.a provisional real estate licensee
• d.a designated sales associate

Real Property Law § 440(2) defines an associate real estate broker as a licensed broker who by choice elects to work under the name and supervision of another broker, keeps the broker license, and is then governed by the provisions of article 12-A that apply to salespersons. New York has no provisional license class, so that label describes nothing in article 12-A. A designated sales agent is defined at § 443(1)(j) as a licensee assigned to represent one client when the same broker also represents another client in the same transaction, which is a role in a particular deal rather than a license level. A supervising branch broker is not a statutory class either; § 441-a(3) puts each branch office under the broker to whom the license is issued, a representative broker, a manager of the limited liability company, or a duly appointed office manager.

Before an associate broker may be appointed an office manager, Real Property Law § 440(6) requires that the licensee have been:

• a.active as a licensed real estate salesperson for at least five consecutive years
• b.employed by the same brokerage for at least four of the six preceding years
• c.active as a licensed associate broker for at least two of the four preceding years✓
• d.licensed as an individual real estate broker for at least three of the past six years

Section 440(6) defines an office manager as a licensed associate real estate broker who elects to work as an office manager, and it adds one qualifying condition in the operative sentence: the person “shall be required to have been active as a licensed associate broker for at least two of the four years preceding appointment as an office manager.” The statute then requires the office manager to exercise the same duty of supervision over salespersons and associate brokers as a licensed broker. Salesperson service does not count toward the condition, because the text asks for time as an associate broker. Nothing in § 440(6) measures time at a single firm, and the statute does not set a separate seasoning period for an individual broker license.

Real Property Law § 440-a sets New York's minimum licensing ages at:

• a.twenty-one years of age for a broker, and over eighteen for a salesperson
• b.twenty-five years of age for a broker, and over twenty for a salesperson
• c.eighteen years of age for a broker, and over sixteen for a salesperson
• d.twenty years of age for a broker, and over eighteen for a salesperson✓

Section 440-a states that no person is entitled to a broker license “unless they are twenty years of age or over” and no person is entitled to a salesperson license “unless they are over the age of eighteen years.” Twenty is unusual enough that candidates reach for eighteen or twenty-one by habit, and both are wrong on the face of the statute. The same section adds two further gates that are easy to miss: a criminal conviction bars licensure unless the Secretary makes a finding consistent with Correction Law article 23-A, and the applicant must meet the requirements of General Obligations Law § 3-503.

The 152 hours of qualifying education a New York broker applicant must show consists of:

• a.a 90-hour broker course plus 62 hours of continuing education
• b.the 77-hour salesperson course plus the 75-hour broker course✓
• c.the 77-hour salesperson course plus 75 hours of experience credit
• d.a single 152-hour broker qualifying course taught in one program

Real Property Law § 441(1)(b) requires proof that the applicant “has attended for at least one hundred fifty-two hours and has successfully completed a real estate course or courses approved by the secretary of state.” The regulation says how that number is built: 19 NYCRR § 176.4 requires completion of an approved salesperson's course and an approved broker's course, and its two tables print 77 hours and 75 hours. Experience is a separate requirement in the same subdivision and cannot be traded for classroom hours. There is no single 152-hour course; a school must see proof that the salesperson course is finished before enrolling a student in the broker course.

Under 19 NYCRR part 179, the experience credit that equates to two years of full-time experience is:

• a.5,000 points, with a residential sale worth 100 points
• b.2,000 points, with a residential sale worth 500 points
• c.3,500 points, with a residential sale worth 250 points✓
• d.1,750 points, with a residential sale worth 125 points

Section 179.2(b) states flatly that “3500 points shall equate to two years of full-time experience,” and the schedule at § 179.3 values a residential sale — a single family, condominium, cooperative unit, two-to-eight-unit multi-family or a farm under 100 acres with a residence — at 250 points. The same schedule pays 10 points for an exclusive listing and 1 point for an open listing, so listings alone will not carry an applicant. Section 179.1 keeps the statutory alternative alive: two years of full-time licensed salesperson experience under a broker, or the equivalent full-time experience in the general real estate business for at least three years. Section 179.2(c) lets the Department demand documentation before or after licensure, and a false claim of experience is grounds to deny, suspend or revoke.

19 NYCRR § 175.21(a) defines a New York broker's supervision of a salesperson as:

• a.written approval of each listing agreement before it is presented to a seller
• b.regular, frequent and consistent personal guidance, instruction and oversight✓
• c.an annual written performance review signed by both licensees and retained
• d.a monthly office meeting at which every open transaction is reviewed

The rule's operative sentence says supervision “shall consist of regular, frequent and consistent personal guidance, instruction, oversight and superintendence by the real estate broker with respect to the general real estate brokerage business conducted by the broker, and all matters relating thereto.” It is a continuing standard, which is why a single scheduled event — a yearly review or a monthly meeting — does not meet it, however well documented. Nor does the rule pick out one document for the broker to sign off on; it reaches the whole of the brokerage business. Subdivision (b) adds a records duty on both licensees, and subdivision (c) measures participation for licensing purposes at 35 hours a week for 50 weeks in each qualifying year.

After a New York salesperson's association with a broker is terminated, Real Property Law § 442-b provides that the salesperson may:

• a.operate independently so long as commissions are escrowed with a title company
• b.hold listings personally until the Department of State issues a new pocket card
• c.continue to work the existing pipeline for ninety days while seeking a new broker
• d.perform no licensed act until they become associated with another licensed broker✓

Section 442-b requires the broker to notify the Department of State as soon as the association ends, and it closes with the operative words: “No real estate salesperson shall perform any act within any of the prohibitions of this article from and after the termination for any cause of his association until he thereafter shall have become associated with a licensed real estate broker.” There is no grace period, so a pipeline of pending deals does not license further activity. Authority comes from the association, not from a card, so waiting on paperwork changes nothing. And escrowing money elsewhere does not cure unlicensed activity; 19 NYCRR § 175.14 separately makes the departing salesperson turn all listing information over to the broker.

A New York salesperson violates article 12-A. Under Real Property Law § 442-c, the sponsoring broker's own license is at risk only if the broker:

• a.employed more than one salesperson at the branch office where it occurred
• b.had actual knowledge of it, or retained the transaction's benefits✓
• c.failed to file a termination of association notice after learning of the conduct
• d.signed the listing agreement or the buyer agency agreement in the transaction

Section 442-c is unusually protective of the broker's license: no violation by a salesperson “shall be deemed to be cause for the revocation or suspension of the license of the broker, unless it shall appear that the broker had actual knowledge of such violation or retains the benefits, profits or proceeds of a transaction wrongfully negotiated by their salesperson.” Constructive knowledge is not enough, so signing the paperwork or running a larger office does not by itself expose the license. That is a narrower rule than the broker's separate duty to supervise under 19 NYCRR § 175.21, which the Department enforces on its own terms. The one absolute in § 442-c is different in kind: a broker is guilty of a misdemeanor for having an unlicensed person associated with the firm.

19 NYCRR § 175.1 requires a New York broker who receives a buyer's deposit to place it in a separate, special bank account within:

• a.three business days, and to safeguard it in a secure location until then✓
• b.five business days, and to notify the Department of State of the deposit
• c.thirty calendar days, and to credit any interest to the brokerage account
• d.one business day, and to obtain the seller's written consent to the deposit

Section 175.1 forbids commingling, requires a separate special bank account used exclusively for such money, sets the deposit deadline at “within three business days,” and says that until the money reaches that account “it shall be safeguarded in a secure location so as to prevent loss or misappropriation.” The same rule limits where the money may sit: nothing but a federally insured bank account, not a fund or an investment. Interest is the trap in the other options. Accrued interest “shall not be retained by, or for the benefit of, the broker except to the extent that it is applied to, and deducted from, earned commission, with the consent of all parties,” so routing it to the brokerage is exactly what the rule stops. No notice to the Department and no seller consent is part of the deposit step.

19 NYCRR § 175.23 requires a New York broker to keep records of each residential sale effected through the office for:

• a.seven years, in electronic form only, including the buyer's loan file
• b.ten years, in paper or electronic form, including the title report
• c.three years, in paper or electronic form, with the listing agreement✓
• d.one year, in paper form only, including the seller's closing statement

Section 175.23(a) says each licensed broker “shall keep and maintain for a period of three years, paper and/or electronic records of each transaction effected through his or her office” concerning one-to-four family dwellings, condominium units and cooperative apartments. The rule then lists what those records must contain: the names and addresses of seller and buyer; the purchase contract or binder, or else the price and the deposit amount if the broker did not prepare it; the commission paid; any gross profit if the broker bought for resale; any document required under article 12-A; and the listing, commission or buyer-broker agreement. The medium is the broker's choice, so a paper-only or electronic-only answer misreads the text. Subdivision (b) forgives the broker where a copy of a required document was never provided to the office.

Real Property Law § 442 permits a New York broker to share a commission with:

• a.an unlicensed referral service that advertises the listing on its own website
• b.a person regularly engaged in the brokerage business outside New York✓
• c.an attorney who reviewed the contract of sale on behalf of the seller's estate
• d.an unlicensed assistant who showed the property while the salesperson was away

Section 442 bars paying any part of a commission for help in a real estate transaction “unless such a person be a duly licensed real estate salesperson regularly associated with such broker or a duly licensed real estate broker or a person regularly engaged in the real estate brokerage business in a state outside of New York.” That last clause is the one candidates forget, and it is what lets a New York broker split with an out-of-state cooperating firm. Paying an unlicensed referral service or an unlicensed assistant who performed licensed activity is squarely outside the list. Paying the seller's attorney for legal review is compensation for a different service, not a permitted share of a brokerage commission, and § 442-a separately bars a salesperson from taking compensation from anyone but the associated broker.

Under 19 NYCRR § 175.19, a New York broker may not enter into a listing in which the broker's compensation is:

• a.a flat fee agreed in advance and payable whether or not the property sells
• b.a percentage of the sale price that varies with the marketing package chosen
• c.a share of the listing commission paid to a cooperating broker's firm
• d.the difference between the sale price and a net amount fixed by the seller✓

Section 175.19(a) defines a net listing as an agreement authorizing a sale at “a specified net amount to be paid to the seller and authorizing the broker to retain as commission, compensation, or otherwise, the difference between the price at which the property or interest is sold and the specified net amount to be received by the seller.” Subdivision (b) then bans it outright: “No real estate broker shall make or enter into a ‘net listing’ contract for the sale of real property or any interest therein.” The reason is the conflict it builds in — every dollar above the seller's number is the broker's, so the broker's interest runs against the client's. Flat fees, tiered percentages and co-brokerage splits are all lawful; none of them turns the seller's price floor into the broker's fee.

The explanation 19 NYCRR § 175.24 requires on an exclusive listing of New York residential property tells the owner that under an exclusive agency listing:

• a.the owner owes the listing broker a commission on any sale, however the buyer was found
• b.the owner owes no commission on any sale that closes after the listing termination date
• c.the owner owes nothing for a buyer the owner finds, but owes a broker who finds one✓
• d.the owner owes a commission only to the broker who first entered the listing in the MLS

The rule prints the wording the broker must attach or print on the listing and have the owner sign or initial, in type no smaller than six point. Of exclusive agency it says: “if you, the owner of the property find a buyer, you will not have to pay a commission to the broker. However, if another broker finds a buyer, you will owe a commission to both the selling broker and your present broker.” The first distractor states the exclusive right to sell instead, which the same explanation describes as owing the agreed commission whoever finds the buyer. Termination dates and multiple listing service entry are governed elsewhere — § 175.15 forbids an exclusive listing that automatically continues past its fixed termination date, and § 175.24(c) requires an MLS member's listing to give the owner the option of receiving offers through either broker.

Under 19 NYCRR § 175.25, a team advertising in New York must use a team name that:

• a.includes the word “agency” and the full name of a licensed team member
• b.includes the word “group” and the county in which the team is operating
• c.includes the word “team” and avoids “group”, “realty” and “associate”✓
• d.includes the word “realty” and the license number of the team leader

Section 175.25(e)(1) says team names “shall use the term ‘team’” and that “the use of any other terms besides ‘team,’ such as ‘associate,’ ‘realty’ or ‘group’ is prohibited.” The same paragraph requires either the full licensed names of the team members or the team name followed immediately by “at/of [full name of the broker/brokerage],” and it forbids using an unlicensed individual's name in the team name. Nothing in the rule asks for a county or a license number. Two related traps sit next to it: § 175.25(b)(1) allows only a real estate broker to place advertisements, and § 175.25(c)(4) prohibits the titles “sales associate”, “licensed sales agent” and the bare word “broker”.

Real Property Law § 442-h(4) requires every New York broker to institute standardized operating procedures. As the subdivision now reads, those procedures must:

• a.state whether identification, an exclusive agreement or pre-approval is required✓
• b.require identification, an exclusive agreement and mortgage pre-approval of buyers
• c.be filed with the Department of State before the broker's license is renewed
• d.be approved by the Department of State and reprinted in every listing agreement

The operative text lists three items the procedures “shall include but not be limited to” and frames each as a question rather than a command: “whether prospective clients shall show identification; whether an exclusive broker agreement is required; whether pre-approval for a mortgage loan is required.” A brokerage that requires none of the three complies by saying so. The broker syllabus's outline of this hour still lists identification, an exclusive broker agreement and mortgage pre-approval as standard requirements, which the statute as written no longer imposes. Paragraph (b) sets the mechanics: date stamp, notarize and post the procedures on any publicly available website and mobile application, make a copy available at office locations on request, repost and archive any alteration within thirty days, and answer to § 441-c for failing to follow them. Paragraph (c) requires an affirmation of compliance at renewal, not a filing.

Real Property Law § 443 requires a listing agent to present the agency disclosure form to a seller:

• a.when the first offer is presented, and to attach it to the contract of sale
• b.before entering into the listing agreement, with a signed acknowledgment✓
• c.at the closing table, and to file the signed copy with the Department of State
• d.at the first substantive contact with the seller, and to read it aloud in full

The timing rule is not one rule but three, and the listing agent's is the one candidates get wrong. Section 443(3)(a) requires the listing agent to provide the form “prior to entering into a listing agreement with the seller or landlord” and to obtain a signed acknowledgment. First substantive contact is the trigger in the other two situations: § 443(3)(b) for a seller's or landlord's agent dealing with a buyer or tenant, and the second half of § 443(3)(c) for a buyer's agent dealing with the seller or listing agent. A buyer's agent must give the form to the buyer before entering into the buyer agency agreement. Section 443(3)(d) requires the signed acknowledgment to be kept for not less than three years, § 443(3)(e) requires a written declaration under oath if the consumer refuses to sign, and § 443(2) limits the whole section to residential real property.

One New York firm represents both the buyer and the seller, and with informed written consent the supervising broker assigns one agent to each side. This arrangement is:

• a.single agency with a broker's agent
• b.subagency through a cooperating broker
• c.dual agency with designated sales agents✓
• d.advance consent to buyer agency

Real Property Law § 443(1)(j) defines a designated sales agent as a salesperson or associate broker working under a broker's supervision “who has been assigned to represent a client when a different client is also represented by such real estate broker in the same transaction.” The statutory disclosure form explains the effect: each designated agent advocates for one side, while the broker above them remains a dual agent, and neither designated agent can offer undivided loyalty. Subagency is a cooperating firm acting for another firm's principal, which is not what happens inside one office. Single agency means representing one side only, so it cannot describe a firm standing on both. Advance consent is a box on the same form that permits the arrangement in advance; it is a consent, not the arrangement itself.

A New York broker may act as a dual agent in a residential transaction only when:

• a.the listing broker approves it in the firm's written policy manual
• b.the seller consents alone because the listing agreement came first
• c.the buyer signs a waiver of the statutory agency disclosure form
• d.both buyer and seller give informed consent in writing✓

The disclosure form printed in Real Property Law § 443(4) states the condition in one sentence: “A real estate broker may represent both the buyer and the seller if both the buyer and seller give their informed consent in writing.” The form goes on to say that in a dual agency the agent cannot provide the full range of fiduciary duties and that the parties are giving up their right to undivided loyalty, which is why only the parties can agree to it. A waiver of the disclosure document is not consent to shared representation, and it comes from one side rather than two. A firm cannot consent on a consumer's behalf through its own policy manual. And a listing agreement signed first does not let the seller speak for the buyer.