Oklahoma Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Which body does 59 O.S. § 858-201 make the only governmental entity in Oklahoma with authority to regulate and issue real estate licenses?

• a.The Oklahoma Real Estate Commission, a seven-member state board✓
• b.The county clerk of the county in which the property is located
• c.The Oklahoma Bar Association, through its real property section
• d.The Oklahoma Tax Commission, through its ad valorem tax division

Section 858-201(A) re-creates the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission with seven members and states that it "shall be the sole governmental entity, state, county or municipal, which shall have the authority to regulate and issue real estate licenses in the State of Oklahoma." Five of the seven must be licensed brokers with at least five years' active brokerage experience, one is a lay person, and one represents an approved Oklahoma school of real estate. Section 858-208 then gives the Commission its working powers: promulgating rules, administering examinations, issuing licenses, and disciplining licensees by reprimand, probation, added education, suspension, revocation or administrative fine. A county clerk keeps land records for the county and has no jurisdiction over a person's right to practice. The Bar Association governs lawyers, and 858-301(3) expressly leaves attorneys-at-law free to perform their own duties without a real estate license rather than putting licensees under the Bar. The Tax Commission collects revenue; a sale may generate tax, but taxation is not licensure.

An Oklahoma sales associate is asked to sit at an open house for one afternoon for a different brokerage. Under OAC 605:10-11-1, this is:

• a.Allowed for up to thirty days without any broker's approval being needed
• b.Prohibited outright, because an associate may never leave the home office
• c.Allowed only after the associate has registered a second license with OREC
• d.Allowed only if the associate's own broker agrees to loan the associate out✓

Rule 605:10-11-1(b) states flatly that "an associate shall not be allowed to work for more than one broker at the same time," then carves out one route: the associate's broker may agree to loan the associate to another broker "for a specific duty to be performed," and the rule's own first example is "sitting at an open house." Calling an auction and any other specific duty requested in writing and approved by the Commission are the other two. Paragraph (b)(2) keeps the loaning broker on the hook — "the broker is responsible for all acts performed by the associate while the associate is performing a specific duty for another broker." There is no thirty-day free period anywhere in the rule, and the permission required is the broker's, not the passage of time. Nor is the practice forbidden altogether; the rule contemplates it and simply routes it through the broker. And no second license exists to be registered: 605:10-11-2 issues one license per associate through the individual License Portal, and 858-363 requires each associate to be associated with a real estate broker.

Besides two years' active licensure within the previous five years, what does 59 O.S. § 858-303 require a broker applicant to document?

• a.Five real estate transactions completed within the past two years
• b.Ten real estate transactions completed within the past five years✓
• c.Twenty real estate transactions completed within the past ten years
• d.Three years of unbroken employment with one Oklahoma brokerage

Section 858-303(A)(3) requires the applicant to "provide documentation verifying ten real estate transactions within the past five (5) years or the equivalent as determined by the Commission," and the section defines transaction for this purpose as "the completed sale, exchange, purchase, or lease of real estate," demonstrated on forms the Commission develops. That sits alongside 858-303(A)(1), two years' active licensure within the previous five, and 858-303(A)(2), ninety clock hours of advanced real estate instruction plus the Broker in Charge course — education that is only valid for three years from the date the school certifies completion. A broker associate moving up under 858-303(D) still owes the two years, the Broker in Charge course and the same ten transactions, but not a second ninety hours. The other figures here are invented; the Code names no five, twenty or three-year employment test, and nothing requires an applicant to have stayed with a single firm.

Oklahoma's real estate license tiers, listed from the entry level upward, run:

• a.Provisional sales associate, sales associate, broker associate, broker✓
• b.Broker, broker associate, sales associate, provisional sales associate
• c.Sales associate, provisional sales associate, broker associate, broker
• d.Provisional sales associate, broker associate, sales associate, broker

Section 858-302 puts an applicant who is at least eighteen and has completed ninety clock hours of basic real estate instruction into the provisional sales associate tier. Section 858-102(8) then makes that license non-renewable unless the licensee completes an additional forty-five clock hours of post-license education within the first twelve-month term, at which point the licensee becomes a sales associate. Section 858-303A adds the broker associate tier — two years' active licensure within the previous five plus ninety clock hours of advanced instruction and an examination — and 858-303 sets the broker tier at the top, adding the Broker in Charge course and documentation of ten transactions. Reversing the list puts the most autonomous license at the entry point. Putting sales associate before provisional inverts the post-license step that separates them. And the broker associate rung sits above sales associate, not between provisional and sales associate.

In an Oklahoma associate's advertisement, OAC 605:10-9-4 requires the broker's reference to be at least:

• a.Twenty percent or larger than any associate reference in the advertisement
• b.Fifty percent or larger than any associate reference in the advertisement✓
• c.Equal in size to the largest photograph appearing in the advertisement
• d.One inch in height, measured on the printed version of the advertisement

Rule 605:10-9-4(b)(3) requires an associate to include the broker's name or the name the broker operates under "in such a way that the broker's reference is prominent, conspicuous and easily identifiable," and then defines that phrase in numbers: "the broker's reference shall be at least fifty percent (50%) or larger than any associate reference included in the advertisement." The same fifty-percent test governs team advertising at (c)(3). Paragraph (b)(1) bars an associate from advertising under only the associate's name, and (a)(7) carries the whole rule onto social networking, where a licensee must show license status and the broker's reference. The one-inch figure is real but belongs elsewhere — 605:10-9-2(b) sets it for the letters on the office identification sign. No provision scales advertising type to a photograph, and twenty percent appears nowhere in the chapter.

Under Oklahoma's statute of frauds, 15 O.S. § 136, a lease of real property must be in writing once its term is longer than:

• a.One year✓
• b.Six months
• c.Three years
• d.Ninety days

Section 136(4) makes invalid, unless in writing and subscribed by the party to be charged, "an agreement for the leasing for a longer period than one (1) year, or for the sale of real property, or of an interest therein." The same paragraph adds a trap worth knowing: if the agreement is made by an agent or a broker for the party sought to be charged, it is invalid "unless the authority of the agent or the broker be in writing, subscribed by the party sought to be charged" — so the listing or management authority itself has to be written. The section's opening language was amended in 2013 to let the writing be subscribed "by a broker of the party pursuant to Sections 858-351 through 858-363 of Title 59," tying the statute of frauds directly to the Broker Relationships Act. Six months, three years and ninety days appear nowhere in the section; a one-year lease made orally is outside the statute, while a thirteen-month lease is inside it.

An Oklahoma licensee is selling a rental house she owns herself. Under OAC 605:10-9-4(d), she must:

• a.Disclose her licensed status to the buyer's broker at closing, and give her license number to the closing agent if it is requested
• b.Place her license on inactive status for the length of the sale, and market the property only through a disinterested outside firm
• c.Say nothing about the license at all, because the rule reaches a licensee who is buying property rather than one who is selling it
• d.Disclose in writing on all transaction documents and in all advertising that she is licensed, and give her license number on the contract✓

Rule 605:10-9-4(d)(1) covers a licensee, active or inactive, who is buying real estate or who owns property being sold, exchanged, rented or leased, whether handled personally or through a firm: "the licensee is required to disclose in writing on all documents that pertain to the transaction and in all advertisements that he or she is licensed. On all purchase or lease contracts the licensee is to include their license number." Section 858-312(20) backs it up by making it a cause for discipline to advertise to buy, sell, rent or exchange real estate "without disclosing in writing that the licensee is a real estate licensee." So the duty runs to buying and selling alike, and it is discharged in the documents and the advertising rather than in a private word at closing. Nothing requires the licensee to go inactive or to list elsewhere; 605:10-9-4(d)(3) even carries the same disclosure duty to a licensee acting under a power of attorney. The narrow exception at (d)(2) is for a licensee acting as a direct employee of an owner or as an officer for an entity and not in the capacity of a licensee.

OREC opens a complaint against an Oklahoma broker. Under OAC 605:10-17-2, the broker must file an adequate written response within:

• a.Fifteen days of the notice, or be considered in default✓
• b.Thirty days of the notice, or be considered in default
• c.Sixty days of the notice, or be considered in default
• d.Ten business days of the notice, or be fined automatically

Rule 605:10-17-2(b) requires the licensee or unlicensed person to be notified within a reasonable time and "to file an adequate written response within fifteen (15) days of the notice," and warns that "if an adequate written response is not filed within fifteen (15) days, the respondent shall be considered in default and appropriate sanctions may be imposed, if the evidence is deemed sufficient by the Commission." Section 858-312(26) makes the same failure an independent cause for discipline. The rule also names the channel — responses are filed by mail or emailed to investigations@orec.ok.gov with the case number, the party's name and "Response to Complaint" in the subject line. A complaint may be filed by any person on a Commission form, on a form of the complainant's own, or ordered by the Commission on its own motion under (a). Thirty and sixty days appear nowhere, and default is not an automatic fine; sanctions still require sufficient evidence.

An Oklahoma broker refuses to release a departing associate. Under OAC 605:10-11-2, once the associate notifies the broker and the Commission in writing:

• a.The Commission holds the license inactive for thirty days while it looks into the broker's reasons
• b.The associate has to obtain a court order compelling the broker to sign the release form first
• c.The associate may start with the new broker at once and file the transfer paperwork within thirty days
• d.The Commission sends one more email notice and then releases the licensee within three business days✓

Rule 605:10-11-2(b) is short and self-executing: "In the event a broker refuses for any reason to release an associate, the associate shall notify the broker and Commission in writing of the disassociation. Upon receipt by the Commission of such notice, the Commission will provide one (1) additional email notice to the broker and shall release the licensee within three (3) business days." No investigation, no inactive holding period and no court are involved — the reason for the refusal is expressly irrelevant. The rest of the rule sets the ordinary path: a change of association or of office within a firm must be filed with the Commission within ten days, the new broker must consent to sponsor the associate, and the associate pays a forty-dollar fee. Paragraph (d) lets an active associate keep working through a transfer only "if the change is done in a timely manner and in compliance with the ten (10) day notification requirement," which is why the thirty-day version is wrong.

An Oklahoma licensee pleads guilty to a felony. Under 59 O.S. § 858-301.2, written notice to the Commission is due:

• a.Within thirty days of the plea, and again within thirty days of judgment and sentencing✓
• b.Within thirty days of the plea only, since the sentencing is already a public record
• c.At the next renewal, on the criminal history question printed on the renewal form
• d.Within ten days of the plea, and again within ten days of judgment and sentencing

Section 858-301.2 requires every person licensed under the Code to "notify the Commission in writing of the conviction or plea of guilty or nolo contendere to any felony offense within thirty (30) days after the plea is taken and also within thirty (30) days of the entering of an order of judgment and sentencing." Two separate notices, thirty days each, and a plea of no contest triggers it just as a guilty plea does. Section 858-312(27) makes the failure a cause for discipline in its own right, so missing the second notice is itself a violation even where the first was given. Waiting for renewal misses both deadlines, and ten days is not the figure in this section — ten days is the filing period for changes of address, association or name under 605:10-9-5 and 605:10-11-2. Separately, 858-301.1 bars an applicant convicted of a felony that substantially relates to the occupation and poses a reasonable threat to public safety from licensure for ten years after the sentence is completed.

To renew an active Oklahoma broker license, OAC 605:10-3-6 requires the thirty continuing-education hours to include:

• a.The fifteen-hour Broker in Charge course and six hours of Contracts and Forms✓
• b.The fifteen-hour Broker in Charge course and six hours of Professional Conduct
• c.Thirteen hours of required subject matter and seventeen elective hours as usual
• d.Six hours of Contracts and Forms and twenty-four hours of approved electives

Rule 605:10-3-6(k)(4) sets the broker's package apart from everyone else's: "All Brokers shall be required to successfully complete the Broker in Charge course consisting of fifteen (15) clock hours, or its equivalent, as approved by the Commission. In addition, to satisfy the continuing education requirement of thirty (30) clock hours all Brokers shall complete at least six (6) hours of Contracts and Forms education. The remaining nine (9) clock hours of required education may consist of elective subject matter." Fifteen plus six plus nine is the whole thirty. The thirteen-plus-seventeen split is the associate's requirement at (k)(2) — six hours of Contracts and Forms, three of Professional Conduct, and one hour each in Broker Relationships Act, Fair Housing, Code and Rules, and Hot Topics/Current Issues. Professional Conduct is part of that associate list, not the broker's mandatory pairing. And a broker cannot fill twenty-four hours with electives, because the Broker in Charge course alone occupies fifteen. Paragraph (k)(5) makes a lapsed or inactive broker repeat the same fifteen, six and nine before reinstating or reactivating.

Under 59 O.S. § 858-307.1, the Commission issues an Oklahoma broker license for a term of:

• a.Twelve months, ending at the close of the twelfth month of issue
• b.Twenty-four months, ending on the licensee's birthday that year
• c.Thirty-six months, ending at the close of the thirty-sixth month✓
• d.Forty-eight months, ending at the close of the forty-eighth month

Section 858-307.1 provides that the Commission "shall issue every real estate license for a term of thirty-six (36) months with the exception of a provisional sales associate license whose license term shall be for twelve (12) months," and fixes the expiration as "the end of the twelfth or thirty-sixth month, whichever is applicable, including the month of issuance." That is why twelve months is a real figure attached to the wrong license here. Rule 605:10-7-2(c) puts the actual expiration at midnight on the last day of that month, and (d) makes a license lapse and terminate "if a renewal application and required fees have not been filed with the Commission by midnight of the date on which the license is due to expire." A lapsed license is reinstated under (e) on payment of an eighty-dollar reinstatement fee plus the license fee for each delinquent period. Nothing in the Code ties an Oklahoma license term to a birthday or runs it for two or four years.

After an Oklahoma real estate license is revoked, 59 O.S. § 858-307.3 bars an application for reissuance for:

• a.Two years from the effective date of the revocation
• b.Ten years from the effective date of the revocation
• c.One year from the date the order became final
• d.Five years from the effective date of the revocation✓

Section 858-307.3 is a single sentence: "A person shall not be permitted to file an application for reissuance of a license after revocation of the license within five (5) years of the effective date of revocation." The clock runs from the effective date of the revocation, not from the date the order became final or from the end of any appeal. In the meantime 858-312.1(A) closes the side doors — no person whose license is revoked or suspended may "operate directly or indirectly or have a participating interest, or act as a member, partner or officer, in any real estate business, corporation, association or partnership that is required to be licensed," and (B) extends that bar to a licensee whose license was canceled, surrendered or lapsed while an investigation or disciplinary proceeding is pending. The ten-year figure belongs to 858-301.1(B), which concerns an original applicant with a disqualifying felony, not a revoked licensee.

An unlicensed person has been collecting commissions on Oklahoma real estate sales. Under 59 O.S. § 858-401, the Commission may fine that person, for each violation:

• a.Up to five thousand dollars, but never more than the commissions earned
• b.Up to five thousand dollars or the commissions earned, whichever is greater✓
• c.Up to two thousand dollars, the same ceiling that applies to a licensee
• d.Up to one thousand dollars, any excess being recoverable only in court

Section 858-401(B)(1) lets the Commission, after notice and hearing, "impose a fine of not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or the amount of the commission or commissions earned, whichever is greater for each violation of the Code for unlicensed activity" — so the commissions earned are a floor that can lift the fine above five thousand, not a ceiling that holds it down. Subsection (A) adds that an unlicensed person who willfully, knowingly or negligently violates the Code is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to five thousand dollars, up to six months in the county jail, or both. The two-thousand-dollar figure is the licensee ceiling at 858-402(A)(1)(a), which also caps all violations from a single incident or transaction at five thousand — a different scheme for a different person. Section 858-311 supplies the civil consequence: no one may maintain an action to recover compensation for real estate services "without alleging and proving that such person... was licensed when the alleged cause of action arose."

An Oklahoma sales associate employs an unlicensed personal assistant. Under the Commission's rules, responsibility for that assistant's real-estate-related activity rests with:

• a.The associate alone, the assistant being that associate's private employee
• b.The broker alone, since an associate may not employ anyone within a firm
• c.The associate together with the broker, who answers for the whole firm✓
• d.The assistant alone, once she has signed the firm's compliance agreement

Rule 605:10-11-1(c) says that "an associate who employs an unlicensed assistant is responsible in conjunction with the broker for all real estate related activities of the unlicensed assistant," and 605:10-9-1(g) states independently that "a broker is responsible for all real estate related activities of any unlicensed assistant working within the firm." Read together they put both licensees on the hook, which is the point — hiring the assistant personally does not move the exposure off the broker, and the broker's firm-wide responsibility does not excuse the associate who chose and directs the helper. An associate is not barred from employing an assistant; the rules assume it and allocate the resulting responsibility. And an unlicensed assistant cannot absorb it by signing anything, because the assistant holds no license for the Commission to act against — the discipline in 858-208(6) and 858-312 runs against licensees. Section 858-312(14) separately makes it a cause for discipline to pay a commission to anyone performing licensee services without a license.