Oklahoma Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Which of these people may lease Oklahoma residential property without a real estate license, under 59 O.S. § 858-301?

• a.A leasing agent who works from the owner's downtown office for a flat salary
• b.A property manager paid a percentage of the rents collected on the buildings
• c.An unlicensed assistant who shows units and signs the leases for the tenants
• d.A resident manager who lives on the premises and leases units for the owner✓

Paragraph 4 of section 858-301 exempts "any person acting as the resident manager for the owner or an employee acting as the resident manager for a licensed real estate broker managing an apartment building, duplex, apartment complex or court, when such resident manager resides on the premises and is engaged in the leasing of property in connection with the employment of the resident manager." Living on site and leasing as part of that job are both required. The other three fall inside the definition of a broker at 858-102(2), which reaches anyone who for a fee or commission rents or leases real estate, controls the acceptance or deposit of rent from a resident of a single-family residential unit, or solicits for prospective tenants — and OAC 605:10-1-2 spells property-management activity out as licensed activity. The Code's other property-management exemptions are narrow and specific: transient lodging rented by the day for stays under thirty days (paragraph 8), a resident referral fee not exceeding one hundred dollars (paragraph 7), and employees of a licensed broker leasing only to subsidy-qualified persons in an affordable housing development project (paragraph 9).

Under 59 O.S. § 858-355.1(A), what must an Oklahoma property management agreement contain?

• a.A statement that the owner waives the broker's duty to account for the rents
• b.The section 858-353 duties and responsibilities, incorporated as material terms✓
• c.The name of every associate the broker may assign to manage the property
• d.A schedule of the maximum management fees allowed by Commission rule

Section 858-355.1(A) states that "all brokerage agreements shall incorporate as material terms the duties and responsibilities set forth in Section 858-353 of The Oklahoma Real Estate License Code," and OAC 605:10-15-2(a) defines a brokerage service agreement to "include, but not be limited to, listing agreements, buyer broker agreements and property management agreements." A management agreement is therefore a brokerage agreement and carries the whole 858-353 package as material terms. That also disposes of the waiver option: 858-353(A) makes those duties "mandatory and may not be abrogated or waived by a broker," and timely accounting for money received is paragraph 3 of the list. Nothing requires the agreement to name the individual associates, and 858-363 in fact requires the agreement to run in the broker's name rather than an associate's. A fee schedule is impossible because OAC 605:10-17-1(a) says the Commission "shall not establish the rate of commissions to be charged for real estate services and shall have no interest therein."

An Oklahoma broker collects a management fee before performing the services. Under 59 O.S. § 858-303B, a detailed accounting of expenditures is owed:

• a.Within thirty days after the close of the year in which the fee was taken
• b.Only if the client sues, at which point the court will order an accounting
• c.Within ten days after the time specified to perform, or on written request✓
• d.Within five banking days of the advance fee being deposited into escrow

Section 858-303B provides that "any real estate broker who charges and collects any fees in advance of the services provided by the broker shall provide a detailed accounting of expenditures to the person such services are performed for within ten (10) days after the time specified to perform such services or upon written request from person for whom services are performed for, but no longer than one (1) year from date of contract for such services." Two triggers, then, and an outer limit of one year from the contract date regardless. The duty is self-executing and does not wait on litigation; it also sits on top of the general accounting duty in 858-353(A)(3) and the discipline in 858-312(6) for "failing, within a reasonable time, to account for or to remit any monies, documents, or other property coming into possession of the licensee which belong to others." The five-banking-day option borrows from the wrong rule: OAC 605:10-13-1(a)(1)(D) gives the broker until the end of the third banking day to deposit escrow funds, which is a deposit deadline rather than an accounting deadline.

A tenant's security deposit collected by an Oklahoma broker must be held, under 41 O.S. § 115 and OAC 605:10-13-1:

• a.In an escrow account kept in Oklahoma with a federally insured institution✓
• b.In the brokerage's general operating account, on a separate tenant ledger
• c.In the owner's own bank account, the deposit belonging to the landlord
• d.In an interest-bearing certificate of deposit maturing when the lease ends

Section 115(A) of Title 41 requires that "any damage or security deposit required by a landlord of a tenant must be kept in an escrow account for the tenant, which account shall be maintained in the State of Oklahoma with a federally insured financial institution," and makes misappropriation punishable by up to six months in the county jail and a fine of up to twice the amount taken. OAC 605:10-13-1(a)(1)(A) repeats the requirement in the Commission's own rules and ties it to the broker's trust account obligations. Putting the money in the operating account is commingling under 858-312(16) no matter how carefully it is ledgered, and passing it to the owner defeats the statute, which holds the deposit in escrow "for the tenant." A certificate of deposit is specifically excluded: 605:10-13-1(c) permits an interest-bearing account only if it "must be a demand type account; this prohibits the use of certificate of deposit or other types of time deposits as trust/escrow accounts," and requires written disclosure to all parties identifying who receives the interest.

Under 41 O.S. § 118, an Oklahoma landlord's duty to supply running water, reasonable hot water and reasonable heat does not apply where:

• a.The tenant has agreed in the lease to take the unit in its present condition
• b.The rent charged is below the fair market rent for that county that year
• c.The unit is a single-family residence, or the service is separately metered✓
• d.The landlord gave the tenant written notice before the lease was signed

Section 118(A)(5) requires the landlord to supply running water, reasonable amounts of hot water at all times and reasonable heat "except in the case of a single-family residence or where the service is supplied by direct and independently metered utility connections to the dwelling unit." Those are the only two escapes the paragraph allows. The rest of subsection A is unconditional: keep common areas clean, safe and sanitary; make all repairs necessary to keep the unit fit and habitable; maintain the electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems in good and safe working order. Repairs can be shifted to a tenant, but only under 118(B), which requires "a conspicuous writing independent of the rental agreement" — a clause buried in the lease itself does not qualify, which is what makes that option wrong. Rent level is irrelevant to the duty, and no advance notice waives it. Section 118(C) adds a separate pre-tenancy disclosure duty where the landlord knows the premises were used to manufacture methamphetamine.

A residential tenant is evicted and leaves furniture that has apparent value. Under 41 O.S. § 130, property left with the landlord is conclusively abandoned after:

• a.Thirty days, following written notice by certified mail to the last-known address✓
• b.Fifteen days, following written notice by certified mail to the last-known address
• c.Sixty days, following written notice by certified mail to the last-known address
• d.Ten days, following personal service of a written notice on the departed tenant

Section 130(B) requires the landlord who takes possession of property with ascertainable or apparent value to "provide written notice to the tenant by certified mail to the last-known address that if the property is not removed within the time specified in the notice, the property will be deemed abandoned," and then provides that "any property left with the landlord for a period of thirty (30) days or longer shall be conclusively determined to be abandoned." Subsection (A) allows immediate disposal without accounting where the property has no ascertainable or apparent value, and perishables may go at once. Subsection (C) requires safekeeping and reasonable care in the meantime, with storage cost capped at the fair rental value if the landlord stores the goods in the unit itself. The ten and fifteen-day figures come from the non-residential rule at 41 O.S. § 52(A), where the landlord may take possession "ten (10) days after the tenant receives personal service of notice or fifteen (15) days after notice is mailed, whichever is latest" — the right numbers for the wrong kind of property.

An Oklahoma tenant moves in with no written lease and pays the rent monthly. Under 41 O.S. § 110, the tenancy is:

• a.Week-to-week, the default the Act sets for every unwritten tenancy there
• b.A one-year term, renewing automatically unless a notice is given in time
• c.Month-to-month, because the agreement fixes no definite term in writing✓
• d.A tenancy at sufferance, which gives the tenant no right of possession

Section 110 is one sentence: "Unless the rental agreement fixes a definite term in writing, the tenancy is week-to-week in the case of a roomer or boarder who pays weekly rent, and in all other cases month-to-month." Week-to-week is therefore a real default, but a narrow one reserved for a roomer or boarder paying weekly — not the general rule for unwritten tenancies. There is no statutory one-year term; 41 O.S. § 111(C) says a tenancy for a definite term "expires on the ending date thereof without notice" unless earlier terminated or otherwise agreed. And a tenant who moves in with the landlord's consent and pays rent is not at sufferance: § 111(D) reserves that treatment for a tenant who remains in possession without the landlord's consent after the term ends, and even then provides that "if the landlord consents to the tenant's continued occupancy, a month-to-month tenancy is thus created, unless the parties otherwise agree."

An Oklahoma residential tenant has not paid the rent. Under 41 O.S. § 131, the landlord may terminate the rental agreement if the rent stays unpaid for:

• a.Ten days after written notice of the landlord's demand for payment
• b.Five days after written notice of the landlord's demand for payment✓
• c.Thirty days after written notice of the landlord's demand for payment
• d.Three days after written notice of the landlord's demand for payment

Section 131(B) provides that "a landlord may terminate a rental agreement for failure to pay rent when due, if the tenant fails to pay the rent within five (5) days after written notice of landlord's demand for payment," and adds that "demand for past due rent is deemed a demand for possession of the premises and no further notice to quit possession need be given by the landlord to the tenant for any purpose." Subsection (A) lets the landlord sue for the rent at any time after it falls due, either before or after that notice. Ten days is the cure period for a non-rent breach under § 132(B), where the notice must set termination on a date "not less than fifteen (15) days after receipt of the notice unless remedied within ten (10) days." Thirty days is the notice that ends a month-to-month tenancy under § 111(A), and seven days ends a tenancy of less than month-to-month under § 111(B). Three days appears nowhere in the Act; § 128(C) uses one day's notice for the landlord's ordinary entry.