Pennsylvania Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

A person puts a Pennsylvania house under an agreement of sale and, without ever taking title, assigns that contract to an investor for a fee. Under RELRA as amended by Act 52 of 2024, that person is acting as:

• a.A broker, whether the person acts for another or for himself✓
• b.An attorney-in-fact, because the assignment is a private contract
• c.An owner, because the equitable interest belongs to the person
• d.A transaction licensee, because no party is being represented

Act 52 of 2024 added a second paragraph to the definition of "broker" in section 201 covering "any person who, whether for the person or for another, engages or attempts to engage in a wholesale transaction," and defined a wholesale transaction as promoting the sale, exchange or purchase of an equitable interest in residential property with intent to assign it for consideration "without having taken title as the owner of record." The words "whether for the person or for another" are what close the old gap, because wholesalers had argued they were acting only for themselves. The owner exclusion is no longer available either: the same act added to section 304(1) the sentence "This exclusion shall not apply to a wholesale transaction." An attorney-in-fact is excluded only when acting under an executed and recorded power of attorney under section 304(4), and a transaction licensee is a licensed broker or salesperson under section 201, so that status presupposes the license rather than excusing it.

Pennsylvania issues several licenses beyond broker and salesperson. A cemetery broker's license authorizes its holder to act as a broker:

• a.Exclusively in cemetery lots, plots and mausoleum spaces or openings✓
• b.Exclusively in residential property of four or fewer dwelling units
• c.In any real estate, but only under another broker's active supervision
• d.In any real estate, but only for a builder-owner who employs the holder

Section 201 defines a cemetery broker as a person acting in the capacity of a broker "exclusively within the limited field or branch of business which applies to cemetery lots, plots and mausoleum spaces or openings," and Subchapter D of Chapter 5 gives that license its own qualifications, including three years as a salesperson or cemetery salesperson under section 531(2). The residential limit belongs to a different definition: "residential property," added by Act 52 of 2024, means property of not less than one and not more than four dwelling units, and it bounds wholesale transactions rather than a license class. Selling under a broker's active supervision describes the time-share and campground membership salespersons of Subchapters I and J, whose section 201 definitions carry those words. Acting only for an employing builder-owner describes the builder-owner salesperson of Subchapter F, and the rental listing referral agent of Subchapter G is different again, being the one category section 561 does not require to affiliate with a broker.

A Pennsylvania salesperson has held an active license for three years. For purposes of eligibility to sit for the broker examination, that fact alone:

• a.Is enough, because the regulation sets a bright-line time test
• b.Is enough, and it also excuses two of the sixteen credit hours
• c.Is not enough, because the experience must satisfy the Commission✓
• d.Is not enough, because a bachelor's degree is also required

Section 35.271(a)(3) requires the candidate to have "worked at least 3 years as a licensed salesperson, with experience qualifications that the Commission considers adequate for practice as a broker," and section 35.271(a)(5)(ii) makes the candidate file a detailed resume of activities performed plus the employing broker's sworn confirmation. Commonwealth Court read the rule exactly that way in Bhala v. State Real Estate Commission, holding that possession of a salesperson's license for three or more years does not by itself entitle a person to sit for the broker examination. The education requirement is separate and is not reduced by experience: section 511(3) requires 240 hours, and section 35.271(b)(2) allocates 16 credits including 2 in office management and 2 in law. A degree is one route to satisfying that education requirement under section 35.271(b)(1), not a general prerequisite, since section 511(2) asks only for high school graduation or its equivalent.

A Pennsylvania standard broker's license has been inactive for more than five years. Before the license can be reissued, the licensee must:

• a.Retake and pass the licensing examination✓
• b.File a hardship waiver with the Commission
• c.Obtain a certification from another state
• d.Complete 14 hours of continuing education

Section 501(b) provides that any person who remains inactive for five years without renewing "shall, prior to having a license reissued to him, submit to and pass the examination pertinent to the license for which the person is reapplying," and section 404.1(e) requires the Commission to warn licensees of exactly this in the renewal notice. Fourteen hours of continuing education is the right answer for a licensee who acts within the five years: section 35.382(b) makes that the condition for reactivating and renewing a noncurrent standard license, and section 35.382(a) makes the same 14 hours the condition for an ordinary renewal by the May 31 deadline. A hardship waiver under section 35.383 excuses continuing education for illness, emergency or hardship; it does not revive a lapsed license. A certification from another state's licensing authority belongs to the reciprocal-license route under section 35.255.

A Pennsylvania associate broker is moving from one employing broker to another. RELRA requires written notice to the Commission no later than:

• a.Ten days after the intended date of the change✓
• b.Ten days before the intended date of the change
• c.Thirty days after the intended date of the change
• d.Thirty days before the intended date of the change

Section 603(a) requires the licensee to "notify the commission in writing no later than ten days after the intended date of change, pay the required fee, and return his current license," and the Commission then issues a new license once the new broker acknowledges the change. The notice is therefore a follow-up rather than an advance filing, and the same subsection lets the licensee keep working in the interim by holding a copy of that notification as a temporary license. The thirty-day figure in this section runs the other way: it is the point at which the licensee has a duty to chase the Commission if no new license or other communication has arrived. Thirty days is also the reporting window in section 35.290 for a conviction or another state's discipline, which is a different obligation entirely.

An unlicensed person is employed by the owner of an apartment building to manage and maintain it. Relying on the exclusion in section 304, that employee may lawfully:

• a.Negotiate the terms and conditions of occupancy with a new tenant
• b.Show apartments and give out the rental amounts and building rules✓
• c.Sign a lease on the owner's behalf under the owner's standing authority
• d.Hold a tenant's security deposit in an account in the employee's name

Section 304(10) excludes a person employed by an owner to manage or maintain multifamily residential property only where that person is not authorized to enter into leases for the owner, to negotiate terms or conditions of occupancy with current or prospective tenants, or to hold money belonging to tenants other than on the owner's behalf. Within those limits the statute says in terms that the employee "may show apartments and provide information on rental amounts, building rules and regulations and leasing determinations," and section 35.202(11) repeats the boundary. Negotiating occupancy terms and executing leases are the two activities the exclusion expressly withholds, and doing either turns the work into the management of real estate for another, which the section 201 definition of broker covers. Holding tenants' money in the employee's own name fails the third limb and would raise the escrow rules besides.