Tennessee Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Tenn. Code Ann. section 62-13-303(c) requires an applicant for a Tennessee broker license to certify satisfactory completion of:

• a.60 classroom hours in real estate, including 30 hours covering basic principles
• b.90 classroom hours in real estate, including 30 hours covering residential real estate finance and lending
• c.120 classroom hours in real estate, including 30 hours covering office or brokerage management✓
• d.150 classroom hours in real estate, including 30 hours covering commercial appraisal practice and review

Tenn. Code Ann. section 62-13-303(c)(2) requires the broker applicant to certify satisfactory completion of one hundred twenty classroom hours in real estate, taken before or after receipt of an affiliate broker's license at a school, college, or university approved by the Commission, including thirty classroom hours covering office or brokerage management. Section 62-13-303(c)(3)(A) adds the experience condition for anyone licensed as an affiliate broker after May 12, 1988: an active real estate license held for at least thirty-six months, or twenty-four months for an applicant holding a baccalaureate degree with a major in real estate. The sixty-hour figure with thirty hours of basic principles is the affiliate broker requirement in section 62-13-303(b). The ninety-hour and one hundred fifty-hour figures appear nowhere in the statute.

Under the Commission's fingerprinting rule, which applicant for a Tennessee broker license must submit a new set of electronic fingerprints?

• a.An applicant who holds an active affiliate broker license with a licensed Tennessee firm
• b.An applicant who holds an affiliate broker license that is currently in retired status
• c.An applicant who previously held an affiliate broker license but no longer holds one✓
• d.An applicant who holds an affiliate broker license that is currently in inactive status

Tenn. Comp. R. and Regs. 1260-01-.17(1)(e) defines who counts as an initial applicant for fingerprinting purposes. Besides new applicants, it captures any former licensee who must reapply to obtain reissuance, and any person who previously held an affiliate broker license but no longer holds one at the time of applying for a broker license. The rule then says expressly that this does not include a person whose affiliate broker license is inactive or retired at the time of the broker application, which is why the retired and inactive candidates are not caught. An applicant already holding an active affiliate broker license was fingerprinted at original licensure, and section 62-13-303(l)(2) exempts applicants for broker licensure who are already licensed from resubmitting. All prints must be submitted electronically and at the applicant's expense.

A Tennessee principal broker opens a second office in another city. Under Tenn. Code Ann. section 62-13-309, that second office:

• a.may operate under the main office's firm license as long as it displays the firm's registered sign
• b.may operate without a firm license while it houses fewer than five affiliated licensees
• c.requires only a written branch supervision plan filed with the Commission within ten days of opening
• d.requires an additional firm license and must be supervised by a broker licensed at that address✓

Tenn. Code Ann. section 62-13-309(d)(1) requires a broker who maintains more than one place of business in the state to apply for and obtain an additional firm license for each branch office. Subdivision (d)(2) requires the application to state the branch location and the name of the person in charge, and subdivision (d)(3) requires each branch office to be under the direction and supervision of a broker licensed at that address. Section 62-13-309(a)(1)(A) already requires each office to have a firm license, a principal broker, and a fixed location conforming to zoning, and subparagraph (B) applies the same requirements to each branch. Rule 1260-02-.03(3)(a) treats an office as a branch if it is advertised, has a registered mail drop, or solicits telephone calls. No headcount exemption and no branch plan substitute exists.

A Tennessee broker's license has been expired for fourteen months. Under the Commission's reinstatement rule, that person must:

• a.reapply for licensure, meet current education requirements, and pass all required examinations✓
• b.pay the accrued monthly penalty fees plus the renewal fee, with no further conditions
• c.request a medical waiver from the Commission and submit a signed statement explaining the lapse
• d.sign a reinstatement order and complete sixteen classroom hours of approved continuing education

Tenn. Comp. R. and Regs. 1260-01-.21(3) provides that if a license is expired for more than one year, the individual must reapply for licensure, meet current education requirements, and pass all required examinations. The graduated penalty schedule in 1260-01-.21(2) covers only shorter lapses: fifty dollars per thirty-day period within the first sixty days, and after sixty days a reinstatement order plus penalties that run to one hundred dollars per thirty-day period from the one hundred twenty-first day. Tenn. Code Ann. section 62-13-319(a) likewise allows reinstatement without examination only within sixty days after expiration. The medical waiver in 1260-01-.21(1) requires a signed doctor's statement and addresses a failure to renew within sixty days, not a fourteen-month lapse.

A Tennessee licensee's license is suspended under Tenn. Code Ann. section 62-13-112 for failing to maintain errors and omissions insurance. If that suspension lasts more than one year, the license is:

• a.automatically revoked without any further action by the commission✓
• b.placed in temporarily retired status until proof of insurance is filed
• c.reinstated on payment of a single five hundred dollar penalty fee
• d.referred to an administrative law judge for a contested case hearing

Tenn. Code Ann. section 62-13-112(a) makes errors and omissions insurance a condition of licensure for every licensee except acquisition agents, and section 62-13-112(j)(1) suspends the license of a licensee who fails to obtain, maintain, or renew that coverage. Section 62-13-112(k)(1) allows reinstatement with no fee if proof of complying coverage is filed within thirty days of the suspension, with escalating penalties after that. Section 62-13-112(l)(1) then provides that a license suspended more than one year under the section shall be automatically revoked without any further action by the commission, after which the person must reapply. Retirement status is voluntary under section 62-13-318 and is not a consequence of a lapse; no single flat payment restores a license suspended for over a year.