TREC: Duties and Powers
Area I of the Texas broker state outline is three scored items on the Commission itself — how it is composed, the advisory committees that work with it, how complaints are handled, and what happens to a consumer who wins a judgment a license holder cannot pay.
Who sits on the Commission
Occupations Code § 1101.051(a) puts nine members on the Texas Real Estate Commission, appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate: six who have been engaged in the brokerage business as licensed brokers as their major occupation for the five years preceding appointment, and three who represent the public. Nobody is elected to it. TREC administers TRELA (Occupations Code Chapter 1101) and the TREC rules at 22 Texas Administrative Code Part 23.
The Broker-Lawyer Committee
The contract forms Texas license holders must use are not written by TREC staff. Section 1101.252(a) creates the Texas Real Estate Broker-Lawyer Committee of 13 members: six appointed by the Commission, six members of the State Bar of Texas appointed by the state bar president, and one public member appointed by the governor. The committee drafts and revises the forms; the Commission adopts them by rule at 22 TAC §§ 537.20-537.69.
Complaints, penalties and the Recovery Trust Account
TREC investigates complaints under § 1101.204 and may suspend or revoke a license under § 1101.652. An administrative penalty may not exceed $5,000 for each violation, and each day a violation continues may count separately (§ 1101.702(a)). Acting as a broker or sales agent without a license is a Class A misdemeanor under § 1101.758. The Real Estate Recovery Trust Account is a fund of last resort: a consumer reaches it only after a final judgment, execution returned nulla bona and a perfected judgment lien (§ 1101.606), and payments are capped by § 1101.610 at $125,000 for a single transaction and $250,000 for one license holder.
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State-specific details
State exam facts
- State regulator
- Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC)
- Exam vendor
- Pearson VUE
- Prelicensing education
- 900 classroom hours (270 qualifying + 630 related)
- Time limit
- 240 minutes
Who regulates real estate brokers in Texas?
The Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) licenses brokers and sales agents under the Texas Real Estate License Act (Occupations Code Chapter 1101) and the TREC rules at 22 Texas Administrative Code Part 23. TREC contracts with Pearson VUE to schedule and deliver the licensing exams at test centers across Texas.
What experience do I need before the Texas broker exam?
Broker applicants must have four years of active experience as a license holder during the 60 months preceding the application (Occupations Code § 1101.356(a)(1)) and must document not less than 720 qualifying experience points on TREC's Qualifying Experience Report (22 TAC § 535.56(b)(2)) — the points floor rose from 360, so older study material understates it. The education requirement is 270 hours of qualifying real estate courses plus 630 classroom hours of related education, and the six-hour Broker Responsibility Course is now required of every broker applicant.
How is the Texas broker exam structured?
Pearson VUE delivers a national portion of 80 scored questions and a Texas state portion of 50 scored questions in a single 4-hour session. Content outline #094401 splits the 50 state items into seven areas: TREC's duties and powers (3), licensing (4), standards of conduct (9), agency and brokerage (10), contracts (8), special topics (6) and case studies (10). Each portion is scored separately and you must pass both; confirm the current scored-question counts in TREC's Candidate Handbook.
What are the Texas case-study questions?
A fifth of the Texas state portion is case studies. Pearson VUE's outline says these "include both narrative cases and contract cases. Narrative cases require candidates to read a case study and respond to multiple associated items. Contract cases require candidates to respond to items based on use of TREC-promulgated contracts" — so expect fact patterns worked on forms such as TREC No. 20-19, the One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale).
Sources: https://www.pearsonvue.com/content/dam/VUE/vue/en/documents/publications/094401.pdf, https://www.trec.texas.gov/agency-information/rules-and-laws/trec-rules, https://www.trec.texas.gov/exam-topic-reports, https://www.pearsonvue.com/us/en/tx/realestate.html
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