Licensing: Qualifications, Records and Maintenance
Thirteen of the fifty Virginia state items — more than a quarter of the state portion — are Licensing. PSI's outline breaks the area into qualifications and requirements (including the broker's supervisory requirements and disciplinary sanctions), inspection of records and audits, license types and the activities that require a license, and license maintenance. This chapter follows that order.
The Real Estate Board and Where the Rules Live
Section 54.1-2104 creates a nine-member Real Estate Board within the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation: seven members actively engaged as licensed brokers or salespersons for at least seven consecutive years, and two citizen members, serving four-year terms. Section 54.1-2105 A lets the Board do all things necessary to carry the chapter into effect and promulgate regulations, and those regulations are 18VAC135-20. Section 54.1-2105.2 lets the Board order an unlicensed person to cease and desist, and subsection C allows a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for any real estate transaction, or the compensation received from it, whichever is greater. Read the chapter and the regulations together; where they conflict on anything the 2025 acts changed, the Code governs, because 18VAC135-20 has not yet been conformed to it.
Qualifications for the Broker License
18VAC135-20-30 requires every individual applicant to be at least 18, hold a high school diploma or equivalent, report prior discipline in any jurisdiction, submit to fingerprinting, and sign a statement that the applicant has read Chapter 21 and the regulations. Subdivision B 2 of Section 54.1-2105 adds, for brokers, not less than 12 semester hours of real estate instruction, with subsection D naming the subjects as brokerage, finance, appraisal, law and related Board-approved topics. Subsection C of 18VAC135-20-35 supplies the experience test: actively engaged as a real estate salesperson for 36 of the 48 months immediately preceding application, verified by the principal or supervising broker. "Actively engaged" is defined in 18VAC135-20-10 as active licensure performing licensed activity for an average of at least 40 hours per week.
License Types and the Activities That Require One
Section 54.1-2106.1 requires a firm license for any business entity other than a sole proprietorship, an individual broker license, an individual salesperson license, a business entity salesperson license for a real estate team, and under subsection E a branch office license for each additional place of business, with a copy kept on those premises. Subsection A of 18VAC135-20-335 reserves five activities to licensees: showing property, holding an open house, answering questions on listings, title, financing, closing, contracts, brokerage agreements and legal documents, discussing or negotiating a contract, lease or property management agreement with anyone outside the firm, and negotiating or agreeing to any commission, split, management fee or referral fee. Subsection B lists what unlicensed staff may do, from clerical work and scheduling to placing signs and recording and depositing escrow funds. Subsection C of Section 54.1-2103 gives a narrow further allowance to on-site rental staff, who may show units and accept payments but may not negotiate.
Records, Audits and Board Inquiries
Subsection C of 18VAC135-20-185 retains brokerage agreements and dual or designated agency disclosures for three years from execution, transaction documents for three years from closing or from ratification if the deal fails, and receipt-and-disbursement records for three years from closing or termination. Subsection A requires the principal broker's financial records to show from whom money was received, the date of receipt, the place and date of deposit, and the final disposition. Section 54.1-2106.2 and subdivision A 1 of 18VAC135-20-225 require an audit of the firm's practices, policies and procedures within 90 days before the firm license expires, on a Board form kept on the premises. Subsection A of 18VAC135-20-240 gives a licensee 10 days to produce records the Board asks for, and subsection B gives 21 days to answer any other Board inquiry. Section 54.1-2146 allows any required record to be an electronic record.
License Maintenance: Terms, Education, Transfers and Notices
18VAC135-20-90 sets a two-year term expiring on the last day of the anniversary month. Subdivision A 1 of Section 54.1-2105.03 requires brokers to complete 24 hours of continuing education each term: at least 11 required hours (three of ethics, two of fair housing, two of legal updates, two of agency and two of contracts), at least eight hours on supervision and brokerage management with two of those covering broker supervision, and five elective hours. Salespersons take 16 hours under subdivision A 2, and new salespersons instead take the 30-hour post-license curriculum in Section 54.1-2105.01 and 18VAC135-20-95 within their first year. 18VAC135-20-70 governs activation and transfer between firms, effective when the new principal or supervising broker executes the transfer application. Subdivision A 1 of 18VAC135-20-170 gives 30 calendar days to report a change of name or address; subdivision B 1 gives the principal broker 10 calendar days to report a licensee's termination. Subsection C of 18VAC135-20-140 allows reinstatement for one year after expiration and no longer.
Improper Dealings and Improper Brokerage
18VAC135-20-260 lists the prohibited acts, including obtaining a license by fraud, signing an experience verification form without actual knowledge, failing to inform the Board in writing within 30 days of a disqualifying conviction or of discipline in another jurisdiction, and a long subdivision 11 on failing to safeguard the public — a broker failing to have signatory authority on all accounts, a licensee practicing on an inactive or expired license, a licensee providing access to a property without the owner's authorization. Subdivision 12 covers dishonest conduct such as diverting commission away from the firm, submitting the same earnest money check with multiple offers, and misrepresenting who holds a deposit. 18VAC135-20-280 covers improper financial transactions: paying an unlicensed person for licensed work, a salesperson accepting compensation from anyone but the principal or supervising broker without prior written consent, and net listings. 18VAC135-20-330 makes clear that a principal or supervising broker is disciplined for a subordinate's violation only where the broker knew or should have known and failed to act.
State-specific details
State exam facts
- State regulator
- Virginia Real Estate Board (DPOR)
- Exam vendor
- PSI
- Prelicensing education
- Not less than 12 semester hours of real estate courses (Va. Code § 54.1-2105(B)(2)(b))
- Passing score
- 60 of 80 points national; 38 of 50 state
- Scored questions
- 125
- Time limit
- 160 minutes
Who regulates real estate brokers in Virginia?
The Virginia Real Estate Board, within the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR), licenses brokers and salespersons. Va. Code § 54.1-2104 gives the Board nine members — seven licensees of at least seven consecutive years and two citizen members — and § 54.1-2105 gives it the power to regulate. DPOR contracts with PSI to administer the licensing exams.
What experience do I need before the Virginia broker exam?
Under 18VAC135-20-35(C), a broker applicant must have been “actively engaged … as a real estate salesperson for a period of 36 of the 48 months immediately preceding application,” verified by the principal or supervising broker for whom the applicant worked. 18VAC135-20-10 defines “actively engaged” as active licensure performing licensed activity for an average of at least 40 hours per week. Va. Code § 54.1-2105(B)(2) adds a high school diploma or equivalent and not less than 12 semester hours of real estate instruction, which subsection D specifies must be in real estate brokerage, finance, appraisal, law and related Board-approved subjects.
How is the Virginia broker exam structured?
PSI candidate information bulletin 466 gives the broker exam a national portion of 75 items scored to 80 points in 105 minutes and a Virginia state portion of 50 items worth 50 points in 55 minutes — 125 items in 160 minutes together. Passing is published as points correct rather than a percentage: 60 of 80 on the national portion and 38 of 50 on the state portion, and you must pass both. If you are applying for a reciprocal license you need only pass the state portion.
Sources: https://www.dpor.virginia.gov/Boards/Real-Estate/Pre-License, https://test-takers.psiexams.com/api/content/bulletin/466, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/admincode/title18/agency135/chapter20/, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title54.1/chapter21/
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