West Virginia Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

A West Virginia real estate license issued in February expires on:

• a.June 30, the last day of the license year✓
• b.December 31 of the year it was issued
• c.the anniversary of the date it was issued
• d.February 28 of the following calendar year

Rule 174-1-8.1 states that "[a]ll licenses expire on June 30 regardless of the date the license was issued," and rule 174-1-3.1 sets the license year as beginning July 1 and ending June 30. W. Va. Code §30-40-17(c)(5) says the same thing from the certificate side: the license is valid for a period coinciding with the fiscal year. Rule 174-1-3.1 also provides that fees are not prorated, so the February licensee pays the full fee for a short first term. An anniversary date is how many states run renewals but not West Virginia. December 31 is the last day of the late renewal window under rule 174-1-8.2, which begins only after the license has already expired.

A West Virginia salesperson misses the June 30 renewal deadline. Under the Commission's rules, the license may still be renewed:

• a.at any time, provided continuing education is current
• b.only after the Commission grants a written waiver for good cause
• c.within thirty days after expiration, with no additional fee
• d.on or before December 31 of the year it expired, with a late fee✓

Rule 174-1-8.2 provides that on payment of the appropriate renewal and late fees "an expired license may be renewed on or before December 31 of the year in which the license expired." The rule also warns that a licensee who keeps practicing while expired, and a broker who accepts that licensee's services, may be disciplined, so renewing late is not the same as being covered in the interval. Rule 174-2-2.5 grades the late fee by how far past the deadline the payment falls, from $50 through August 31 to $100 through December 31. An open-ended renewal ignores the December 31 cutoff in rule 174-1-8.3. There is no fee-free thirty-day grace period, and no good-cause waiver route for late renewal.

A West Virginia salesperson wants to move to a different brokerage. Before performing any licensed activity for the new broker, the salesperson must:

• a.file an application for change of responsible broker and have it approved✓
• b.obtain the written release of the former broker, which alone completes the transfer
• c.wait out a thirty-day interval between the two affiliations
• d.notify the Commission by email and begin work at the new brokerage the same day

W. Va. Code §30-40-17(b)(2) makes it "unlawful to perform any act contained in this article, either directly or indirectly, after affiliation has been terminated until the associate broker or salesperson has made application to the commission for a change of affiliated broker and the application is approved." Rule 174-1-9.4 fills in the steps: written notice to the current responsible broker, a properly executed application on the Commission's form, and the fee in Series 2, and rule 174-1-9.5 requires a sworn statement from the new responsible broker confirming the transfer. An emailed notice and a same-day start skips the approval the statute conditions practice on. A release from the former broker is not the operative act; the application and its approval are. And the rules impose no waiting interval between affiliations.

When a salesperson's affiliation with a West Virginia broker ends, the license certificate must be:

• a.returned by the broker to the Commission immediately✓
• b.returned by the broker to the departing salesperson immediately
• c.retained by the broker until the annual renewal is filed
• d.destroyed by the broker and reported on the next renewal

Rule 174-1-9.3 requires the responsible broker to keep the active license certificates of each salesperson and associate broker and, "[u]pon the separation of a licensee from the current responsible broker," to "immediately return the license certificate to the Commission for appropriate action" and notify the licensee that it has been returned. W. Va. Code §30-40-17(a)(4) and (5) impose the same custody and prompt-return duties on the broker. Handing the certificate to the departing salesperson defeats the point, since the Commission holds inactive certificates under rule 174-1-9.2. Holding it until renewal leaves a certificate outstanding for an affiliation that no longer exists. Destroying it substitutes the broker's judgment for the Commission's action on the license.

A West Virginia licensee did not renew and the license was not renewed by December 31 of the year it expired. That license is now:

• a.expired, and renewable on payment of the accumulated late fees
• b.inactive, and restorable by completing the missed continuing education
• c.cancelled, and the licensee must requalify by examination✓
• d.suspended, and reinstatable at the Commission's discretion without examination

W. Va. Code §30-40-4 defines "Cancelled" as "a license that was not renewed by December 31 of the year in which license expired," and rule 174-1-8.3 spells out the consequence: the license is cancelled and "the licensee shall be required to comply with all the requirements for obtaining a new license, including the examination requirement." Rule 174-2-2.5.4 says the same thing from the fee side, that licenses not renewed by December 31 cannot be renewed. "Expired" is the earlier and lesser status, defined in §30-40-4 as not renewed by July 1, and it is the status that the late fee cures. Inactive is a status a licensee elects, not one that arrives by neglect. Suspension is a disciplinary sanction imposed by the Commission under §30-40-19, not a consequence of an unpaid renewal.

A West Virginia licensee on inactive status is:

• a.authorized to refer clients to active licensees for a reduced fee
• b.not authorized to conduct real estate business but still required to meet continuing education
• c.authorized to complete transactions already under contract when the status changed
• d.not authorized to conduct real estate business and not required to meet continuing education✓

W. Va. Code §30-40-4 defines "Inactive" as "a licensee who is not authorized to conduct any real estate business and is not required to comply with any continuing education requirements," and rule 174-1-8.5.b repeats the education half. The tradeoff appears when the licensee wants to return: §30-40-16(c) and rule 174-1-8.5.b both require satisfactory evidence of the education that would have been required for active status, completed before the license goes back on active. Taking a referral fee is conducting real estate business for compensation, which the definition forecloses. So is closing out pending transactions. And requiring continuing education while inactive contradicts the definition's second half, which is exactly what makes the reactivation make-up rule necessary.

A West Virginia broker renewing an active license must complete continuing professional education of:

• a.seven hours, of which seven must be broker-level courses
• b.seven hours, of which three must be broker-level courses✓
• c.fourteen hours, of which three must be broker-level courses
• d.fourteen hours, of which seven must be broker-level courses

W. Va. Code §30-40-16(a) requires "seven hours of continuing professional education for each fiscal year, with each hour equaling 50 minutes of instruction" and adds that "[f]or brokers and associate brokers, three of the required seven hours shall be from the broker-level education curriculum approved by the commission." The broker's obligation is therefore the same seven hours every licensee owes, with three of them drawn from a narrower approved curriculum, rather than an enlarged total. Fourteen hours would double the statutory figure. Requiring all seven at broker level would leave no room for the general courses the section otherwise contemplates, including the courses §30-40-16(e) treats as approved when they come from the appraiser board, the Division of Highways, or the State Bar.

A West Virginia licensee plans to satisfy this year's continuing education with the same approved course taken for last year's renewal. Under the Commission's rules, that course:

• a.counts only if the licensee is on inactive status at the time
• b.counts, because the course carries current Commission approval
• c.counts for half credit toward the seven-hour requirement
• d.does not count, because it repeats the previous renewal's course✓

Rule 174-1-8.6 states that "[t]he courses taken to satisfy the then-current continuing education requirement shall not be the same as courses taken for the previous license renewal." The requirement is about new instruction, so the fact that a course is still approved and still offered does not make a repeat of it count. Rule 174-1-8.7 gives the rule teeth by letting the Commission audit any licensee's continuing education and demand proof. There is no half-credit provision anywhere in the series. And inactive status does not turn a repeated course into a qualifying one; under rule 174-1-8.5.b an inactive licensee owes no continuing education at all until reactivation.

An unlicensed person negotiates one property sale in West Virginia and expects a fee for doing it. Under the license act, that person:

• a.is outside the article, because a single transaction is not a course of business
• b.is outside the article unless the fee is actually paid
• c.is treated as a broker or salesperson subject to the article✓
• d.is treated as an exempt owner's representative for that transaction

W. Va. Code §30-40-23 provides that "[o]ne act by any person in consideration of receiving compensation, or with the expectation or intention of receiving such compensation, or upon the promise of receiving compensation" for any act or service in the article makes that person a broker, associate broker, or salesperson subject to the article. That is why the section is headed "Single act evidence of practice." A course-of-business threshold would let an unlicensed person work one deal at a time indefinitely. Requiring that the fee actually change hands ignores the words "expectation or intention," which reach the arrangement before payment. And the owner's representative exemptions in §30-40-5(c) run to people acting on their own behalf or as regular salaried employees, not to a stranger negotiating for a fee.

A broker licensed in Ohio wants to work on a West Virginia listing in cooperation with a licensed West Virginia broker. Before practicing brokerage in West Virginia, the Ohio broker must:

• a.file a cooperative agreement between the two brokers with the Commission
• b.register the Ohio license with the Commission and share the fee with the local broker
• c.obtain a West Virginia license from the Commission✓
• d.do nothing further, because affiliation with a West Virginia broker supplies the authority

W. Va. Code §30-40-3 makes it unlawful to act in the capacity of a broker, associate broker, or salesperson in West Virginia without a license, and then closes the obvious gap: "Prior to practicing real estate brokerage in this state, a license shall be obtained from the commission even if the person or entity is licensed in another state and is affiliated or otherwise associated with a licensed real estate broker in this state." West Virginia's route for the out-of-state licensee is §30-40-15, which recognizes the foreign license but still requires an application and a passing score on the West Virginia state law portion of the examination. A cooperative agreement, a registration, or a fee split are private arrangements that cannot substitute for the license the statute demands first.

A West Virginia salesperson wants to be affiliated with two different brokerages at the same time. Under the Commission's rules, the salesperson:

• a.may not do so, because a licensee may affiliate with only one brokerage
• b.may do so, but only with the written consent of both responsible brokers
• c.may do so under the single existing license, with no further filing
• d.may do so, but must hold a license and certificate for each brokerage✓

Rule 174-1-4.8 addresses this directly: "Licensees who choose to be affiliated with more than one brokerage must have a license and license certificate for each brokerage. These additional licenses have no additional requirements other than the payment of the appropriate license fee." The rule permits the arrangement and prices it, rather than forbidding it. Saying a licensee may affiliate with only one brokerage states the general expectation but not the rule the Commission actually wrote. Consent from both brokers is prudent practice and does not appear in the rule as the operative condition. And working two brokerages on one license is precisely what the second certificate exists to prevent, since §30-40-17(c)(2) requires a salesperson's certificate to show the broker with whom the licensee is affiliated.

Which of the following persons is expressly outside the West Virginia Real Estate License Act?

• a.an individual selling a building he owns, acting on his own behalf as owner✓
• b.an unlicensed assistant who shows listed homes and negotiates offers for a broker
• c.a person paid a finder's fee for introducing a buyer to a listing broker
• d.an unlicensed partner in a brokerage entity who lists property for the firm

W. Va. Code §30-40-5(c)(1) provides that the article does not apply to "[a]ny person acting on his or her own behalf as owner or lessor of real estate." The owner sells his own property for his own account, so there is no principal for whom he acts and no license interest to protect. An unlicensed assistant who shows homes and negotiates offers is doing the licensed acts listed in the definition of broker in §30-40-4, and rule 174-1-21.1.a makes the supervising broker answerable for letting it happen. A finder's fee for producing a buyer is compensation for "[d]irect[ing] or assist[ing] in the procuring of a prospect," which §30-40-4 places squarely inside the definition. And §30-40-12(c) requires each member or officer of an entity who will engage in the real estate business to be licensed.

A West Virginia attorney-at-law who has never held a real estate license applies for a broker's license. Under the license act, the attorney:

• a.is licensed as a broker on proof of good standing with the State Bar
• b.must first hold a West Virginia salesperson's license for two years
• c.is exempt from the license act and so cannot be issued a broker's license
• d.must still pass the written examination required for a broker's license✓

W. Va. Code §30-40-5(c)(3) exempts attorneys-at-law from the article but attaches a proviso: attorneys "shall be required to submit to the written examination required under §30-40-12 of this code in order to qualify for a broker's license," with a grandfather clause only for an attorney licensed as a broker before July 1, 1980. So the exemption covers practicing law without a real estate license; it does not hand over a broker's license. A letter of good standing does have a role, but a narrower one: §30-40-11(f) lets an attorney submit one instead of a state and national criminal history record check. Reading the exemption as a bar on licensure inverts it. And the two-year salesperson path is not imposed on the attorney by this subsection.

An unlicensed clerical employee of a West Virginia broker may, without a license, accept and process rental reservations for a period not to exceed:

• a.seven consecutive days
• b.thirty consecutive days✓
• c.fourteen consecutive days
• d.ninety consecutive days

W. Va. Code §30-40-5(c)(10) exempts a person "employed by a broker in a noncommissioned secretarial or clerical capacity" who in the normal course of employment may disseminate preprinted brokerage information, collect predetermined rental fees for prompt tender to the broker, make appointments, and "[a]ccept and process rental reservations or bookings for a period not to exceed 30 consecutive days in a manner and procedure predetermined by the broker." Two limits carry the exemption: the employee is noncommissioned, and the terms are set by the broker in advance rather than negotiated. The seven-, fourteen-, and ninety-day figures do not appear in the subsection; only the thirty-day booking limit does, and a longer letting would be the leasing of real estate that §30-40-4 places inside the definition of broker.