Delaware Real Estate Salesperson Exam — Study Guide

How to use this chapter

The national chapters of this study guide cover the principles that are tested the same way in every state: agency in the abstract, contract law, financing, valuation, federal fair housing, closing math, and real property fundamentals. This chapter covers the part of the Delaware Salesperson exam that only Delaware can test — the specific statutes, agencies, forms, taxes, and license rules that govern real estate practice in the First State.

Delaware is a small state with a compact but very specific body of real estate law. Two features make it stand out on the exam and in practice: it is one of the last pure race recording jurisdictions in the country, and it has one of the highest realty transfer taxes in the nation. Both come up repeatedly, and both are easy points once you understand them.

Throughout this chapter, stable legal rules — the ones that do not change from year to year — are stated plainly and affirmatively. Where a figure can change (a fee, a number of course hours, a passing score, a tax rate, a dollar cap), it is flagged like this: verify the current number with the Delaware Real Estate Commission. This is a Your-Money-or-Your-Life subject: an out-of-date fee memorized as gospel can cost a real client real money, so treat every flagged number as "confirm before you rely on it," while trusting the underlying rule.

1. The licensing authority: the Delaware Real Estate Commission

Real estate licensing in Delaware is administered by the Delaware Real Estate Commission (often abbreviated DREC). The Commission is not a stand-alone agency; it sits within the Division of Professional Regulation (DPR), which is part of the Delaware Department of State. When you see references to "the Division," "DPR," or "the Department of State" in Delaware materials, understand that the Real Estate Commission operates under that administrative umbrella while retaining its own authority over licensees.

The Commission's authority comes from statute. The governing law is Title 24, Chapter 29 of the Delaware Code ("Real Estate Services, Brokers, Associate Brokers and Salespersons"). The Commission's detailed operating rules — education requirements, conduct standards, and procedures — appear in the Delaware Administrative Code, Title 24, Section 2900 and related sections. On the exam, "who makes the rules for Delaware real estate licensees?" has one answer: the Delaware Real Estate Commission, acting under Title 24, Chapter 29.

What the Commission does:

• Issues, renews, and reinstates licenses.
• Approves pre-licensing and continuing-education courses and providers.
• Sets and enforces standards of conduct.
• Investigates complaints and imposes discipline (with the Division and the Attorney General's office handling investigation and prosecution).
• Administers the Delaware Real Estate Guaranty Fund (covered in Section 7).

The Commission is composed of professional members (licensed brokers and salespersons) and public members, appointed to represent Delaware's three counties — New Castle, Kent, and Sussex — and the public interest. You do not need to memorize the exact composition for most questions, but you should know that the Commission is a public body with public members, not a private trade association. The Delaware Association of REALTORS is a separate, private membership organization; it is not the licensing authority.

2. License structure and the entry-license name

Delaware's real estate license ladder has three rungs, and the exact names matter on the exam:

1. Salesperson — this is the entry-level license. A newly licensed real estate professional in Delaware holds a Salesperson license. This is the license this book prepares you for. A Salesperson may only provide brokerage services on behalf of, and under the supervision of, an employing broker.

1. Associate Broker — a licensee who has qualified as a broker (meeting the higher experience and education requirements) but who chooses to work under the supervision of another broker rather than operate independently.

1. Broker — a licensee authorized to operate a real estate brokerage independently, to employ salespersons and associate brokers, and to hold escrow funds.

The word to lock in is Salesperson. Some states call the entry license an "agent" or a "broker-salesperson" or use "provisional" tiers; Delaware's entry credential is simply the real estate Salesperson license. A Delaware Salesperson cannot operate independently, cannot hold client funds in the Salesperson's own name, and cannot be paid a commission directly by a member of the public — compensation flows through the employing broker.

3. Pre-license education, the exam, and post-license requirements

Pre-license education

To qualify for the Salesperson exam, Delaware requires that you complete a Commission-approved pre-licensing course in real estate. The current requirement is a course of approximately 99 classroom hours — but treat the exact hour count as a moving number and verify the current pre-licensing hour requirement with the Delaware Real Estate Commission before you enroll. The rule that is stable: Delaware requires completion of an approved pre-licensing course before you may sit for the exam. You cannot self-study your way onto the exam without the approved course.

The licensing examination

Delaware administers a licensing examination through its contracted testing vendor. The exam has two parts:

• a national (general) portion covering real estate principles and practices tested nationwide, and
• a state portion covering Delaware-specific law — the material in this chapter.

You must pass both portions. The passing score, the exam fee, the number of questions, and the time allotted are all subject to change; verify the current exam format, passing score, and fees with the Delaware Real Estate Commission and its testing vendor. The stable rule: you must pass a state-and-national licensing exam, and both portions must be passed to qualify.

Application, background, and age

After passing, you apply to the Commission for the Salesperson license. Delaware requires applicants to be of the minimum licensing age, to demonstrate good character (a criminal background check is part of the process), and to secure employment with a licensed Delaware broker who will sponsor the license. A Delaware Salesperson license is issued in association with an employing broker — an unaffiliated Salesperson license cannot be placed in active status. The minimum age, the application fee, and the Guaranty Fund contribution are numbers to verify current with the Delaware Real Estate Commission.

Post-license "New Licensee" education

Delaware imposes a distinctive new-licensee education requirement on top of pre-licensing. Newly licensed salespersons (other than those licensed by reciprocity) must complete a set of required new-salesperson course modules within a short window after the license is issued. Current rules call for roughly 12 hours of new-licensee modules — divided into 3-hour blocks such as professional standards, agreement of sale and buyer representation, real estate documents and seller representation, and real estate professionalism — completed within about 90 days of license issuance. Verify the current number of new-licensee hours, the module list, and the deadline with the Delaware Real Estate Commission. The stable rule to remember: a Delaware new licensee has a mandatory, time-limited post-license education obligation separate from ordinary continuing education, and failing to complete it on time jeopardizes the license.

Continuing education and renewal

Delaware licenses renew on a biennial (two-year) cycle. The renewal deadline falls on a fixed calendar date — currently April 30 of even-numbered years — and applies to Salespersons, Associate Brokers, and Brokers, whether active or inactive. Each renewal period requires completion of Commission-approved continuing education, including mandatory modules (agency and fair housing, and professional standards) plus elective hours. The current total is on the order of 21 CE hours per cycle, but the exact number of hours, the mandatory-module breakdown, and the renewal date are all figures to verify current with the Delaware Real Estate Commission. Stable rules: CE is mandatory and biennial, certain modules are required every cycle, and the Commission audits CE compliance — keep your certificates.

4. Broker affiliation and supervision

A Delaware Salesperson can lawfully perform brokerage activity only through and under the supervision of an employing broker. This is not a formality; it is the structural backbone of Delaware practice and a frequent exam topic.

Key rules that are stable and testable:

• A Salesperson's license is held in connection with one employing broker at a time.
• All listings and agency agreements belong to the broker, not the Salesperson. The written agreement is between the client and the brokerage.
• Compensation flows through the broker. A Salesperson may not accept a commission or fee directly from a buyer, seller, landlord, or tenant; the Salesperson is paid by the employing broker.
• A Salesperson may not hold escrow or trust funds personally. Client money must go into the broker's escrow account (see Section 6).
• When a Salesperson changes brokers, the license must be transferred and the change reported to the Commission; the Salesperson may not carry the prior broker's listings to the new firm without the broker's consent.
• The broker is responsible for supervising affiliated licensees, and supervisory failures are themselves a disciplinable offense.

The mental model: the broker is the principal in the brokerage relationship with the public, and the Salesperson acts on the broker's behalf. Nearly every "can a salesperson do X on their own?" question resolves against independent action.

5. Delaware agency law and required disclosures

The Consumer Information Statement (CIS)

Delaware regulates brokerage relationships through Title 24, Chapter 29, Subchapter II and its administrative rules. The centerpiece disclosure document is the Consumer Information Statement (CIS). This is the Delaware equivalent of the "agency disclosure" form you may have seen described generically in the national chapters — but in Delaware it has a specific name (the CIS) and a specific delivery trigger.

When the CIS must be delivered: a licensee must provide the CIS to a consumer at the earliest of these events — the first scheduled appointment, the first showing of a property, or the point at which an offer is made. In plain terms: before you get down to real business with a consumer, the CIS is in their hands. The CIS explains the types of brokerage relationships available in Delaware (seller/landlord agency, buyer/tenant agency, dual agency, and designated agency) and the duties that go with each.

There is a separate but related duty: a licensee must disclose in writing who the licensee represents to any party with whom the licensee has substantive contact but does not represent. This disclosure is made at first substantive contact. The idea is that no consumer should ever be unsure whether the agent across the table is on their side or the other side's.

Confidentiality begins early. Delaware law provides that a licensee's duty of confidentiality to a consumer begins at first contact — even before any formal agency agreement is signed. A Salesperson cannot treat pre-agreement conversations as fair game to repeat to the other side.

Dual agency and designated agency

Delaware permits dual agency and designated agency, but only with proper disclosure and consent.

• Dual agency occurs when the same brokerage (through the same licensee or the same firm) represents both the buyer and the seller (or both landlord and tenant) in the same transaction. In Delaware, dual agency is lawful only with the informed written consent of both parties. A dual agent owes limited duties to both and may not disclose confidential information (such as how high a buyer will go or how low a seller will drop) to the other side.

• Designated agency is Delaware's mechanism for letting one brokerage represent both sides while preserving full advocacy for each. The broker designates one licensee to represent the buyer and a different licensee to represent the seller. Each designated agent owes full fiduciary-style duties to that agent's own client; the broker who made the designations acts in a dual-agent capacity overseeing both. Designated agency requires written consent as well.

For the exam: know that Delaware is a written-consent state for dual and designated agency, that designated agency keeps two separate advocates inside one firm, and that a dual agent must protect each party's confidential negotiating information from the other.

6. Required property disclosures

Delaware is a disclosure state, not caveat emptor

This is a point to state affirmatively: Delaware is a mandatory seller-disclosure state. It is not a pure "buyer beware" (caveat emptor) jurisdiction for residential resale. The governing law is the Buyer Property Protection Act, found in Title 6, Chapter 25, Subchapter VII of the Delaware Code.

Under that Act, a seller of residential real property must complete and deliver a Seller's Disclosure of Real Property Condition Report — a standard form developed and promulgated by the Delaware Real Estate Commission. The seller must disclose all known material defects in the property. The stable rules:

• The disclosure form is mandatory for covered residential transactions.
• It must be delivered to the prospective buyer (or the buyer's agent) before the buyer makes an offer to purchase.
• Once signed by buyer and seller, the disclosure becomes part of the purchase agreement.
• The form includes disclosure of the results of any required radon testing, reflecting Delaware's radon-prone geology.
• The Commission publishes different versions of the form for different situations (for example, existing residential property versus new construction).

The disclosure obligation runs to the seller based on the seller's actual knowledge; the licensee's job is to make sure the form is properly completed and timely delivered. A Salesperson may not help a seller conceal a known material defect — doing so is both a Consumer Fraud problem and a licensing violation.

Federal lead-based paint disclosure

Layered on top of Delaware's own rules is the federal lead-based paint disclosure requirement (the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act, commonly called Title X). For any residential dwelling built before 1978, the seller or landlord must:

• disclose the presence of any known lead-based paint or hazards,
• provide any records or reports the seller has,
• give the buyer the EPA pamphlet "Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home," and
• give a purchaser a 10-day opportunity (or another mutually agreed period) to conduct a lead inspection or risk assessment.

This federal requirement applies in addition to the Delaware state disclosure form. Pre-1978 = lead disclosure; that is a fixed rule and a reliable exam point.