Tennessee Real Estate Affiliate Broker Exam — All Questions
13 questions
Tennessee real estate licensing is administered by the Tennessee Real Estate Commission (TREC) under:
- a.Tennessee Code Annotated Title 62, Chapter 13✓
- b.U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations
- c.the bylaws of the National Association of REALTORS
- d.local multiple listing service rules
TREC licenses and regulates real estate professionals in Tennessee under Title 62, Chapter 13 of the Tennessee Code Annotated. TREC handles licensing, education standards, and discipline; trade associations and the MLS do not license practitioners.
In Tennessee, the entry-level license held by a new licensee working under a broker is the:
- a.Salesperson
- b.Affiliate broker✓
- c.Associate broker
- d.Managing broker
Tennessee's entry-level license is the 'affiliate broker,' which must be held under a principal broker. With experience and additional education, an affiliate broker may qualify for a broker license. The affiliate broker is Tennessee's equivalent of a salesperson.
Tennessee requires all active real estate licensees to carry:
- a.Only a surety bond
- b.Errors and omissions (E&O) insurance✓
- c.Health insurance
- d.No insurance of any kind
A distinctive Tennessee requirement is that every active real estate licensee must carry errors and omissions (E&O) insurance. TREC offers a group policy option, but licensees may obtain equivalent independent coverage; without current E&O coverage a license cannot be active.
The Tennessee Real Estate Commission finds that a licensee violated a Commission rule. What civil penalty may it assess?
- a.Zero to five hundred dollars for every separate violation
- b.A flat one thousand dollar fine for every separate violation
- c.Zero to one thousand dollars for every separate violation✓
- d.Zero to twenty-five hundred dollars for every separate violation
The rule sets a range of $0–$1,000.00 for each separate violation of a statute, rule or order, assessed in addition to or in lieu of other discipline, and each day of a continued violation may be treated as a separate violation. The penalty is a range, not a fixed fine. Cite: Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1260-02-.32 (amended effective September 23, 2025).
How long must a Tennessee licensee preserve the records relating to a real estate transaction?
- a.Three years after the transaction is consummated✓
- b.Two years after the transaction is consummated
- c.Five years after the transaction closes or is terminated
- d.Seven years after the transaction is consummated
Failing to preserve records relating to a real estate transaction for three years following its consummation is itself a ground for discipline in Tennessee. The Commission's electronic-records rule repeats the same three-year period. Cite: T.C.A. 62-13-312(b); Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1260-02-.40(1).
A Tennessee firm keeps its transaction files electronically. How fast must those records be made available to the Commission?
- a.Immediately, while a Commission representative waits
- b.Within seventy-two hours of a request for inspection
- c.Within ten business days of a request for inspection
- d.Within twenty-four hours of a request for inspection✓
Electronic recordkeeping is permitted, but only if all retained documents are readily accessible in an organized format allowing identification within twenty-four hours of any request for inspection by Commission representatives. The principal broker must also maintain a retention schedule protecting the records' security and readability. Cite: Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1260-02-.40(1)(a)-(b).
What is the most the Tennessee real estate education and recovery account will pay out on a single transaction?
- a.Twenty-five thousand dollars, no matter how many parties were harmed
- b.Fifteen thousand dollars, no matter how many parties were harmed✓
- c.Thirty thousand dollars, no matter how many parties were harmed
- d.Fifty thousand dollars, no matter how many parties were harmed
The account's liability is capped at fifteen thousand dollars per transaction regardless of the number of persons aggrieved or parcels involved. Thirty thousand dollars is a different cap: it is the aggregate at which the account's liability for one licensee's acts terminates. Cite: T.C.A. 62-13-208.
A court orders a payment from the Tennessee education and recovery account on an affiliate broker's behalf. What may happen to that license?
- a.Nothing, because payment from the account settles the matter
- b.It is placed in retired status until the account is repaid
- c.It is automatically revoked, with no hearing made available
- d.It may be suspended or revoked in the Commission's discretion✓
Payment from the account does not end the licensee's exposure: the statute leaves suspension or revocation to the Commission's discretion, and a licensee whose license is revoked cannot reapply until the amount paid from the account has been repaid in full with interest at the account's effective earnings rate. Cite: T.C.A. 62-13-208.
Which of these people is exempt from the Tennessee Real Estate Broker License Act?
- a.An attorney-in-fact acting under a recorded power of attorney✓
- b.An unlicensed assistant paid a share of each commission earned
- c.A resident manager who negotiates the amount of each lease
- d.A scout paid for every buyer referred to the listing broker
The Act exempts a person acting under a duly executed and recorded power of attorney from the owner or lessor. A resident manager is exempt only where duties are limited to supervision, showing units, leasing and collecting deposits and rent, and stops being exempt once amounts or lease terms are negotiated. Cite: T.C.A. 62-13-104(a)(1).
A Tennessee licensee is convicted of a felony. What does the license law do to the license?
- a.It is revoked automatically thirty days later unless a hearing is requested
- b.It stays active until the Commission votes to discipline the licensee
- c.It is revoked automatically sixty days later unless a hearing is requested✓
- d.It is suspended for one year and then reinstated automatically
Revocation is automatic sixty days after conviction unless the licensee makes a written request to the Commission for a hearing inside that sixty-day window. No Commission vote is needed for the revocation to take effect. Cite: T.C.A. 62-13-312.
What fee does the Commission charge to renew a Tennessee affiliate broker license?
- a.Ninety dollars, the same as the original license fee
- b.Seventy-five dollars, paid each renewal period✓
- c.Ninety-one dollars, the same as the application fee
- d.Fifty dollars, plus one dollar for the recovery account
The Commission's fee rule sets ninety dollars for the issuance of an original license and seventy-five dollars for each renewal. The ninety-one dollar figure on the application is the ninety dollar original license fee plus the one dollar paid into the real estate education and recovery account by original applicants. Cite: Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1260-01-.12(2), (3), (6).
A Tennessee firm's principal broker dies. How long may the firm keep operating without one?
- a.Ten days, which the executive director may extend by ten more
- b.Sixty days, with no extension available from the Commission
- c.Ninety days, after which the Commission closes the firm
- d.Thirty days, which the executive director may extend by thirty✓
The Commission must be notified within ten days of the death, resignation, termination or incapacity of a principal broker, together with a plan for continued operations; it may then allow operation without a principal broker for up to thirty days, and the executive director may grant one thirty-day extension, so a new principal broker must be in place no later than the sixty-first day. Cite: Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1260-02-.38.
An affiliate broker leaves a Tennessee firm. What becomes of the listings she secured through that firm?
- a.They stay with the firm absent written broker authorization✓
- b.They transfer with her as soon as the release form is processed
- c.They transfer with her if the sellers consent in writing
- d.They stay with the firm for ninety days and then transfer
On terminating affiliation a licensee may neither take nor use any property listings or buyer representation agreements secured through the firm unless the principal broker specifically authorizes it in writing. Seller consent does not substitute for that written authorization. Cite: Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1260-02-.02(4).