Missouri Broker Law: The State Portion

What Missouri's state portion actually is

Missouri's broker examination is administered by PSI and described in PSI candidate information bulletin 4673, revision 2024. The regulator whose law it tests is the Missouri Real Estate Commission (MREC), seven members serving five-year terms under § 339.120 RSMo. Two portions are scored separately and you must pass both: the national portion, 90 items scored to 100 points in 150 minutes at 75%, and the Missouri state portion, 75 items / 75 points / 120 minutes / 75% — 165 scored items and 270 minutes in all.

Within the 75 state items, bulletin 4673 publishes this allocation:

Read that table twice. More than half of the Missouri state portion is one area, and that area is almost entirely the Commission's own rules at 20 CSR 2250-8. This chapter is proportioned the same way on purpose. A guide that gives each area a tidy equal section mis-teaches this exam by a factor of five.

Three honest caveats, each of which a competing book gets wrong.

First, PSI prints two Missouri outlines in the same bulletin, and this chapter follows the second one. Bulletin 4673 carries a salesperson state outline and then, on page 15, a broker state outline. They are not the same document with bigger numbers. The salesperson outline totals 40 state items and opens with a "General Rules" area the broker outline does not contain at all. Broker Business Conduct is 40 items against the salesperson's 17, and the broker list carries subtopics the salesperson list omits — Sales Manager, Display of License, Franchises/Trade Name/Insignia, Escrow and Trust Accounts, Retention of Records, Property Management, Closing an Office, and Minimum Services — while dropping the salesperson list's "General." Broker Licenses adds Fictitious Name and Partnership, Association or Corporate License. Broker Educational Requirements lists only Continuing Education Requirements, dropping the salesperson outline's "Salesperson Course" bullet. So: a salesperson-derived Missouri study product is the wrong book for this exam. It under-weights the area worth 40 items, teaches an area that is not on your test, and omits eight subtopics that are. Note also that bulletin 4645, which still surfaces in search results, is a superseded older handbook; 4673 is what PSI serves.

Second, the "Listing, Offer, and Closing Contract Forms and Costs" area publishes no subtopics at all. It is a bare heading between Disciplinary Proceedings and Brokerage Relationships — confirmed on a page-by-page extraction of page 15, so it is the vendor's omission, not an artifact of two-column text. Twelve items are worth 16% of your state score and the vendor says nothing beyond the heading. Section V covers the four things the heading itself names; that division is derived from the heading, not published by PSI, and this book says so rather than pretending to a subtopic list nobody has.

Third, bulletin 4673 publishes no statute or regulation reference list of any kind — searching the extracted bulletin for "339.", "RSMo," "CSR" and "Chapter 339" returns nothing. Every citation here comes from the Missouri statutes and the Commission's rules directly. That is a strength, but treat hour counts, fees and Commission designations as verify-current with MREC before relying on them in practice.

I. Licenses — 7 of 75 items

Applying and qualifying. Applications are made in writing on Commission forms under oath or affirmation (§ 339.050). A broker applicant must be at least eighteen and must already have passed the salesperson examination (§ 339.040.3–.4). The two numbers that carry the area are in § 339.040.5: a certificate from the applicant's broker or brokers that the applicant "has been actively engaged in the real estate business as a licensed salesperson for at least two years immediately preceding the date of application," plus a school certificate that the applicant has, "within six months prior to the date of application, successfully completed the prescribed broker curriculum." The Commission administers the experience requirement as twenty-four of the last thirty months, which is how bulletin 4673 phrases it, and may "waive all or part of the requirements" for other acceptable education or experience.

The broker pre-examination course is 48 hours under 20 CSR 2250-6.060 — the same length as the salesperson course. Candidates assume the broker course is longer because the license is higher; it is not. They differ by content outline, not hours. The 24-hour Missouri Real Estate Practice Course is a salesperson requirement under 20 CSR 2250-3.010(4)(A)3, and none of the four broker paths in bulletin 4673 requires it. New § 339.015, effective 28 August 2025, is permissive: the Commission "may require" fingerprints, which go to the Missouri State Highway Patrol for a state search and on to the FBI under § 43.540. The trap is an answer making fingerprinting mandatory.

Fictitious name; individual license and business name. A broker doing business under any name other than the broker's legal name must first register the fictitious name with the secretary of state under §§ 417.200–417.230, then furnish the Commission a copy within ten days of receiving the official registration (20 CSR 2250-4.030(1)). Reversing the agencies describes a filing Missouri does not use, and the county recorder has no role. 20 CSR 2250-4.040(1) forbids conducting business under any other name or address than the one for which the individual license issued, and requires written notice to the Commission within ten days after a name, home or business address change becomes effective — the notice follows the change.

Broker-salesperson and salesperson licenses. A broker-salesperson holds a broker license in good standing but practices under another broker, and § 339.010.3 supplies the sentence that decides most items on the class: "A real estate broker-salesperson may not also operate as a real estate broker." On termination of an association, 20 CSR 2250-4.050(3) gives the broker seventy-two hours to notify the Commission and return that licensee's license, and requires a dated and timed receipt to the departing licensee — timed, because the deadline is in hours. Broker licenses expire 30 June of each even-numbered year; salesperson licenses expire 30 September of each even-numbered year (20 CSR 2250-4.020). Verify current renewal fees with MREC.

Partnership, association or corporate license. Section 339.710(12) ends its definition of "designated broker" with a command admitting no size threshold: "Every real estate broker partnership, limited partnership, association, limited liability company, professional corporation or corporation shall appoint a designated broker," an individual broker licensee responsible for the entity's acts. Section 339.030(1) then requires individual licenses for every member, manager or officer who actively participates in the brokerage business. A managing member or registered agent satisfies company law, not Chapter 339.

II. Educational Requirements — 2 of 75 items

Two items, one published bullet. 20 CSR 2250-10.100(1) requires each active licensee to complete, during the two-year license period prior to renewal and as a condition precedent to renewal, "a minimum of twelve (12) hours of real estate instruction approved for continuing education credit" by MREC; § 339.040.8 carries the same figure at statute level. An hour means sixty minutes containing at least fifty minutes of instruction, no credit is given for fractional hours, and 10.100(8) forbids carrying excess hours forward. At least three of the twelve must be a core course "identified by the Missouri Real Estate Commission and noticed on its official website, no later than March 31 of each even-numbered year as a core course for the following renewal period" (10.100(3)); the balance is elective (10.100(4)).

MREC has designated Fair Housing as the core topic for the 2026–2028 renewal period, so a licensee taking only one core course must take Fair Housing, though a licensee may take all twelve hours as core. Two cautions: this is a website designation made under the standing power in 10.100(3), not a statutory or rule amendment, and the date MREC first posted it could not be sourced — verify current with MREC. And it names a topic, not extra hours: the three core hours sit inside the twelve.

III. Business Conduct and Practices — 40 of 75 items

This is the exam. Forty items, 53% of your state score, nineteen published bullets, nearly all of it in 20 CSR 2250-8 with the disciplinary grounds of § 339.100.2 alongside. Missouri items reward knowing which rule number does which job.

Improper Use of License and Office

20 CSR 2250-8.020(1) makes brokers, designated brokers and office managers responsible for supervising "all licensed and unlicensed persons associated with them," then supplies a six-part safe harbor, every part of which must hold: the violation conflicted with the broker's specific written policies or instructions; "Reasonable procedures have been established to verify that adequate supervision was being performed"; the broker on learning of it "attempted to prevent or mitigate the damage"; the broker "did not participate in" the violation; "did not ratify" it; and "did not attempt to avoid learning of" it. That last forecloses willful blindness and is the most tested. Note what is not on the list: reporting to the Commission, ordering remedial education and firing the offender are sensible responses and none is a safe-harbor condition.

8.020(2) is the license-hanging rule: a broker may not let others "Establish and carry on real estate brokerage business for their own benefit … where the broker's primary interest is the receipt of a fee … for the use of the broker's license by others," or where the broker "has no control or only nominal control of the business affairs conducted under the broker's license." Concretely: a broker takes $400 a month from a salesperson who runs her own operation, keeps her own files and answers to nobody. That is a sale of the license, whether or not a consumer was harmed.

Branch Office

Missouri issues no separate branch license and charges no branch fee. 20 CSR 2250-8.030(1) provides that each branch "shall be operated under the same name and license as the parent office" and must comply with the place-of-business rule at 8.010. The Commission learns of it through written notice within ten days after opening the branch, changing its address, or changing its managing licensee (8.030(4)) — one ten-day period, three triggering events, all measured after the event.

8.030(3) settles supervision: the branch is under the direct supervision of a broker, broker-salesperson, broker-partner, broker-associate or broker-officer of the principal broker, "provided that nothing … shall be construed to relieve the principal licensed broker from responsibility for all brokerage activities conducted at the branch office." Accountability does not move to the manager and is not shared with him — and nothing prohibits "the office manager from engaging in the listing and sale of real estate." 8.030(2) exempts on-site project sales, leasing or management offices in an apartment complex, office building, shopping center or similar development from branch registration altogether.

Sales Manager

20 CSR 2250-8.040(1) is a license-class test and nothing else: any licensee acting as sales manager or assistant sales manager "shall be required to hold a broker-salesperson license or to be licensed as a broker-partner, broker-associate or broker-officer of the broker." A salesperson cannot reach the role by seniority, by production, by completing the 48-hour broker curriculum, or by designation reported to the Commission — completing a course is not holding a license. This is the rule that catches growing offices: the top producer is made "sales manager" on Monday and the firm is out of compliance on Tuesday.

Clerical Personnel; Personal/Professional Assistants

20 CSR 2250-8.050(1) runs two sentences: unlicensed clerical or office employees "shall be limited to the duties normally attributed to those positions," and "Unlicensed persons shall not do, or attempt to do, any of the activities set out under 339.010.1.(1)-(10), RSMo." The measure is the ordinary content of a clerical job plus an absolute bar on the acts that define brokerage. A broker cannot widen it with a broader job description, and supervision in the same room does not license an unlicensed act; answering the telephone is ordinary clerical work, so public contact is not itself forbidden.

Property management has its own carve-out. Section 339.010.9(5) exempts an employee retained to manage real property "if the person is limited to one or more of the following activities," including showing a rental unit "as long as the employee is acting under the direct instructions of the broker or owner, including the execution of leases or rental agreements," delivering and receiving lease applications and payments, conveying information prepared by the broker or owner, and administrative, clerical or maintenance tasks. Negotiating rent, listing and advertising are not on the list, and choosing between two applications is not conveying prepared information. The regulations still cite this list by its former numbering, § 339.010.5(5).

Display of License

This bullet is a fossil, and knowing that is worth an item. The bulletin still lists "Display of License," but the rule that imposed the duty — 20 CSR 2250-8.060 — was RESCINDED effective 30 July 2023. Missouri now has no license-display duty. A 2022 course book telling you to hang the affiliated licensees' licenses on the wall is teaching a withdrawn rule.

What survives is 20 CSR 2250-8.010. Subsection (1): "Every resident broker, except those who have placed their licenses on inactive status or those not actively engaged in real estate business, shall maintain a regularly established place of business in this state, which shall be open to the public during usual business hours or at regular stated intervals." The exceptions sit inside the sentence; the subsection disapplies itself "to a broker-salesperson or to broker-partners, broker-associates or broker-officers of a firm which maintains a regular place of business"; and it runs the other way too — "No salesperson may be associated with a broker not maintaining a regularly established place of business." Subsection (2) is the only display duty left: "A broker's business sign of sufficient size to identify it and bearing the name under which the broker or the broker's firm is licensed … shall be displayed outside of the broker's regular place of business." Missouri has never required commission rates to be posted, and escrow account details go to the Commission under § 339.105.2, not onto a wall.

Advertising

20 CSR 2250-8.070, amended effective 30 October 2022, is the densest advertising rule on this exam.

Blind ads. 8.070(2): "No real estate advertisement by a licensee shall show only a post office box number, telephone number, or street address. Every advertisement … shall contain the broker's regular business name … and shall indicate that the party advertising is a real estate broker and not a private party." 8.070(3) adds that where the licensee's own name or telephone number appears, the ad must also carry the name and telephone number of the broker or firm holding that license. Missouri requires no license number, list price, Commission logo or consent reference in the advertisement itself — though 8.090(1) separately forbids advertising or signing a property without the owner's written consent.

Owner-agent. A licensee advertising property in which the licensee has an interest and which is not listed by a brokerage entity must state, prominently, one of "By owner-broker," "By owner-salesperson," or "By owner-agent" (8.070(1)(B)). A plain "for sale by owner" is not merely insufficient: 8.070(1)(A) forbids advertising "in any manner indicating that the offer … is being made by a private party not engaged in the real estate business."

Team names. 8.070(5) bars any "name, team name, or other term that could be construed by members of the public as the advertiser being a real estate partnership, company, brokerage, or business entity, unless the advertiser holds a valid appropriate entity license," and (5)(A) names the trigger words: "realty, brokerage, company, or other terms that may be construed as a real estate entity." Filing the name with the Commission cures nothing. The bar is not absolute: under (5)(B) a team name that "includes or incorporates the name of the broker/brokerage" is no violation when it identifies that affiliation. Section 339.100.2(24)(b) carries the same rule at statute level.

Guaranteed sales. 8.070(6)(B) fixes a proportion rather than a point size: the disclaimer "shall be set forth in print at least one-fourth (1/4) as large as the largest print in the advertisement" — a bolder headline forces a bolder disclaimer. Broadcast advertisements need "a conspicuous statement advising if any conditions and limitations apply" ((6)(C)), and the agreement itself must be written and state the charges, the price, and "the approximate net proceeds the seller may reasonably expect to receive" ((6)(D)).

Franchises; Trade Name; Insignia

A broker who "maintains any business relationship or affiliation, whether by franchise agreement, contract or otherwise, with another organization" and uses that organization's name, trade name or insignia in advertising "shall furnish the commission a copy of the franchise agreement or contract" (20 CSR 2250-8.080(1)). The duty is to file a copy, not to seek approval. 8.080(2) is the one candidates miss: where the agreement says the franchisor "has no legal liability for the actions of the broker," the broker must include in "all listing agreements, contracts for sale and closing statements" a clear and explicit statement to that effect, "in type reasonably calculated to gain the attention of the reader" — three transaction documents, not the advertising that carries the trade name.

Listings

20 CSR 2250-8.090(4)(A) lists fourteen contents every written listing or other brokerage-services agreement must contain. Items 3 and 4 are "A definite beginning date" and "An expiration date" — both ends fixed, so an open-ended Missouri listing is not permissible. The rest include the price, the commission including any bonuses, the type of listing, the property's description, and statements permitting or prohibiting subagency, dual agency and transaction brokerage.