Standards & Enforcement Services is frequently asked – “What are your most common violations?” And, “How do I stay out of trouble?” The agency regularly disciplines license holders for violations in all but the last area.

1. SUPERVISE your sales agents.  It is not a defense to broker supervision (Rule 535.2) to say you don’t supervise your sales agents. In other words, saying “I didn’t know about it” is sometimes more of an admission than a defense.

2. An assumed business name must be registered before it can be used.  Brokers do this (for themselves or sponsored sales agents) by using TREC’s Notice Of Assumed Business Name (DBA) For A Broker’s License (DBA-3).  The broker must also notify TREC not later than the 10th day after the date the broker or sales agent stops using the assumed business name. See Rule 535.154.

3. Have a separate license for your business entity. If it’s a legal entity like an LLC or a corporation that conducts real estate brokerage (ex. is on the contract as the broker), be sure you have a separate license for that entity. It isn’t enough that you have an individual license and “registering” a separate legal entity with us doesn’t work (that only works for an assumed business name or an alternate name). See Rule 535.154.

4. Cooperate with an investigation. Not responding to a TREC investigator’s request for an interview or documents is usually a straightforward violation. (TRELA §§1101.652(a)(4) and (a-1)(2).). (“TRELA” is The Texas Real Estate License Act, which is at Chapter 1101, Texas Occupations Code. It’s on our website.)

5. Tell TREC in writing within 30 days of final entry of your felony or fraud conviction, guilty plea, or nolo contendere plea. (TRELA §§1101.652(a)(7).) Failure to comply with this carries a minimum penalty of $500.

6. Be careful about conducting property management. Make sure you are well-trained and supervised in this area. About 10-25 percent of the agency’s real estate brokerage complaints relate to property management.

7. Be nice – customer service works wonders. Once we have a complaint, we may notice something the customer or client didn’t even complain about. The best defense is that the agency never hears about the issue because you already took care of it.

 (updated August 2019)