The Texas Real Estate Commission met August 11, marking the first meeting led by newly appointed Chair Mark Woodroof, of Houston, and for Broker Members Kristi Davis, of Carrollton, and J.B. Goodwin, of Austin (pictured below in order). It started with commissioner appointments to various committees and honoring outgoing Broker-Lawyer Committee members.

  

Commissioner Appointments

Commissioner Ben Peña was nominated to serve as vice chair of the Commission. He joins broker members—Chair Mark Woodroof and Secretary Chance Brown—on the TREC Executive Committee.

Chair Woodroof made the following appointments:

Enforcement Committee

• Ben Peña, chair
• Stuart Bernstein
• Renee Harvey Lowe

Budget Committee

• Mark Woodroof, chair
• J.B. Goodwin
• Stuart Bernstein

TREC and TALCB Joint Audit Committee

• Ben Peña, chair
• J.B. Goodwin

TALCB Chair Chance Bolton is also on the audit committee.

Liaisons

• Texas Real Estate Inspector Committee (TREIC): Leslie Lerner
• Education Standards Advisory Committee (ESAC): Kristi Davis
• Broker Responsibility Advisory Committee (BRAC): Chance Brown and Leslie Lerner
• Texas Real Estate Broker-Lawyer Committee: Renee Harvey Lowe
• Ex-Officio to the Texas A&M University Texas Real Estate Research Center Advisory Committee: Kristi Davis

Appointments to Broker-Lawyer Committee

Ron Walker, broker member, was reappointed to the Texas Real Estate Broker-Lawyer Committee (BLC). The Commission also appointed Kandi Luensmann as a broker member and Marcus Phipps as an alternate.

Outgoing BLC Members Recognized

Four BLC members’ terms end in August. The Commissioners recognized the service of:

• SJ Swanson, lawyer member of 12 years
• Leigh York, broker member of 12 years
• Aimee Slusher, lawyer member of 12 years

Slusher (left) and Swanson (right) are pictured below with TREC Executive Director Chelsea Buchholtz (center).

REALM Portal

Executive Director Chelsea Buchholtz provided an overview of the forthcoming Real Estate and Appraiser License Management (REALM) Portal. It will allow users to provide the agency with information entirely online, eliminating the need for paper forms and checks. License holders may want to renew early in the current system. Status updates on the project are provided at trec.texas.gov/lms and through TREC Advisor, which you can subscribe to via trec.texas.gov/newsletters.

TREC Rule Adoptions

The bulk of the adopted rule changes are a result of the new license management system, but others are due to quadrennial rule review and recommendations from TREC committees.

Quadrennial rule review is a requirement under state law that rules be evaluated to determine whether they are still needed or if changes should be made. The Commission reviews chapters on a rolling basis to satisfy this requirement.

Under this review and in preparation for the new online system, amendments were adopted to provide notice that when submitting online payments, the Commission may collect a fee required by the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR). The fee is required by DIR regardless of payment type, for example, check or credit card.

Student ID, Course Exam Proctoring

The Commission adopted changes to Chapter 535 as recommended by the Education Standards Advisory Committee (ESAC) and Texas Real Estate Inspector Committee (TREIC) to allow for student identity verification to be done in various ways, such as with the use of technology, and to help alleviate security concerns related to students’ personal data.

The changes adopted remove proctoring requirements for qualifying course exams without precluding the use of a proctor if preferred and remove the requirement that exams be closed book.

For similar reasons, changes to remove the proctoring requirement for inspector non-elective continuing education course exams for distance education were also adopted.

Proposals You Can Comment On

The following were presented to Commissioners and are now formally proposed rule changes that, once published in the Texas Register, you can provide feedback on through the online public comment tool. The earliest any proposed changes could be adopted is at the next Commission meeting in November. These proposals are the result of advisory committee recommendations and laws passed during the 89th Texas Legislature.

Proposed Changes to Broker Education and Experience Requirements

The Broker Responsibility Advisory Committee (BRAC) has been discussing the appropriate balance of education and active experience required to obtain a broker license. It provided the following recommended rule changes to broker licensing requirements to the Commission, which were proposed during the August meeting:

• Allow up to 300 hours of the 630 hours of real estate education to be substituted for experience points earned above the minimum points required for a license.
• Double the experience points required from 360 to 720 points.
• Limit the bachelor’s degree credit to 300 hours, instead of the full 630 hours of real estate-related education.
• Change the property management experience calculation to per property per year (instead of just per property).
• Modify brokerage management/delegated supervisor calculation to a points-per-transaction model.

Form Change Proposals

Information About Brokerage Services Notice

The proposed changes to the Information About Brokerage Services notice are due to Senate Bill 1968, effective January 1, 2026, which adds to The Real Estate License Act (TRELA) a non-representation status and written agreement requirements for certain situations.

The language in the IABS notice has been updated to reflect these changes, and the description of the contact information has been revised to align with current terminology.

Finally, the proposed changes remove references to subagency, as it is eliminated TRELA under Senate Bill 1968.

Temporary Lease Forms

Effective September 1, 2025, Senate Bill 2349 excepts temporary residential leases and short-term leases from the obligation to provide the landlord notice related to flooding. TREC has updated the Landlord’s Floodplain and Flood Notice and its two temporary residential lease agreements: the Buyer’s Temporary Residential Lease and Seller’s Temporary Residential Lease.

New Water Notice: Seller’s Disclosure About Groundwater and Surface Water Rights Form Proposed

The 88th Texas Legislature passed a bill that required the Sunset Commission to conduct a limited-scope review of TREC contract form disclosures. At the conclusion of this review, the Sunset Commission directed TREC to consider additional disclosures related to water rights.

BLC drafted the Water Notice: Seller’s Disclosure About Groundwater and Surface Water Rights for sellers to disclose their knowledge of groundwater and surface water rights on their property, including whether the property is in a groundwater district, if it has water wells, and information related to surface water and water courses, among other information.

Proposed Seller’s Disclosure Notice Changes

Another request from the Sunset Advisory Commission led to proposed revisions to the TREC Seller’s Disclosure Notice. The proposed changes based on the recommendations include new disclosures related to conservation easements, windstorm and other insurance disclosures, and above and underground storage tanks.

Additional Form Change Proposals

The changes listed below apply to all contract forms unless specified otherwise and are recommended by BLC. Paragraph numbers referenced are from the One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale). 

• In Paragraph 5A(2), a definition of “Legal Holiday” has been added to provide better clarity. The term is also capitalized in the Addendum for “Back-Up” Contract.
• In Paragraph 5 and the receipt page, the terms “option fee,” “earnest money,” and “contract” are now lowercase because they are not considered defined terms.
• A new Paragraph 7(I) has been added to the contract forms to clarify the use of a new TREC groundwater and surface water rights notice form.
• Paragraph 12A(1)(b) and (c) are amended to clarify when such provisions should be used.
• The disclosure at the bottom of Page 10 related to compensation between brokers has been removed to help eliminate confusion.
• The Broker Information page has been revised to remove the term “subagent” to reflect its elimination from TRELA in 2026 and further reorganized with updated formatting and terminology to better reflect industry practice.
• The terms “Listing Broker” and “Other Broker” have been replaced with the terms “Seller’s Broker” and “Buyer’s Broker.” This includes the Farm and Ranch Contract and lead-based paint addendum.

Legislative Changes Effective January 1, 2026

Senate Bill 1968 has many changes that will affect license holders. Although these changes aren’t effective until January 1, 2026, TREC is in the process of implementing these changes, which includes proposing and adopting rules. Highlights of these changes include the following.

Business Contact Information for Online Display

Real estate brokers and sales agents will need to provide TREC with their business addresses and business phone numbers. Any information that is provided as business contact information is made publicly available on TREC’s website. Brokers and sales agents can provide a P.O. Box or the brokerage’s address as business contact information for public display.

Broker Responsibility Course for All Brokers

Every broker applicant or broker who applies to renew on or after January 1, 2026, must take the Broker Responsibility Course—regardless of whether you sponsor agents. It will also be required for every broker’s renewal period. Delegated supervisors are still required to take the course.

Associated Broker Identification

Associated brokers must provide TREC details of which brokers they affiliate with. The broker will have the opportunity to affirm the affiliation, but Senate Bill 1968 says it is the responsibility of the associated broker to provide this information to TREC and keep it updated. This information will display in a license holder’s profile on trec.texas.gov.

Notification of Complaints Filed Against Associated Broker

There are two real estate brokerage license types: brokers and sales agents. However, Senate Bill 1968 requires TREC to provide brokers a notice when a complaint is filed against any of their associated brokers. Brokers only receive a notice that there is a complaint—which could be related to a consumer complaint or a background check issue—and no other information.

Your brokerage is not automatically enjoined to the complaint in the same way a sponsoring broker is in a complaint against a sales agent. It is the responsibility of the broker to find out more information from the associated broker, including any notice of a complaint resolution or whether disciplinary action is issued.

Where to Find Meeting Materials

Download the agenda, meeting materials, or watch the recording of the meeting. The next TREC Meeting is November 3, 2025.