After combing through 1,100 complaints during his 11-year tenure with the Commission, TREC Chief Investigator Roy Minton wins Investigator of the Year for a second time. The first win was in 2019. Both recognitions, by the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO), were given for Minton’s work in uncovering rental fraud.

The Real Estate License Act (TRELA) says a licensed sales agent may not engage in real estate brokerage activity unless that sales agent is sponsored by a licensed broker and is acting for that broker.

In Texas, transaction coordinators and showing agents are frequently used by brokerages as part of their business model, but sometimes these models entail working for other brokerages. Here is what “acting for” your broker means in these situations.

When a third party, such as a relative or real estate agent, is paying for an inspection, does this mean the third party is the client? Under TREC rules, the answer is no. Another person paying for the inspection on behalf of the client does not change who the inspector's client is for this transaction. The inspection report should be delivered to the client, regardless of who pays for the inspection.

They are still happening: Real estate leasing scams continue to pose a threat to property owners in Texas, especially in the greater Houston area, prompting the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) to issue warnings such as this press release sent to more than a dozen news outlets—most of them based in the southeastern part of the state—including The Houston Chronicle,

The Texas Real Estate Commission’s Enforcement Division has 37 people—10 attorneys, legal assistants, and investigators. They enforce the laws and rules that regulate real estate brokers, sales agents, real estate inspectors, and timeshare plans, through the investigation of consumer complaints. They also review the fitness of an applicant for licensure.

The only way enforcement can initiate an investigation is through a filed complaint, which can be done by anyone.

The 88th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, began January 10, 2023, and ends May 29, 2023. This session opened with the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) and Texas Appraiser Licensing Board (TALCB) following 358 bills relevant to the administration of the agency.  A much smaller number will become law, one of relevance to Texas real estate license holders.

The Texas Real Estate Commission is assisting the Texas Land Title Association (TLTA) in educating license holders of trending fraud schemes. 

Over the last several months, TLTA is seeing more people fall victim to seller impersonators. Prime target properties are vacant land or investment property such as vacation homes, second homes, rental properties, and any other instance where the tax mailing address is different than the property owner’s address.

The Texas Real Estate Inspector Committee (TREIC) met April 18.

Around 1% of Texas Real Estate Commission license holders are the subject of a complaint, and in 2022, slightly more than 5% of all complaints received by TREC were related to advertising issues.

Many advertising-related complaints can be handled easily, from adding missing brokerage information on for sale signs to adding missing required links on a license holder’s website. Because of these simple remedies, TREC is launching the Advertising Compliance Program, which will streamline the processing of complaints that deal only with advertising violations.