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1997 SESSION
972008112Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 54.1-2105 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 54.1-2105. General powers of Real Estate Board; regulations; educational and experience requirements for licensure.
A. The Board may do all things necessary and convenient for carrying into effect the provisions of this chapter and may promulgate necessary regulations.
B. The Board shall include in its regulations educational requirements as
conditions for licensure to ensure the protection of the public interest. The
Board is authorized to regulate any school which is established to offer real
estate courses except such schools as are regulated by another state agency.
Such authority shall include, but not be limited to, qualification of
instructors, approval of course curricula and the requirement that
such schools submit evidence of financial responsibility to ensure that these
schools protect the public health, safety and welfare. The Board shall have the
discretion to waive any requirement under the regulations relating to education
or experience when the broker or salesperson is found to have education or
experience equivalent to that required. No regulation imposing educational
requirements for initial licensure beyond those specified by law shall apply to
any person who was licensed prior to July 1, 1975, and who has been
continuously licensed since that time, except that licensure as a salesperson
prior to such time shall not exempt a salesperson who seeks to be licensed as a
broker from the educational requirements established for brokers. Regulations
promulgated by the Board shall include the following requirements:
1. a. Every applicant to the Board for an initial license as a real estate salesperson shall have completed a course in the principles of real estate which carried an academic credit of at least three semester hours or six quarter hours (but not less than forty-five hours of classroom or correspondence or other distance learning instruction in any case). The course shall be one offered by an accredited university, college, community college, high school offering adult distributive education courses, or other school or educational institution offering an equivalent course.
b. However, on and after January 1, 1991, the academic credit required for the initial license as a real estate salesperson shall be at least four semester hours, but not less than sixty hours of classroom, correspondence or other distance learning instruction.
2. Every applicant to the Board for an initial license as a real estate broker shall have completed not less than twelve semester hours of classroom or correspondence or other distance learning instruction in real estate courses offered by an accredited university, college, community college, or other school or educational institution offering equivalent courses.
C. The Board shall establish criteria to ensure that prelicensure and broker licensure courses meet the standards of quality deemed by the Board to be necessary to protect the public interests. For correspondence and other distance learning instruction offered by an approved provider, such criteria may include appropriate testing procedures.
Noncollegiate institutions shall not be authorized to grant collegiate semester hours for academic credit.
The specific content of the real estate courses shall be in real estate brokerage, real estate finance, real estate appraisal, real estate law, and such related subjects as are approved by the Board.
D. The Board shall include in its regulations educational requirements as a
condition for relicensure of brokers and salespersons to whom active licenses
have been issued by the Board beyond those now specified by law as conditions
for licensure. Brokers and salespersons to whom active licenses have been
issued by the Board shall be required to satisfactorily complete courses of not
less than eight hours of classroom or correspondence or other distance learning
instruction during each licensing term, no less than two hours of which shall
include training in fair housing laws and statereal state
real estate laws and regulations. If the licensee submits a notarized
affidavit to the Board which certifies that he does not practice residential
real estate and shall not do so during the licensing term, training in fair
housing shall not be required; instead; such licensee shall receive training in
other applicable federal and state discrimination laws and regulations. The
remaining six hours shall include real estate-related subjects as are approved
by the Board. For correspondence and other distance learning instruction
offered by an approved provider, the Board shall establish the appropriate
testing procedures to verify completion of the course and require the licensee
to file a notarized affidavit certifying compliance with the course
requirements. The Board shall not require testing for continuing education
courses completed through classroom instruction. For purposes of this chapter,
"distance learning" means instruction delivered by an approved provider through
a medium other than a classroom setting. Such courses shall be those offered by
an accredited university, college, community college, high school offering
adult distributive education courses, other school or educational institution,
or real estate professional association or related entities.
E. The Board shall include in its regulations, a procedure for processing
applications of educational institutions, real estate professional
associations, or related entities, to provide continuing education courses,
which procedure, at a minimum, shall (i) establish objective criteria for
evaluating such applications; (ii) acknowledge, in writing, receipt of such
applications within ten calendar days after receipt; and (iii) provide written
notification to the applicant, within [ thirty
seventy-five ] calendar days of receipt of the application,
whether the application has been approved or disapproved, and if disapproved,
the reasons therefor.
E. F. As of July 1, 1990, every
applicant for relicensure as an active salesperson or broker shall complete the
continuing education requirements prior to each renewal or reinstatement of his
license. The continuing education requirement shall also apply to inactive
licensees who make application for an active license. Notwithstanding this
requirement, military personnel called to active duty in the Armed Forces of
the United States may complete the required continuing education within six
months of their release from active duty.
F. G. The Board shall also include
in its regulations remedial educational requirements for any salesperson or
broker who has been inactive for more than three years. The regulations shall
require the applicant to meet the educational requirements for a salesperson or
broker in effect at the time either becomes active.
G. H. When the license has been
inactive for more than three years the Board may waive the educational
requirements for reactivation of a license under the following conditions: (i)
during the time the license has been inactive, the holder of such
inactive license has been engaged in an occupation whereby the knowledge of
real estate would be retained or (ii) the holder of such license is a member or
the spouse of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States who has been
permanently assigned outside Virginia for a portion of the time the license has
been inactive, and the holder of the inactive license remained
current in the field of real estate and demonstrates this fact to the
satisfaction of the Board.
H. I. The Board shall develop a
residential property disclaimer statement form and a residential property
disclosure statement form for use in accordance with the provisions of §
55-519.
2. That the Real Estate Board shall examine the feasibility and desirability of establishing reciprocal agreements with neighboring states and the District of Columbia for the mutual recognition of continuing education courses approved by such states and the District of Columbia.