Joseph Autilio, executive director of the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons, answers agents’
questions regarding real estate licensing in Massachusetts.

License Requirements by Reciprocity
Q. Do I need to complete the Massachusetts continuing education
requirement if I’ve done so in my home state?
A. The answer depends upon whether or not you have been licensed in
Massachusetts by examination or reciprocity.

If you received your license in Massachusetts by completing the relevant pre-licensing education and agent examination, then you would need to complete the 12-hour continuing education requirement in order to renew your license as a real estate agent in Massachusetts. However, if you were licensed in Massachusetts through reciprocity and completed the continuing education requirement of your home state, then you would not need to take the 12-hour Massachusetts continuing education requirement. This is true regardless of the number of hours of continuing education required in your home state. It is important, however, that you complete your home state’s continuing education requirement in order to satisfy the Massachusetts continuing education requirement.

The Board is aware that in some states, once you have been a licensee for a number of years, the state will exempt you from its continuing education requirement. But be mindful that if this is the case and you do not complete your home state’s continuing education requirement, you would then need to complete the Massachusetts continuing education requirement. In other words,an exemption from continuing education in your home state, if utilized, does not exempt you in Massachusetts.

Without a Broker of Record
Q. What happens to my corporate real estate broker’s license if I lose my broker of record?
A. The short answer is that you have, effectively, lost your corporate
broker’s license. In Massachusetts, for a corporation to become licensed as a broker, it must designate at least one of its officers as “the broker of record.” The issuance of a corporate broker license to a corporation does not authorize everyone affiliated with the corporation to act as a real estate agent.

Rather, it permits all the individually licensed real estate agents to perform real estate brokering services, as defined by the licensing law, on behalf of the corporation. The broker of record is responsible for the actions of the corporate broker and the individually licensed real estate agents (salespeople and brokers) who act in the capacity of real estate agents on behalf of the corporation.

In many instances, corporations only have one broker who serves as
both an officer and the broker of record. The loss of such broker of record would render the license void, given that the relevant licensing law requires that there be an officer in the corporation who is individually licensed as a broker in the Commonwealth as a prerequisite to licensure as a corporate broker.

Of course, corporations can change the person who is their broker of record with the Board, but the question posed here is when they no longer have such broker of record.

The Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers & Salespersons office in Boston can be reached at 617-727-2373.