TREC Proposals: Unauthorized Practice of Law & Education Requirements

At the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) meeting on Monday, February 13th, the Commission voted to propose several rules for the unauthorized practice of law and education requirements. Here are summaries of the proposals: 

The Unauthorized Practice of Law and Use of Standard Contract Forms (§537.1 and §537.11)

TREC received hundreds of public comments opposing an amendment proposed in November that would have eliminated the ability of license holders to use contract forms prepared by an attorney for a brokerage when no commission-approved contract form for mandatory use exists. In response, the commission voted to remove that change prohibiting brokerage forms from its new proposal. One proposed change adds a definitions section for the term “informational items,” which is intended to better describe the type of information that a license holder can add to a contract form. The proposed amendments to §537.11 reorganize and consolidate the rule for clarity and simplify the language regarding when a license holder is required to use a commission-approved contract form and what is considered the unauthorized practice of law. 

Requirements for sales agent initial license renewal (§535.55)

The proposed amendment to §535.55 requires a sales agent to complete the 30-hour qualifying real estate brokerage course as a part of the additional 90 hours of qualifying courses that must be completed by the expiration date of the sales agent’s initial licensing period. Currently, that course is one of many sales agents may choose to take to satisfy the 90-hour education requirement.