New Laws Starting September 1, 2007

At the last Texas Real Estate Commission meeting Monday 8/6/07 several TREC rules were passed to comply with the new statute.

Here are some of the changes effective September 1, 2007.If you take an online MCE course you cannot complete the course in less than 24 hours. So if you wait until the last day of your renewal and you only need 1 more hour of MCE you will not be able to get credit for 24 hours after you have started the ONLINE course. It is my understanding that this 24-hour rule only applies to ONLINE classes not classroom or correspondence MCE courses.

TREC took action to replace the Real Estate Inspectors Committee with a new advisory group established in the statute. There were several discussions on the new requirement for Inspectors to carry E&O coverage. Some inspectors asked for guidance on what the E&O needed to cover.

In the past TREC could not order a licensee to issue a refund. As of September 1, 2007 that will change.

If you have a complaint filed against you and hearing is held it will no longer be with a TREC administrative hearings officer. Cases will now be assigned the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

If you do a late renewal be prepared to pay higher fees. The late fees depends on how long you have let your license go inactive.

Some of these rules were passed on an emergency measure. This will allow TREC to have rules in place 9/1/07 but also allow them to create more permanent rules later.

Some of the new laws do not become effective until January 1, 2008.

If you apply for a broker's license on or after 1/1/08 you will need 30 CORE hours in a Real Estate Brokerage courses. This course will have a TREC number in the 700's. Such as our Real Estate Brokerage 0712 course. The total number of hours did not increase. This Brokerage course will be part of the required 270 CORE hours.

Fingerprinting and more extensive criminal background checks will be required for new applicants and current licensee renewals.

TREC also took action to approve a new TREC Seller's Disclosure. This is NOT a mandatory Promulgated TREC form. It can be used by any agent or seller who may not have access to a TAR or local board's Seller Disclosure form.

All information is deemed to be correct but is not guaranteed. Posts are for eduction purposes only and are not intended to replace professional advice.