Dan Naylor

It’s official! The Division of Real Estate has been working on a new required course for real estate agents in Utah.  After a public comment period, the Real Estate Commission approved the new rule on 6/19/2019.

UPDATE: The Division of Real Estate has announced the official name of the course to be “Mandatory Residential Course” on July 11, 2019.

Call Now to Schedule a Live 3 Hour Required Course for your Brokerage! 3+ instructors available, and more coming! 801-797-9870

Here are the details every agent needs to know:

  1. Starting January 1, 2020 all sales agent and broker renewals will need to have taken the 3 hour required course in order to renew.
  2. The first approved 3 hour required courses will become available in July, 2019 are available now! That gives agents 6 months to take the class before the January requirement takes effect.
  3. This 3 hour required course counts as part of the 18 required Continuing Education credits. It does not require additional hours, it can be taken as part of the CORE 9 hours that are already required.

What Led to the creation of the new 3 Hour Required Course?

This was an effort over 8 months.  The industry as a whole was noticing that certain issues kept cropping up between agents, and in various transactions.  I myself saw several issues as I participated on committees that handled grievances and professional standards in the industry.

Kreg Wagner of the Utah Association of Realtors® brought the issue to the attention of the Utah Real Estate Commission.  The Utah Association of Realtors® has a legal hotline where they help answer legal questions from real estate agents who are members of the Association.  They noticed that they were getting a lot of the same questions over and over, and gathered data on the calls to paint a picture of the state of the market in Utah.

They found that a lot of the issues that kept coming up on the legal hotline were core issues dealing primarily with legal questions regarding agency, and many questions related to the Real Estate Purchase Contract.  So the new 3 hour Required Class has this basic outline:

  1. 1 hour Agency Law, including fiduciary duties and the requirements of limited agency, or dual agency
  2. 1 hour Real Estate Purchase Contract law, including contingencies, disclosures, earnest money, and acceptance and cancellation
  3. 1 hour Legal Updates, including recent law changes, and rule changes for real estate agents

Where can I attend the new 3 Hour Required Course?

The course is available ONLINE now.  Click here to enroll in the online Mandatory Residential Course.

Live classes are being scheduled around the state.  Call us to find out when our next Live Mandatory Residential Course is scheduled at 801-797-9870.

Since the rule has just been put into place, and the requirement doesn’t take effect until January 1, 2020, you have 6 months to take the class before you will need it to have it in RELMS for your license renewal.  There are no approved classes yet, UPDATE: Our course was approved on June 21, 2019.  the Division will be presenting the course outline to instructors this Wednesday, June 26.  When the classes are approved you can search for providers on the Division of Real Estate website here:

https://realestate.utah.gov/education.html

How can I teach the new Required Course?

Instructors who wish to teach the new 3 hour required course will be required to attend a class presented by the Division of Real Estate.  The first one is this Wednesday, June 26, 2019.  Future instructor classes will be presented at the annual Instructor Development Workshop (IDW) normally held in October each year.  Instructors cannot teach the course without attending this event.

I’m a commercial agent, do I need to take this class on the REPC?

The Real Estate Commission had a committee work to determine how best to accommodate real estate agents of all specialties.  They included in the rule that the 3 Hour Required Class can have 3 different outlines targeted at these different types of agents:

  1. Residential
  2. Commercial
  3. Property Management

They have already completed an approved outline for the Residential 3 Hour Required course, and that is what they will be presenting to instructors this week.  They have contacted experts in Commercial real estate, and in Property Management, and they are working toward getting curriculum approved for those specialties.  If you are a specialist in one of those areas, I invite you to contact a member of the Real Estate Commission and let them know that you are interested in helping to develop the required course outline for your industry!