Kansas and Missouri Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger Asks: Is Your Real Estate Assistant Putting Your License at Risk?

Real estate agents are respected members of the Kansas and Missouri professional communities.  But like any other professionals, real estate agents have to maintain good standing with their licensing agency if they want to continue their career. In particular, I have seen cases recently where realtors either fail to supervise their assistants or allow their assistants to have too significant a role in transactions. Either type of activity can result in discipline for the supervising realtor.

If you are a real estate professional in Kansas or Missouri facing an allegation of misconduct or an investigation, call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation. Your career, reputation, and livelihood are at risk, and the challenge facing you is one you cannot work your way through alone.

Failure to Supervise and Allowing Unlicensed Activity

One of the realities of being a real estate agent is that there is way more work than there are hours in the day to perform it all.  As a result, successful realtors frequently hire real estate assistants who perform more run of the mill aspects of the work so that the realtor can devote time to focusing on getting new business and closing the big deals.  While this sort of division of labor results in significant efficiency and economies of scale, it can also result in ethical violations that can cost the supervising realtor his or her license.

Realtors frequently find themselves in hot water when they do not supervise their employees’ creation of promotional materials, contact with clients, and other duties. Whether knowingly or not, employees become empowered, take on more complex tasks, and begin performing duties that only a licensed realtor is allowed to perform.  This results in two types of license problems, failure to supervise and allowing the unlicensed activity.

As a real estate professional, you know that there are certain activities that only someone holding a real estate license can engage in.  In a failure to supervise case, the state alleges that a realtor’s subordinates engaged in behaviors reserved for realtors and that the licensed realtor failed to prevent this behavior. Similarly, an unlicensed activity case alleges that a realtor allowed those working for him or her to engage in professional activities reserved for licensed realtors. Here is a list of activities that are generally prohibited for real estate assistants, and that are frequently the cause of licensing issues for their supervisors: showing properties, hosting open houses, explaining listings or contracts to buyers or sellers, negotiating, conducting or gathering business on behalf of a realtor.

Contact an Experienced Kansas and Missouri Licensing Attorney Now for the Advice You Need

You have worked too hard to attain your real estate license to lose it because you failed to attain professional legal advice in a timely fashion. Reviewing the allegations against you, getting your evidence in order, and deposing witnesses are just a few of the important tasks a licensing attorney will perform to best position you to avoid any sort of discipline.  I also have tremendous experience working with licensing agencies and can negotiate an agreeable penalty if no successful defense is available. Contacting an experienced licensing attorney can mean the difference between getting back to helping your real estate clients and losing your career forever.

Kansas and Missouri professional licensing attorney Danielle Sanger is prepared to advocate for your best interests and defend your real estate license. Call Attorney Sanger at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an attorney experienced dealing with professional licensing issues.

 

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