Licensing, Registration, and Licensee Supervision
People are licensed; firms are licensed separately
DC licenses people and entities separately, and items love that distinction. Individuals hold a salesperson, associate broker, or broker license; a brokerage entity holds its own firm license and designates a broker of record who is answerable for the office. A salesperson must be affiliated with a licensed broker, may not accept compensation from anyone but that broker or firm, and must sign documents in the manner the Commission requires so the public can see who the responsible broker is. Property management is separately licensed in the District - managing another person's real property for compensation is not something an unaffiliated salesperson may do.
Supervision is the theme
The broker of record must train and monitor affiliates, review advertising (including team names, websites, and social media, which must identify the firm), control escrow and trust accounts, and keep records available for inspection. Escrow funds belong to the parties, not the firm: no commingling with operating money, no use of deposits to cover commissions, prompt disbursement, and separate trust accounts for property-management rents and security deposits. Security deposits are further regulated by the housing code and must be held and accounted for as the law requires.
Traps: a salesperson "splitting" a fee directly with a buyer; an unlicensed assistant hosting open houses or negotiating terms; an associate broker assuming supervision no longer applies; failure to notify the Commission of a change of address or affiliation; and treating a referral fee to an unlicensed person as harmless.
Rule of thumb: money and authority always flow through the broker of record - if an answer has compensation or contractual authority bypassing the firm, it is wrong.