Montana Real Estate License Law, Board Rules, and Commission Regulation
Who regulates the business
Montana licenses brokers, salespersons, property managers, and appraisers through the Board of Realty Regulation, housed in the Department of Labor and Industry's Business Standards Division. The license law lives in Title 37, chapter 51, MCA, and the Board's administrative rules (ARM Title 24, chapter 210) fill in the operational detail. Know the hierarchy: statute controls rule, rule controls policy, and informal Board guidance never overrides either.
What each license authorizes
A salesperson must work under a licensed broker and is compensated by that broker, never directly by a client or a cooperating brokerage. A broker may operate independently, sponsor salespersons, and hold trust funds. Managing other people's rental property for compensation requires a property management license or work under a broker authorized for it. Learn the standard exemptions: an owner selling their own property, an attorney acting as an attorney, court-appointed officers, and isolated transactions.
Conduct traps
Exams love money handling: earnest money and deposits belong in a broker's trust account, never commingled with operating funds, with receipts, ledgers, and disbursement only when authorized. Commissions may not be paid to an unlicensed person or entity, and a salesperson may not pocket a thank-you check from a client. Advertising must identify the brokerage; team names are permitted only within Board rules.
Discipline and remedies
Complaints are screened, investigated, and, where warranted, heard as a contested case. Sanctions run from reprimand through suspension, revocation, and civil penalties, and the guaranty fund can reimburse consumers harmed by a licensee's misappropriation.
Rule of thumb: if you cannot answer whose money is this and whose name is on the license? you have found the point the question is testing.