South Carolina Licensing and Regulation
Who regulates what
The South Carolina Real Estate Commission, administered within the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, licenses brokers, broker-in-charge, salespersons, and property managers, sets pre-licensing education and examination requirements, and disciplines licensees. Every real estate office must have a broker-in-charge who supervises the licensees in that office and answers for their brokerage activity.
Getting and keeping a license
A salesperson candidate must meet the age and education prerequisites, complete the required pre-licensing course, pass the examination, and affiliate with a broker-in-charge before practicing. The broker credential requires experience and advanced coursework. Licenses renew on a biennial cycle with required continuing education, and licensees must keep the Commission informed of address changes and reportable matters. A licensee may not be paid for brokerage activity while inactive or unaffiliated.
Conduct the Commission enforces
Trust account and recordkeeping rules, no commingling or conversion of client funds, advertising that identifies the firm, no compensation to unlicensed persons, no net listings, written agency agreements and disclosures, disclosure of a licensee's own interest, and honest dealing with the public. Discipline can include reprimand, fines, additional education, suspension, revocation, and cease and desist orders. Complaints are investigated, and a licensee may appeal an adverse decision to the South Carolina Administrative Law Court.
Traps
- Thinking a salesperson may work independently of a broker-in-charge.
- Assuming an expired or inactive license still permits referral fees.
- Treating Commission recordkeeping rules as a formality; inspections are real.
Worked example
A salesperson lets her license lapse but continues collecting referral checks from a lender. She is practicing without a license and receiving compensation from an improper source; both are grounds for discipline and the payments are not owed to an unlicensed person.