Ariz. Admin. Code § R4-28-402 - Continuing Education Requirements; Waiver; Distance Learning

A. Continuing education requirements.

1. To be eligible for license renewal, a real estate salesperson or broker shall complete continuing education courses approved by the Department under R4-28-404, presented by a real estate school approved under R4-28-404, and taken since the salesperson's or broker's original licensure or effective date of the preceding license, whichever is later.

2. A real estate salesperson or associate broker applying for renewal shall submit proof of satisfactory completion of 24 credit hours of continuing education courses in the categories specified in subsection (A)(5). The renewal applicant shall complete a minimum of three hours in each of the mandatory categories under subsections (A)(5)(a) through (A)(5)(f). The renewal applicant shall take additional courses in the mandatory categories, or shall take courses in the business brokerage or general real estate categories described in subsection (A)(5)(g) and (A)(5)(h) to fulfill the required 24 credit hours.

3. A real estate designated broker applying for renewal shall submit proof of satisfactory completion of 24 credit hours of continuing education courses. The renewal applicant shall complete a minimum of three hours in each of the mandatory categories under subsections (A)(5)(a) through (A)(5)(f) and shall complete a Broker Management Clinic under A.R.S. 32-2136 approved in the Commissioner's Standards category under subsection (A)(5)(c). The renewal applicant shall take additional courses in the mandatory categories, or shall take courses in the business brokerage or general real estate categories described in subsection (A)(5)(g) and (A)(5)(h) to fulfill the required 24 credit hours.

4. A salesperson renewing for the first time may include credit for attendance at the Contract Writing class taken under A.R.S. § 32-2124(L) if taken within one year before the date of the salesperson's original licensure. A broker renewing for the first time may include credit for attendance at the Broker Management Clinic under A.R.S. § 32-2136 taken before the broker's original licensure date.

5. The categories for real estate continuing education courses are:

a. Agency law. The majority of class material concerns agency relationships and disclosure.

b. Contract law. The majority of class material concerns the contract formation and implementation, or the results of contract use, including:

i. Various contract forms and clauses, fundamentals, updates, options, offers, counter offers, first right of refusal, and exchanges;

ii. Contract writing;

iii. Required disclosures, problem-solving, and law and rule requirements;

iv. Recent court decisions and case law studies;

v. Breach of contract issues;

vi. Legal, ethical and agency considerations, procedures, and disclosures;

vii. Accommodating current financing procedures, requirements, and options.

c. Commissioner's standards. The majority of class material relates to license laws, including:

i. Article 26 of the Arizona Constitution;

ii. A.R.S. Title 32, Chapter 20, and A.A.C. Title 4, Chapter 28, which includes trust accounts, recordkeeping, license requirements, exemptions to licensure, commission payments, recovery fund provisions, development requirements, processes for public reports for and sale of subdivided and unsubdivided land, membership campgrounds and time-shares, cemetery regulations, and grounds for disciplinary action and hearings.

iii. A.R.S. Title 44, Chapter 10, Article 3.1, Trade Names and Business Practices.

d. Real estate legal issues. The majority of class material concerns existing real estate law, including:

i. Sources of real estate law (constitutions, statutes, zoning, common), and the legal system;

ii. Land and its elements (air, mineral rights, real and personal property);

iii. Land, title, and interests in land, homestead, encumbrances, and the Landlord and Tenant Act;

iv. Easements, fixtures, land descriptions, ownership, deeds, and building restrictions;

v. Escrow procedures, financing documents, and lending laws and regulations, including Regulation Z;

vi. Wills and estates, taxes, bankruptcy law, securities laws, title insurance, and appraisal law;

vii. Case law studies, real estate fraud, disclosure law, interstate and international real estate;

viii. Commission issues and forms of business ownership;

ix. Homeowners Association regulations;

x. Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA); and

xi. Environmental issues.

e. Fair housing. The majority of class material concerns equal opportunities in housing, including:

i. Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA architectural designs (construction and development), and pertinent court cases;

ii. Arizona and federal fair housing laws, including advertising, marketing, information, and enforcement;

iii. Housing developments, deed restrictions, affordable housing, elder housing, zoning, local ordinances, and disclosures;

iv. Commercial and residential concerns; and

v. Administrative procedures and business practices.

f. Disclosure. The majority of class material concerns the following:

i. Licensee's disclosure obligations to client and others;

ii. Seller's and buyer's disclosure obligations to each other;

iii. Common material facts warranting disclosure, and liability for failure to disclose;

iv. Avoiding inadvertent non-disclosures;

v. Transaction documents that should be reviewed;

vi. Common "red flags" in a real estate transaction;

vii. Homeowner associations and buyers' obligations to homeowner associations; and

viii. Advising buyers and sellers of common "red flags."

g. Business brokerage. The majority of class material concerns business brokerage including:

i. Business brokerage basics including introducing licensees to business brokerage, associated terminology, marketing, prospecting, listing, pricing, closing practices, the use of contracts related to and unique to business brokerage, and the application of business brokerage contracts;

ii. Business valuations and appraisals, and establishing an in-depth review of proper business valuation techniques for small, medium, and large businesses;

iii. Tax structure and considerations, tax law, and policy including subjects such as financing tools available, options available, and tax implications;

iv. Accounting for business brokers;

v. Agency in business brokerages, the use of contracts related to and unique to business brokerage, and the application of business brokerage contracts; and

vi. Disclosure issues in business brokerage, including common "red flags" in a business opportunity transaction, and advising buyers and sellers of common "red flags."

h. General real estate. The majority of class material concerns real estate, but does not fall within any of the categories listed in subsections (A)(5)(a) through (A)(5)(g), including:

i. Appraisal methodology;

ii. General finance, use of financial calculators, mathematics, and managing cash flow;

iii. History of development in metropolitan areas; and

iv. Introduction to property management.

6. The Department may require an individual applying for renewal to obtain credit hours based upon significant current issues in the real estate community. The Department shall notify licensees of a new requirement by written notice published in printed or electronic format.

7. The Department may grant continuing education credit for a course that does not have a certificate of approval under R4-28-404 if the applicant demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that the course meets the requirements prescribed in R4-28-404 and the course content requirements of this Section.

8. An applicant may substitute subject matter hours within a 90-hour broker's prelicensure course that meet the criteria for credit under subsections (A)(5)(a) through (A)(5)(h), if taken since the last license renewal, for the continuing education credit required in subsection (A)(2) or (3).

9. If any change in the continuing education course requirements occurs during a renewal applicant's license period and the applicant has fully complied with the continuing education requirement in effect before the change occurs, the Department shall consider the renewal applicant to be in compliance with the continuing education requirements for the license period.

B. Continuing education waiver. Under A.R.S. § 32-2130, the Commissioner may waive all or a portion of the continuing education requirement or grant additional time to complete a continuing education requirement when a salesperson or broker submits a written request to the Commissioner and shows good cause for the waiver or additional time.

1. Good cause may include:

a. A person employed by the state or political subdivision establishes to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that the person's employment during the prior license period involved real estate-related matters;

b. Any officer or employee of the state whose license is on an inactive status due to a possible conflict of interest or other employment requirement;

c. The person demonstrates successful completion of a course on topics specifically related to the person's field of real estate practice;

d. An approved real estate instructor requests a waiver for a course the instructor has taught;

e. The salesperson or broker demonstrates other extraordinary circumstances.

2. A salesperson or broker is granted additional time by the Commissioner to complete the continuing education requirement for license renewal shall complete the continuing education hours by the deadline or be subject to disciplinary action.

C. The Department shall not grant a person credit for more than nine hours of continuing education per day.

D. Distance learning.

1. Only a school holding a Certificate of Approval shall offer a distance learning course. The school shall obtain course approval from the Department before advertising the course as approved by the Department for credit hours and before issuing Department credit hours for the course to students.

2. The Department shall not approve a distance learning course unless it contains:

a. Individual modules of instruction for delivery on a computer or other interactive program;

b. At least one learning objective for each module of instruction. The learning objective shall ensure that if all the objectives are met, the entire content of the course is understood;

c. A structured learning method to enable the student to attain each learning objective;

d. A diagnostic assessment of the student's performance during each module of instruction;

i. The assessment shall measure what the student learned throughout the module of instruction, and

ii. Assess the comprehension of each concept covered in the module;

e. Remediation.

i. Repetition of a module if a student is deficient in a diagnostic assessment; and

ii. Continuous repetition of the module until the student understands the content material.

3. An approved instructor shall teach and an approved instructor or the school director shall grade distance learning courses. The instructor or school director shall:

a. Provide the student with assistance, if required;

b. Obtain a signed certification statement from the student indicating that the student has completed each assignment of instruction; and

c. Certify the student as completing a distance learning course only if the student:

i. Completes all required instructional modules,

ii. Attends any required hours of live instruction or testing, or both, for a given course; and

iii. Passes a final examination.

4. As part of its application for approval of a distance learning course, a school shall file a plan with the Department describing how the school will deal with hardware and software failure.

Notes

Ariz. Admin. Code § R4-28-402

Adopted effective May 1, 1980 (Supp. 80-3). Amended subsection (F) effective March 13, 1981 (Supp. 81-2). Former Section R4-28-11 renumbered without change as Section R4-28-402 (Supp. 87-1). Amended by deleting subsections (C) and (E) and renumbering accordingly effective March 7, 1988 (Supp. 88-1). Former Section R4-28-402 renumbered to Section R4-28-403, new Section R4-28-402 adopted by final rulemaking at 5 A.A.R. 650, effective February 3, 1999 (Supp. 99-1). Amended by final rulemaking at 6 A.A.R. 1886, effective May 2, 2000 (Supp. 00-2). Amended by final rulemaking at 11 A.A.R. 506, effective March 5, 2005 (Supp. 05-1).