A. The commission shall issue to each qualified applicant a license in the form and size prescribed by the commission.
B. The license shall show the name and address of the licensee. An associate broker's license shall show the name of the qualifying broker by whom the associate broker is engaged. The commission shall deliver or mail the license of the associate broker to the qualifying broker by whom the associate broker is engaged, and the qualifying broker shall display the license at the brokerage from which the associate broker will be conducting real estate business on behalf of the brokerage. The license of the associate broker shall remain in the custody and control of the qualifying broker as long as the associate broker is engaged by that qualifying broker.
C. Any qualifying broker's or associate broker's license suspended or revoked by an order, stipulated agreement or settlement agreement approved by the commission shall be surrendered to the commission by the broker upon the delivery of the order to the broker by the commission, or on the effective date of the order. All real-estate-related activity conducted under such license shall cease for the duration of the license suspension or revocation, and any associate broker licenses hanging with a qualifying broker whose license is suspended or revoked shall be automatically placed on inactive status until a new qualifying broker or a qualifying broker in charge is designated.
D. Every license shall be renewed every three years on or before the last day of the month following the licensee's month of birth. Upon written request for renewal by the licensee, the commission shall certify renewal of a license if there is no reason or condition that might warrant the refusal of the renewal of a license. The licensee shall provide proof of compliance with continuing education requirements and pay the renewal fee. If a licensee has not made application for renewal of license, furnished proof of compliance with continuing education requirements and paid the renewal fee by the license renewal date, the license shall expire. The commission may require a person whose license has expired to apply for a license as if the person had not been previously licensed under Chapter 61, Article 29 NMSA 1978 and further require that the person be reexamined. The commission shall require a person whose license has expired to pay when the person applies for a license, in addition to any other fee, a late fee. If during a period of one year from the date the license expires the person or the person's spouse is either absent from this state on active duty military service or the person is suffering from an illness or injury of such severity that the person is physically or mentally incapable of making application for a license, payment of the late fee and reexamination shall not be required by the commission if, within three months of the person's permanent return to this state or sufficient recovery from illness or injury to allow the person to make an application, the person makes application to the commission for a license. A copy of that person's or that person's spouse's military orders or a certificate from the applicant's physician shall accompany the application. A person excused by reason of active duty military service, illness or injury as provided for in this subsection may make application for a license without imposition of the late fee. All fees collected pursuant to this subsection shall be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of Section 61-29-8 NMSA 1978. The revocation of a qualifying broker's license automatically suspends every associate broker's license granted to any person by virtue of association with the qualifying broker whose license has been revoked, pending a change of qualifying broker. Upon the naming of a new qualifying broker, the suspended license shall be reactivated without charge if granted during the three-year renewal cycle.
E. A qualifying broker shall conduct brokerage business under the trade name and from the brokerage address registered with the commission. Every brokerage shall have a qualifying broker in charge. The license of the qualifying broker and each associate broker associated with that qualifying broker shall be prominently displayed in each brokerage office. The address of the office shall be designated in the qualifying broker's license, and a license issued shall not authorize the licensee to transact real estate business at any other address. In case of removal from the designated address, the licensee shall make application to the commission before the removal or within ten days thereafter, designating the new location of the licensee's office and paying the required fee, whereupon the commission shall issue a license for the new location if the new location complies with the terms of Chapter 61, Article 29 NMSA 1978. A qualifying broker shall maintain a sign at the brokerage office of such size and content as the commission prescribes.
F. When an associate broker is discharged or terminates association or employment with the qualifying broker with whom the associate broker is associated, the qualifying broker shall deliver or mail the associate broker's license to the commission within forty-eight hours. The commission shall hold the license on inactive status. It is unlawful for an associate broker to perform any of the acts authorized by Chapter 61, Article 29 NMSA 1978 either directly or indirectly under authority of an inactive license after the associate broker's association with a qualifying broker has been terminated and the associate broker's license has been returned to the commission until the appropriate fee has been paid and the license has been reissued and reactivated by the commission.
History: 1953 Comp., § 67-24-28, enacted by Laws 1959, ch. 226, § 10; 1965, ch. 304, § 6; 1977, ch. 295, § 3; 1979, ch. 94, § 3; 1980, ch. 82, § 11; 1981, ch. 22, § 2; 1983, ch. 261, § 4; 1985, ch. 89, § 2; 1987, ch. 90, § 4; 1993, ch. 253, § 2; 1995, ch. 143, § 2; 2001, ch. 163, § 7; 2003, ch. 22, § 5; 2005, ch. 35, § 13; 2013, ch. 167, § 6.
ANNOTATIONSThe 2013 amendment, effective June 14, 2013, provided for the surrender of suspended and revoked licenses; and added Subsection C.
The 2005 amendment, effective January 1, 2006, requires that an associate broker's license show the name of the qualifying broker by whom the associate broker is engaged; requires the real estate commission to send the associate broker's license to the qualifying broker by which the associate broker is engaged; requires the qualifying broker to display the associate broker's license at the brokerage; provides that the associate broker's license remains in the custody of the qualifying broker as long as the associate broker is engaged by the qualifying broker; provides that the revocation of a qualifying broker's license suspends the license of every associate broker engaged by the qualifying broker; requires qualifying brokers to conduct brokerage business under the trade name and at the address registered with the real estate commission; requires that the qualifying broker's license and the licenses of associate brokers be displayed at the brokerage office; and provides that if an associate broker ceases to be engaged by the qualifying broker, the qualifying broker must send the associate broker's license to the real estate commission to be held in inactive status.
The 2003 amendment, effective June 20, 2003, in Subsection C, deleted "of one hundred dollars ($100)" at the end of the sixth sentence; in Subsection D, substituted "within this state a fixed office that conforms" for "a fixed office within this state which shall be so located as to conform" following "broker shall maintain" near the beginning of the first sentence, and inserted "real estate" preceding "salesperson" near the middle of the third sentence.
The 2001 amendment, effective July 1, 2001, deleted "permanent" preceding "license" in Subsection A; in Subsection B, deleted "real estate" preceding "broker" in two places; in Subsection C, substituted the reactivation provision and conditions thereto for suspended licenses for the provision that a new license will be issued in the event that the real estate salesperson's license is suspended, and will be free if re-issued in the same year it was granted; in Subsection D, deleted "under Chapter 61, Article 29 NMSA 1978" following "operated by a licensed broker", inserted "who is a natural person", deleted "or under contract to" following "associated with", deleted "except a licensed branch office" following "any other address", in Subsection E, deleted "immediately" preceding "deliver" and inserted "within forty-eight hours" in the first sentence, substituted "an inactive license" for "such license" in the second sentence; and deleted Subsection F, concerning the renewal of licenses within a certain time period in order to coordinate certain requirements.
The 1995 amendment, effective July 1, 1995, in Subsection C, rewrote the first sentence which read "Every license shall be subject to annual renewal on the last day of the licensee's month of birth", made a related change in the third sentence, and deleted "annual" and "annually" preceding "renewal" throughout the subsection; made a stylistic change in Subsection D; and added Subsection F.
The 1993 amendment, effective June 18, 1993, inserted "or his spouse" and "the person" preceding "is suffering" in the sixth sentence and substituted "that person or his spouse's" for "the person's" in the seventh sentence, in Subsection C; deleted "for cancellation" from the end of the first sentence, inserted the second sentence, and substituted "to the commission" for "for a cancellation" in the last sentence, in Subsection E; and made stylistic changes in Subsections C and D.
Fiduciary duties of salesperson extended to broker. — Because a real estate salesperson must work under a broker, when a principal buyer or seller engages a real estate salesperson as an agent, the principal also engages the salesperson's qualifying broker as an agent, thus extending the fiduciary duty owed to the principal buyer or seller up the salesperson's chain of command to the broker. Although agency fiduciary obligations and liabilities may extend from a salesperson to the qualifying broker, the fiduciary duties of one real estate salesperson are not attributable to another salesperson operating under the same qualifying broker unless one salesperson is at fault in appointing, supervising or cooperating with the other. Moser v. Bertram, 1993-NMSC-040, 115 N.M. 766, 858 P.2d 854.
Brokers must supervise their salespeople. — Section 61-29-2 NMSA 1978 and this section express a clear legislative mandate that brokers, the persons principally responsible to the public, actually be in a position to supervise the actions of their salespeople. At the same time, the statutes do not require the broker himself to engage in business full-time. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-22.
Relicensing of out-of-state broker returning to state. — An individual who has been licensed as a resident real estate broker in the state of New Mexico, and who has established a residence in another state or country may subsequently return to New Mexico and be relicensed as a real estate broker upon payment of the necessary fee and filing of the required bond and meeting any other needed requirements without applying for and taking a broker's examination as required of applicants who have not previously been licensed as real estate brokers, provided that the real estate board in its discretion desires to waive the examination. 1958 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 58-186.
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 12 Am. Jur. 2d Brokers §§ 21, 24, 26, 27, 29.
12 C.J.S. Brokers §§ 16, 20.