Contact Information: All licensees now must provide email addresses to the California Bureau of Real Estate (CalBRE) according to an Advisory regarding Assembly Bill 2540 (AB 2540). The bill requires that examination and licensee applicants, as well as current licensees, provide CalBRE with current contact information including current office or mailing address, current telephone number, and current email address. AB 2540 also requires that licensee applicants and current licensees must notify CalBRE within 30 days of making any change to their contact information. The Advisory clarifies that CalBRE is not required to publish email addresses or telephone numbers and also that any examination or license application that does not contain the required contact information will be incomplete resulting in processing delays.
Salesperson Owned Fictitious Business Names/Team Names: The second CalBRE Advisory concerns salesperson owned fictitious business names (FBN) and team names. Assembly Bill 2018 allows brokers to permit salespersons licensed to them to, on behalf of the broker, apply for a Fictitious Business Name (FBN), deliver to CalBRE a FBN application signed by the salesperson and the broker, and to pay for and maintain the ownership of the FBN. To facilitate this process CalBRE has issued a new form: “Add/Cancel Salesperson Owned Fictitious Business Name” (RE 247). The form also has instructions clarifying that Team Names meeting the criteria outlined in the instructions are not FBNs: two or more licensees work together as part of a “team”, “group”, or “association”; the team name includes the surname of at least one of the team, group, or association members; the name does not include terms such as broker or brokerage. However, when a team name is used in advertising, including print or electronic and “for sale” signs, it must (1) include the licensee’s name and license number, (2) include the responsible broker’s identity, and (3) not imply the existence of a real estate entity independent from the responsible broker.