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property and /or advertising and negotiating the purchase, sale or exchange of property, 2) for
others, 3) for consideration. If a location is deemed an “office,” then there must be a BIC
designated with the Commission for that location.
B. Where the Trust Monies are Handled or Records Maintained
While the test most commonly applied is “a place where acts occur that require a license,”
the second prong of the definition was added to address the following situation.
Example: A real estate company operates ten offices where real estate brokerage
activities are performed. Additionally, the company has an administrative center at an
eleventh location where there are no affiliated brokers, because the company doesn’t
represent the public or engage in “acts that require a license” at that location. However,
all the trust monies and trust account-related records for all ten office locations are
funneled through the administrative center, since all book-keeping is done at this
location, i.e., paying the operating expenses for each office, issuing commission checks,
paying salaried employees, etc. Even though no brokerage activity occurs at this
administrative center, the company still must designate a broker- in-charge for that
location because trust monies and trust records are maintained at this location, rather
than each office managing funds it receives. The BIC’s primary, if not sole,
responsibility at this administrative center will be to supervise all employees handling
trust monies and maintain the trust account records.
The other ten offices must each have a BIC because agents at those locations are actively
engaged in real estate brokerage, i.e., meeting the public and discussing available properties for
lease, sale, purchase or exchange.
C. Factors in Determining if a Location is an Office:
• Does the location’s address appear in advertising, on business cards or letterhead, or in
the Commission’s records?
• Do licensees use the location on an ongoing basis to meet the public to perform some
aspect of customary brokerage service?
• Does the location operate on a permanent, or at least indefinite, basis with regular
hours?
• Is the location regularly staffed by licensees?
• Are files and records, such as trust account records and transaction files, maintained
there?
• Is the location designed and furnished to facilitate the regular conduct of brokerage
business, e.g., desks, computers, copiers, telephones, conference rooms, etc.?
NOTE: Not all of these factors must be present before a location will be deemed an office and
some factors may be given greater weight than others. For example, the following factors
generally demonstrate that a location is an “office” under Commission rules:
•
if a physical address is printed on the company’s letterhead, its agents’ business
cards or appears in the company’s advertising,