Standards for Real Estate School Accreditation and Renewal

PURPOSE: This rule establishes standards for Real Estate Accreditation and Renewal. (1) A school wishing to offer a Salesperson Pre-Examination Course, a Broker PreExamination Course, a Missouri Real Estate Practice Course and/or continuing education course(s) in Missouri will be accredited by the commission upon compliance with the following requirements: (A) Each person involved directly or indirectly in the sponsorship of a school or who participates or has an interest, financial or otherwise, in its operation, shall be at least eighteen (18) years of age and a person of good moral character and bear a good reputation for honesty, integrity and fair dealings; (B) Each school shall be supervised by an administrator, who shall be in charge of its operations and programs; (C) The school shall be responsible to see that the school’s instructors have the specialized preparation, training and experience in the subject matter to be taught to ensure competent instruction; (D) The school shall advise all students, prior to contractual obligation, that certain criminal convictions may prevent the student from receiving or retaining a real estate license; (E) The school shall enter into a contract with each student enrolling to take a Salesperson Pre-Examination Course, Broker PreExamination Course, or the Missouri Practice Course of study. This contract shall identify the tuition to be charged, the school’s policy regarding refund of unearned tuition when a student is dismissed or withdraws voluntarily or through hardship, any additional fee to be charged for supplies, materials or books which become the property of the student upon payment, the standard for the issuance of a certificate of satisfactory completion and such other matters as are material to the relationship between the school and the student; (F) The Salesperson Pre-Examination Course, Broker Pre-Examination Course, and Missouri Real Estate Practice Course offered shall include the subjects set forth in 20 CSR 2250-6.060; (G) In the case of classroom delivery courses, each area of study shall be conducted and supervised by an instructor who shall be present in the classroom at all times; (H) In the case of distance delivered courses, an instructor must respond to each student’s inquiries by the end of the next regular business day; (I) The school shall issue to each student who satisfactorily completes the prescribed course of study a certificate of satisfactory completion on a form prescribed by the commission; (J) For any continuing education classroom course attended by more than twenty-five (25) students, the sponsor shall have a person other than the instructor present to assist in administrative duties including, but not limited to, keeping records of attendance, preparing and distributing certificates and assuring that the physical facilities meet the requirements of this section; (K) Record Maintenance. 1. Each school shall maintain for each student a record which shall include the course of instruction undertaken, dates of attendance and areas of study completed satisfactorily. 2. Each school shall maintain a copy of the attendance records for each date and time a particular course is offered. 3. A school shall supply duplicate certificates to the individuals upon request. A reasonable charge may be made for duplicate certificates. 4. Schools approved to offer courses by distance delivery, in addition, shall maintain records of all final examinations and examination administration. 5. Each student’s records shall be maintained by the school for a minimum of four (4) years and shall be available for inspection by the student or by the commission or its authorized agent during regular business hours or shall provide them to the commission by certified mail within thirty (30) days of written request. 6. If a school closes, within ten (10) days, the school owner must provide in writing to the Missouri Real Estate Commission the contact information for the custodian of records for the previous four (4) years. If the school is closed due to a merger or sale, the records shall be turned over to and become the responsibility of the new school; (L) Advertising and Publicity. 1. No school shall use any name for advertising or publicity purposes other than the name shown upon its application for accreditation. 2. No school shall advertise or imply that it is recommended, endorsed or approved by the commission, but an accredited school may indicate what courses it has been approved to teach by the Missouri Real Estate Commission. 3. No school shall permit its administrator, staff, instructor(s), or any person associated in any way to provide any misleading information to the public or prospective students. 4. No school shall permit its administrator, staff, instructor(s), or any person associated in any way approved to teach the preexamination courses to make any warranties or guarantees that a student will pass the real estate license examination by taking its courses. 5. Each school shall advertise any approved course in clear and unambiguous terms, which includes a statement indicating the number of hours of education credit for which the course is approved and the correct title of the course as it is stated in the course approval letter provided by the commission. 6. No real estate education course shall be announced or advertised until it is approved by the commission, in writing, for credit; and (M) Physical facilities used to teach any approved classroom course shall: 1. Be designed primarily for classroom purposes or designed for multipurpose use in the case of meeting halls and convention facilities; 2. Contain proper seating and writing surfaces; 3. Be properly lighted; 4. Be properly ventilated; 5. Be reasonably free from distracting pedestrian traffic; 6. Be reasonably free of sound and light disturbances; and 7. Not contain recruiting material and be free of reference to individual real estate firms, groups of firms or franchises, unless the course is restricted to only licensees of the referenced firm or franchise and the notice submitted by the school to the commission is clearly marked as a restricted class. (2) When the commission has accredited a school based upon its application and submissions, a letter of accreditation shall be issued to the school. Accreditation is granted and limited to the specific ownership as shown on the application. (3) A school must notify the commission of any change of administrator within ten (10) days. (4) Each school shall report to the commission, in writing within ten (10) days, any changes in the information contained in the application for accreditation or the exhibits appended to the application. Changes will not be deemed accepted until such time as acknowledgement of the changes is provided by the commission. (5) Initial accreditation of a school shall be valid for no more than one (1) year and shall expire on March 31. Accreditation shall be renewable upon submission of an accepted renewal application as provided by the commission no earlier than sixty (60) days prior to and no later than the accreditation expiration date. If renewed before expiration, the accreditation shall expire on March 31 of the second odd-numbered year to follow the renewal date. Failure to renew prior to accreditation expiration shall void all course approvals and the school shall no longer be deemed accredited and will be required to submit the appropriate applications and documents as a new school. AUTHORITY: section 339.045, RSMo 2000 and sections 339.090 and 339.120, RSMo Supp. 2007.* This rule originally filed as 4 CSR 250-7.010. Original rule filed Feb. 7, 1979, effective May 11, 1979. Amended: Filed March 12, 1982, effective June 11, 1982. Amended: Filed March 14, 1984, effective June 11, 1984. Amended: Filed Oct. 2, 1985, effective Dec. 26, 1985. Amended: Filed March 17, 1986, effective June 28, 1986. Amended: Filed June 16, 1989, effective Sept. 28, 1989. Amended: Filed Nov. 15, 1991, effective June 25, 1992. Amended: Filed Feb. 2, 1994, effective Aug. 28, 1994. Amended: Filed Oct. 13, 1995, effective March 30, 1996. Rescinded and readopted: Filed April 6, 2006, effective Sept. 30, 2006. Moved to 20 CSR 2250-7.010, effective Aug. 28, 2006. Amended: Filed Oct. 12, 2007, effective April 30, 2008. *Original authority: 339.045, RSMo 1978, amended 1981, 1983; 339.090, RSMo 1941, amended 1978, 2001; and 339.120, RSMo 1941, amended 1963, 1967, 1981, 1988, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2004.