2023 New York Laws › RPP - Real Property › Article 12-A - Real Estate Brokers and Real Estate Salespersons › 441-A - License and Pocket Card.

§  441-a.  License  and  pocket  card.  1. The department of state, if
  satisfied of the competency and trustworthiness of the applicant,  shall
  issue  and  deliver  to  them  a  license in such form and manner as the
  department shall prescribe, but  which  must  set  forth  the  name  and
  principal  business  address of the licensee, and, in the case of a real
  estate salesperson, the name and business address  of  the  broker  with
  whom the salesperson is associated.
2.  Terms.  A  license issued or reissued under the provisions of this
  article shall entitle  the  person,  co-partnership,  limited  liability
  company  or  corporation  to  act  as  a  real estate broker, or, if the
  application is for a real estate salesperson's license, to act as a real
  estate salesperson in this state up to and including the date  in  which
  the license by its terms expires.
3.  Place  of  business;  business  sign required. Except as otherwise
  provided in this article, each licensed real estate  broker  shall  have
  and  maintain  a definite place of business within this state, and shall
  conspicuously post on the outside of the building in which  said  office
  is  conducted  a  sign  of  a  sufficient  size  to be readable from the
  sidewalk indicating the name and the business  of  the  applicant  as  a
  licensed  real  estate broker, unless said office shall be located in an
  office, apartment or hotel building, in which event  the  name  and  the
  words  "licensed  real  estate  broker"  shall  be  posted  in the space
  provided for posting of names of occupants of the building,  other  than
  the  mail  box.  Where  the applicant for a real estate broker's license
  maintains more than one place of business, the broker  shall  apply  for
  and  the  department  shall issue a supplemental license for each branch
  office so maintained upon payment to the department of  state  for  each
  supplemental  license  so issued the same fee prescribed in this article
  for a license to act as a real estate broker. Each  such  branch  office
  shall  be under the direct supervision of the broker to whom the license
  is issued, or a representative broker of a corporation or partnership or
  manager of a limited liability company holding such license, or  a  duly
  appointed  office manager. Such fee shall accompany such application and
  shall be non-refundable. For purposes of this subdivision, the principal
  residence of a real estate broker or salesperson shall not be  deemed  a
  place  of  business solely because such broker or salesperson shall have
  included the residence telephone number in their business cards.
4. Display of license. The license of a real estate  broker  shall  be
  conspicuously displayed in his principal place of business at all times.
  Licenses  issued  for  branch  offices  shall be conspicuously displayed
  therein. The display of a real estate broker's license, the term whereof
  has expired, by any person, partnership, limited  liability  company  or
  corporation  not  duly  licensed as a real estate broker for the current
  license term is prohibited.
5. Change of address.  Notice  in  writing  in  the  manner  and  form
  prescribed  by  the  department  shall  be  given  the department at its
  offices in Albany by a licensed real estate broker on their  own  behalf
  and  on behalf of each salesperson associated with them of any change in
  their or its principal business address. The filing fee of  ten  dollars
  for each licensee named therein shall accompany such notice. Such change
  by  a  licensee without such notification shall operate to suspend their
  license until such suspension shall be vacated by the department.
6. Pocket card. The department shall prepare, issue and deliver,  with
  the  assistance  of the department of motor vehicles, to each licensee a
  pocket card in such form and manner as the department  shall  prescribe,
  but  which  shall  contain  the  photo, name and business address of the
  licensee, and, in the case of a real estate salesperson,  the  name  and
  business  address  of the broker with whom they are associated and shall

  certify that the person whose name appears thereon is  a  licensed  real
  estate  broker  or  salesperson,  as may be. Such cards must be shown on
  demand. In the case of loss, destruction or  damage,  the  secretary  of
  state  may,  upon  submission  of  satisfactory proof, issue a duplicate
  pocket card upon payment of a fee of ten dollars.
7. License term. From and after the date when this  subdivision  shall
  take  effect,  the  term for which a license shall be issued or reissued
  under this article shall be a period of two years.
8. Death of broker. A license issued to a real estate broker who  was,
  at  the  time  of their death, the sole proprietor of a brokerage office
  may be used after the death of such licensee  by  their  duly  appointed
  administrator  or  executor  in  the  name  of  the  estate  pursuant to
  authorization granted by the  surrogate  under  the  provisions  of  the
  surrogate's  court  procedure  act  for  a  period  of not more than one
  hundred twenty days from the date of death of such licensee in order  to
  complete   any   unfinished   realty  transactions  in  the  process  of
  negotiation by the broker or their salespersons existing prior to  their
  decease. There shall be endorsed upon the face of the license, after the
  name  of  the  decedent, the words "deceased", the date of death and the
  name of the administrator or executor under whose authority the  license
  is  being  used.  The  period of one hundred twenty days may be extended
  upon application to the secretary of state, for good cause shown, for an
  additional period not to exceed  one  hundred  twenty  days.  A  license
  expiring  during such period or extension shall be automatically renewed
  and continued in effect during such period or extension. No fee shall be
  charged for any such license or renewal thereof.
9. Except for changes made on  a  renewal  application,  the  fee  for
  changing an address on a license shall be ten dollars.
10.  Except  for  changes  made  on a renewal application, the fee for
  changing a name or for changing the status of  a  real  estate  broker's
  license  shall  be  one  hundred  fifty  dollars. The fee for changing a
  salesperson's name shall be fifty dollars.
11. If a real estate salesperson shall leave the  service  of  a  real
  estate  broker,  the  real  estate  broker  shall  file a termination of
  association  notice  on  such  form  as  secretary  may  designate.  The
  salesperson's  license  may  be endorsed to a new sponsoring broker upon
  the establishment  of  a  new  record  of  association  filed  with  the
  department of state. The fee for filing a record of association shall be
  twenty dollars.
12.  Whenever  any  person  licensed  as  a real estate broker or real
  estate salesperson is convicted in this state or elsewhere of a  felony,
  of  a  sex offense, as defined in subdivision two of section one hundred
  sixty-eight-a of the correction law or any offense committed outside  of
  this  state  which would constitute a sex offense, or a sexually violent
  offense,  as  defined  in  subdivision  three  of  section  one  hundred
  sixty-eight-a  of  the  correction  law or any offense committed outside
  this state which would constitute a sexually violent offense, such  real
  estate  broker  or real estate salesperson shall within five days of the
  imposition of sentence, transmit a certified copy  of  the  judgment  of
  conviction to the department of state.