The Alabama Real Estate Commission (AREC) met last week for its final meeting of 2021. Congratulations to Commissioner Cerita Tucker Smith, who took the oath of office at the meeting surrounded by supporters. She represents the 7th Congressional District. The Commission also held a public hearing on a proposed rule amendment, heard an update from ACRE, discussed a proposed rule on broker supervision, and held a marathon session of hearings.

Over the past year, the commission has proposed five new or amended rules. A sixth rule was proposed and approved for filing at the November meeting. Essentially, the new rule gives greater definition to the responsibilities of brokers in supervising agents. As noted during the meeting, the rule will provide specific examples of what constitutes a failure to supervise. More information will be noted when the rule is published and available to read.

The commission also held a public hearing on the proposed amendment to Rule 790-x-2-.02. The purpose of the amendment is to streamline the process for determining a real estate license applicants’ eligibility when that person has committed a felony or crime of moral turpitude. Currently, the applicant must go before the commission to ask for approval to become a real estate licensee. The amendment allows Commission staff to screen those requests, approve or deny certain requests, and grants the applicant an appeal to the full commission. The full proposal can be found here.

The hearings portion of the meeting was extensive. Commissioners heard four complaints, two applications for the determination of licensing eligibility, two requests for approval to hold a license after a prior revocation, one request for a rehearing or status report after prior suspension, and one application for a salesperson’s temporary license.

The Commission takes a break in December and will meet next on January 20, 2022 at 9 am in Montgomery. The meetings continue to be livestreamed via Microsoft Teams, with access found on the AREC website.