This month, the Alabama Real Estate Commission (AREC) held its monthly meeting in Dothan. A significant number of licensees from the Dothan area came to observe the meeting.

AREC’s Executive Director stated that licensure numbers are holding strong, with 39,134 current unique licensees and a rate of 8 new license applications per day. 

Read on to learn more, including best practices from the hearings. 

Two cases at this month’s meeting involved an audit. In one case, a property management company’s rent and security deposit accounts reflected significant accounting issues. The owner and qualifying broker had to pay a large sum of money into one of the accounts to make it whole.

Still, the shortage did not involve malicious intent (rather, it was the result of errors and negligence) and the licensee was highly cooperative with the audit and at the hearing. The qualifying broker and company were both found guilty and fined the maximum amount allowed by law ($2500), but they retained their licenses.  

On the other hand, a different company and qualifying broker were completely unresponsive to a recent audit attempted by AREC. The auditor reached out via email and telephone on several occasions.

Although the qualifying broker ignored most of this contact, the auditor was able to speak to her over the telephone once, so the qualifying broker was made aware of the audit request. She never complied. Furthermore, despite documentation that she had been served with the notice of hearing, the qualifying broker did not attend the hearing against her.

Both the qualifying broker and her company were found guilty and fined the maximum amount, and their licenses were also revoked. These cases are a clear demonstration that it is always in your interest to comply with any audit request made by AREC, even if you are concerned about a potential violation. 

Two cases this month involved licensees who had been charged with a crime or sued in a real estate-related matter but failed to report this information to AREC.

As a reminder, Alabama license law requires you to report the following to AREC within 10 days (Alabama Code § 34-27-31(j) and (k)):

• If you are arrested or criminal charges are filed against you for a misdemeanor or felony 
  • When the case is resolved (whether you are convicted or the case is dismissed), you must also notify AREC of the outcome 
• If you are the defendant in a civil lawsuit for a real estate-related matter
  • When the case is resolved, you must also notify AREC of the outcome