New York real estate salesperson licence: course, exam, fees, renewal

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Nobody may sell, list or rent property for someone else in New York State, for pay, without a licence from the Department of State. The rule sits in section 440-a of the state's Real Property Law, and it catches anyone who acts as a real estate broker or salesperson or merely holds themselves out as one, "temporarily or otherwise". For a newcomer to the trade the first rung is the salesperson licence, and the way onto it is unusually well documented: a statute that fixes the hours and the fees, and a Department of State that publishes the procedure, the price list and a long set of answers to the questions applicants keep asking.

This guide follows that path in order, for New York only. It covers who is eligible, the 77-hour qualifying course, the state examination, the sponsoring broker and the online application, what the state charges, how the two-year term and its renewal work, the 22.5 hours of continuing education and the topics the law makes compulsory, and what changes when a salesperson moves up to broker or associate broker. Everything here comes from the Real Property Law as published by the New York State Senate and from the Department of State's own licensing pages, read on 10 October 2026. Where those two sources do not say the same thing, both are shown.

New York Real Property Law, sections 441 and 441-b, and the Department of State's salesperson licensing page, as read on 10 October 2026.

What a salesperson is under New York law

Section 440 of the Real Property Law defines the three titles a reader will meet. A real estate broker is any person, firm, limited liability company or corporation that, for another and for a fee or other valuable consideration, carries out the transactions the section lists: listing, selling, exchanging, buying or renting property, negotiating those deals, or collecting rent. A real estate salesperson is "a person associated with a licensed real estate broker" who lists, sells, buys, negotiates, leases or rents real estate, or collects rent, for or on behalf of that broker. An associate real estate broker is a licensed broker who chooses to work under another broker's name and supervision.

The definition of the salesperson carries the central idea of the whole system: the licence does not stand alone. The Department of State's licensing page puts it plainly, saying a salesperson works under the supervision of a licensed broker and cannot operate independently.

The statute is careful about the word "associated". Section 440 says the term describes the salesperson's relationship with the broker, but does not decide what the legal relationship between the two is, and does not change the broker's legal responsibility to third parties for what associated persons do.

Who is eligible: age, identity and criminal record

The Department of State lists six requirements for a salesperson: to be 18 years old, to complete 77 hours of approved qualifying education, to pass the New York State real estate salesperson examination, to be sponsored by a broker licensed in New York, to hold a current New York State photo driver's licence or non-driver identification card, and to submit a completed application with the fee.

On age, the statute's own wording is slightly different. Section 440-a says no salesperson licence is issued to a person who is not "over the age of eighteen", where the Department's page gives the age as 18. The same section sets the minimum for a broker at 20 years.

A criminal conviction is not an automatic end to an application, but it is a hurdle the statute names. Under section 440-a, a person convicted of a crime in New York or elsewhere cannot receive a broker or salesperson licence unless the Secretary of State finds, under the statutory requirements that apply, that the conviction is not a bar to licensure. The section points to Article 23-A of the Correction Law among those requirements. The Department's requirements list for salespersons does not go into criminal history, so how a given record is weighed is a matter for the Secretary's decision in each case rather than something the published pages settle in advance.

The application itself, described in section 441, asks for the applicant's name and residence, the name and principal business address of the broker who will supervise them, their business or occupation over the previous two years, and how long they have worked in real estate. The applicant signs under penalty of perjury.

The 77-hour qualifying course

Section 441 is blunt about education: no salesperson licence may be issued without proof that the applicant completed at least 77 hours of a course approved by the Department of State, and the course must be finished before the application is made. The Department publishes the 77-hour curriculum and a list of approved providers, and its frequently asked questions state that a school-proctored examination is required at the end of the course, in addition to the state's own examination.

The examination the state sets tells a candidate what the course is for. Section 441 has the salesperson examination cover contracts, real property, agency, fair housing, ethics and the relevant provisions of the General Obligations Law. Where the same section describes the 77-hour course, it speaks of six of those hours being focused on fair housing and discrimination.

The hours have changed over time, and the Department's answers explain how older certificates are treated. A person who holds a 75-hour salesperson course needs a further two-hour course on fair housing and/or implicit bias. The same top-up applies to someone who holds the older 45-hour course together with the 30-hour supplemental course completed before 1 July 2008. The arithmetic is the same in both cases: 45 plus 30 is 75, and 75 plus 2 gives the 77 hours now required.

Two more points from the Department's answers matter to anyone with an unusual route. First, once a course has been applied towards a licence it does not expire, and it can be used later for an upgrade to broker. Second, education from another state is not accepted automatically. The Department says New York currently has no reciprocity with any other state, and that out-of-state education requires a written waiver request with proof of completion, a detailed outline of topics and hours, and a course description. Home-study and correspondence courses are not accepted for a waiver, and the course must amount to at least 77 classroom hours for a salesperson. An applicant who obtains a waiver must still pass the New York examination.

The state examination

The written examination is run by the Department of State and booked online through its licensing system, eAccessNY. A first-time candidate creates an account there and schedules the examination online. The fee is US$15, the amount section 441-b of the Real Property Law fixes.

According to the Department's salesperson page, the examination is multiple choice and based on the 77-hour curriculum. Candidates have one and a half hours, counted from the end of the instructions. On the day, a candidate brings a current government-issued photo identification bearing a signature, such as a driver's licence, a state non-driver card, a military card or a United States passport, and the "Summary of Your Submission" page printed when the examination was booked, which carries the candidate number.

The result is reported as pass or fail only, with no numerical score, and it is posted in the candidate's eAccessNY account rather than given by phone. The account shows one of three states: waiting for score, pass or fail. A candidate who fails may book another examination through the same account. The Department's pages do not state how many questions the paper holds or what mark is needed to pass, and neither does section 441.

Two deadlines frame the examination. An appointment can be rescheduled up to six days before the date. And a pass does not last for ever: passed results are valid for two years.

The sponsoring broker and the online application

With the course certificate and a pass in hand, the applicant needs a broker. Sponsorship is not a formality added at the end: the application cannot be completed without a named broker, and it is the broker who releases it to the Department.

The Department's answers describe the online form in a few lines. The applicant enters the sponsoring broker's unique identification number, picks the office they will work from, gives the name of the school and the date the course was completed, and pays the fee. The broker then authorises the application in their own online account, and the Department reviews it.

The online route is only for a first salesperson licence obtained by examination. The Department requires a paper application in three situations: an applicant applying on the basis of attorney status, a request for an additional salesperson licence, and an applicant who has been licensed before. The same page says an applicant who received a waiver for education completed outside New York submits the application to the licensing office.

What the state charges

The fees are set by statute and repeated on the Department's price list, and the two agree. Section 441-b puts the salesperson licence at US$55 plus a US$10 surcharge, which the section directs to the state's anti-discrimination in housing fund. The Department's page shows the total: US$65 for the initial application and US$65 for each renewal. Section 441 adds that fees paid under it are non-refundable.

A worked example shows the state's share of the cost of entering and staying in the trade. Assume a candidate passes the examination at the first attempt, stays with the same broker, keeps the same name and address, and renews once. The examination costs US$15 and the application US$65, so US$80 is paid to the state before the first licence arrives. The first renewal costs another US$65, which brings the total to US$145 for the four years covered by two consecutive two-year terms. A second attempt at the examination would add US$15. The example covers state fees only: the price of the 77-hour course and of continuing education courses is set by the schools, and the Department's pages give no figure for it.

The smaller charges concern changes to the record. The Department lists US$10 for a change of personal name or address, with no fee when the name changes because of a change in marital status; US$10 for a duplicate licence; and US$20 for any cheque returned by the bank.

The two-year term and how renewal works

A salesperson licence runs for two years, and the expiry date is printed on it. Section 441-b says the term is not less than two years and lets the Secretary of State assign staggered expiry dates; where an assigned date makes a term longer than 24 months, the applicant pays a pro-rated adjustment with the regular renewal fee.

Renewal opens three months before the expiry date. At that point, the Department says, it sends an email and a postcard with instructions. The renewal is made through the licensee's eAccessNY account, and the fee is US$65.

Three things bear on whether the renewal goes through. The licensee must have a sponsoring broker, and where the licence has expired and the licensee wishes to renew with a different broker, the new broker has to change the association online first. The continuing education has to be in order, a point section 441 states from its own side, as described below. And the Department's answers point licensees to the status display in their account to follow the application.

Section 441 states the same two-year limit from the statute's side: an applicant who does not renew within two years of the expiry of the previous licence must pass the written examination again. The section makes one exception, for a person who could not renew because of induction or enlistment in the armed forces of the United States, who does not have to take the examination. It also lets the Department require a licensee who has not yet passed the written examination, and who cannot show competency, to pass it before renewal.

Continuing education: 22.5 hours and six compulsory topics

Section 441 makes renewal depend on education. A licensee must complete at least 22.5 hours of approved continuing education within the two years before renewal, and the section lists six subjects that must be inside that total, each with a minimum. One credit hour means 60 minutes of actual attendance.

With one hour of agency law the six minimums add up to 11.5 hours, which leaves 11 hours of the 22.5 for other approved courses. With two hours of agency law, the case of a salesperson's initial term, the compulsory part is 12.5 hours and the free part 10.

On agency law the statute and the Department use the same words. Section 441 requires at least one hour of instruction on the law of agency "except in the case of the initial two-year licensing term for real estate salespersons", for which "two hours of agency related instruction must be completed". The Department's frequently asked questions repeat that sentence and place the two hours within the two-year period immediately preceding a renewal. The sentence is loosely punctuated in the Department's version, but it reads as the statute does: a salesperson in the initial two-year term owes two hours of agency instruction, and other renewals carry one.

The Department's answers settle several questions that come up at every renewal. Hours cannot be carried forward: continuing education completed beyond the 22.5 does not count towards the next term. Approved fair housing courses carry the letters "FH" at the start of their title. Schools must keep completion records for three years. A salesperson who passes an approved broker qualifying course during the current term receives continuing education credit for it, but must still complete the 2.5 hours of ethical business practices and the hour of recent legal matters separately.

Exemptions have narrowed. The Department states that the exemption once enjoyed by brokers licensed for 15 years was removed by legislative amendment, and that since 1 July 2021 every licensee must complete the 22.5 hours whatever their years in the trade, with a single exception: attorneys admitted to the New York State bar.

A licensee who cannot finish in time has one route, and it is narrow. The Department's answers say an extension may be granted for hardship, under a rule they cite as section 177.6. Section 441 confirms what is at stake: a licence does not remain in effect past its expiry date if proof of the education has not been submitted and accepted, though the Department may issue a temporary renewal where the failure was not the licensee's fault.

In New York the salesperson's licence, its renewal and even its record of address all pass through a broker's hands.

Changing broker, name or address

Because the licence is tied to a broker, a move from one brokerage to another is a licensing event. The Department's answers describe two actions, both done online by brokers rather than by the salesperson. The principal broker the salesperson is leaving terminates the association, at no charge. The answers put the timing this way: "It is a Department of State policy to terminate a licensee within five days from the date they leave the broker's employment." The wording is that of a Department policy, not of a statutory deadline. The principal broker the salesperson is joining then files the change of association, for US$20 per new association.

When the licence has already expired, the order is simpler: the new broker files the change of association online before the renewal, and the former broker does not need to terminate.

A change of personal name or home address costs US$10 and, according to the renewal page, is notified on the Department's change notice form. When a broker's office moves, the Department charges US$10 per transaction and requires payment for each licensee at that address. A duplicate licence costs US$10 and, the Department says, takes one to two weeks.

Moving up to broker or associate broker

The broker licence is the one that can stand alone, and the law asks for more of everything. Section 440-a sets the minimum age at 20. Section 441 requires at least two years of experience as a licensed salesperson under a licensed broker, or at least three years of equivalent experience in the general real estate business. The Department's broker page adds that an applicant must reach a minimum number of points for their type of experience, a number the page does not state.

The education is cumulative. Section 441 requires at least 152 hours of approved courses for a broker and lets a licensed salesperson count the 77 hours of the salesperson course, including its six hours on fair housing, if completed within eight years of the application. That leaves 75 hours, which matches the 75-hour broker curriculum the Department publishes. The statute requires the 152 hours to cover fair housing and discrimination, and a broker's duty to make sure the salespersons they supervise comply with fair housing law.

There is a tension here that a long-serving salesperson should notice. The statute lets the Department credit the 77 hours where they were completed "within eight years of the date of the application". The Department's frequently asked questions say of the salesperson courses: "Once either of these courses have been applied towards a license, they will not expire and can be used for upgrade." Both statements are reported as the sources give them; which governs a course taken more than eight years ago is a question for the Department.

The broker examination is booked the same way and costs the same US$15, but it lasts two and a half hours. The fee then rises: section 441-b sets the broker licence at US$155 plus a US$30 surcharge, the US$185 the Department lists for the initial application, for each renewal and for each branch office application. As a worked example, a salesperson who passes the broker examination at the first attempt pays the state US$15 plus US$185, or US$200, to make the step, before any course fees. A business name must be approved by the Department before the application is filed.

Not every broker opens an office. An associate real estate broker, in the words of section 440, is a licensed broker who chooses to work under another individual broker's or broker entity's name and supervision. The associate has met the broker standard but, like a salesperson, needs a sponsoring broker to renew, as the Department's answers make clear. Section 440 also defines the office manager: a licensed associate broker who has been active as an associate broker for at least two of the four years before the appointment. One further rule in section 441-b shapes brokerage structures: a salesperson licence is not issued to an officer of a corporation, a manager or member of a limited liability company, or a member of a partnership that holds a broker licence.

What the published pages do not settle

Three things a candidate would like to know are absent from the sources read for this guide: the number of questions in the salesperson examination and the mark needed to pass, the points a broker applicant must reach, and the cost of the 77-hour course, which each approved school sets.

One point is stated differently by the statute and by the Department's answers, as described above: whether a 77-hour course completed more than eight years earlier still counts towards the broker's 152 hours. The Department of State is the body that decides it, and its answer on a particular file is what counts.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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