Phone(406) 841-2056 Show Fax(406) 841-2050 Email Us
Building and Commercial Measurements BureauP.O. Box 200517Helena, MT 59602Professional Licensing BureauP.O. Box 200513Helena, MT 59620Weights and MeasuresP.O. Box 200516 Helena, MT 59620
301 South Park Ave.
A complaint against a licensee may be made to the Commission on the official online complaint form at https://eservice.llr.sc.gov/Complaints/.The complaining party is responsible for ensuring that all the necessary information is included on the form or attached thereto and uploaded along with the complaint. Once the Commission receives the complaint and jurisdiction is established, a thorough investigation is conducted to determine whether or not a license law violation may have occurred. After the investigation is completed, a report is presented to an Investigative Review Committee (IRC) which recommends a course of action. The IRC could recommend dismissal of the complaint, offer of a consent agreement, or hearing before the Commission members. Complainant will be notified in writing. The complainant should be prepared to testify in a hearing before the Commission if a hearing is required and the matter has not been otherwise resolved. Complaint/Disciplinary Information The Commission can take disciplinary action against a licensee only if there are facts which support a charge resulting in the finding of a violation(s) of the S.C. Real Estate License Law. The Commission is not empowered to assist with the following type of complaints:
Licensees who run a business that is regulated under the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 (the Act) must ensure that no part of the business is left unsupervised by a licensee in charge (LIC). An LIC is an individual who either:
An LIC is responsible for the proper supervision of the business of which they are in charge. and must hold a Class 1 licence in the category relevant to the business. For example, a LIC of a real estate agency will need to hold a Class 1 real estate agent’s licence. A corporation licence holder or an individual who runs a business under a Class 2 licence will need to employ an LIC to supervise their business. These licence holders are referred to in the secretary’s guidelines for the proper supervision of the business of a licensee as the ‘principal licensee’.
Download the supervision guidelines
A principal licensee can nominate one LIC to be in charge of the entire business, or several licensees to be in charge of different parts of the business – so long as they ensure that no part of the business is left unsupervised. One LIC can be responsible for multiple parts of a business, but there cannot be more than one LIC in charge of the same part of the business. It is up to the principal licensee to determine the parts of their business. For example, they may decide to appoint an LIC for a place(s) of business or one for each business area, such as strata, real estate sales or property management. Alternatively, principal licensees may choose to maintain the same supervision arrangements they had in place prior to 23 March 2020, when each place of business had to have a different licensee appointed to be in charge of that place of business. LICs to authorise withdrawals from general trust accountsOnly a licensee in charge may ‘authorise’ the withdrawal of money from a trust accountAn agent may not authorise the withdrawal of money from a trust account unless the agent holds a Class 1 licence and is currently appointed as a licensee in charge. This makes licensees in charge ultimately accountable for any trust money released from the agency’s trust accounts. The Supervision Guidelines also require agencies to maintain operational procedures which include the process to obtain and document the express authorisation of the licensee in charge for all release of trust moneys. The licensee in charge would need to indicate their approval for each specific release of funds and cannot delegate their authority to authorise the release of funds to anyone else. Only one licensee in charge for one trust accountImportantly, there may only be one LIC authorising withdrawals from a trust account. If there are multiple trust accounts for the business, the principal licensee must ensure that one LIC is responsible for and able to authorise withdrawal of money from that account. However, an LIC may be responsible for authorising withdrawals for more than one trust account. These requirements do not apply to trust accounts held by an owners corporation for a strata scheme. Trust money withdrawals – electronic fund transfers and chequesTrust money may only be withdrawn from a trust account by cheque or electronic funds transfer. Cash withdrawals are prohibited.
Only the licensee in charge may sign cheques for payments from an agency trust account. This function cannot be delegated.
The Regulations allow another person in the agency, other than the licensee in charge, to physically disburse funds from a trust account by electronic means. For example, under instruction from the licensee in charge, the other person may press a button to release funds from a bank account, but only if the licensee in charge responsible for that trust account has first authorised the withdrawal. For each electronic funds transfer from an agency trust account, a record must be kept of:
See the Trust Accounts page to learn more about trust account requirements.
A person cannot act as an LIC for two or more licensees (whether the licence is held by an individual or corporation) unless those licensees are in partnership.
Section 31 of the Act requires any individual or corporation who employs the holder of a Class 1 licence to be the LIC, to notify the Secretary of the licence details of the LIC. The Secretary must be notified of the name and licence number of the person in charge and the address of each place of business for which the LIC will be in charge. The notification must be received within 5 business days of the licensee assuming duties as a LIC. If a LIC is temporarily or permanently unable to carry out their duties due to illness, leave or any other reason, the principal licensee must appoint another Class 1 licence holder as a replacement. The principal licensee will also need to notify the Secretary of the details of any replacement LIC(s) within 5 business days, including their start and finish dates as an LIC.
The supervision guidelines set out specific actions that both principal licensees and LICs must take to ensure the proper supervision of their business. The principal licensee is responsible for preparing and maintaining written records about their LIC(s) as part of operational procedures for the business, that clearly identifies:
Visit the supervision guidelines page for more information about the obligations of LICs.
The key requirements when appointing an LIC are:
|