The State Real Estate Commission & the Recovery Fund

Every Pennsylvania licensee answers to the State Real Estate Commission. The State portion tests who sits on it, what it may do, how a complaint moves from filing to hearing, and how the Real Estate Recovery Fund pays consumers who cannot collect a fraud judgment. Most of these items are straight recall of numbers, so learn them in pairs: who and how many, how long and how much.

Who sits on the Commission

The Real Estate Licensing and Registration Act (RELRA) creates the Commission and fixes its membership:

• the Commissioner of Professional and Occupational Affairs;
• the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, or a designee;
• three public members representing the public at large;
• five brokers, each licensed at appointment and engaged in the Pennsylvania real estate business for at least ten years immediately before appointment;
• one cemetery member, licensed as a broker or cemetery broker for at least five years and selling cemetery lots for at least ten years.

The Governor appoints the members. A term is five years, and a member may hold over until a successor qualifies, but never more than six months past the five years. A majority of the members currently serving is a quorum. A member who misses three consecutive meetings forfeits the seat unless the Commissioner excuses the absence for illness or a death in the family. A person holding only a reciprocal license cannot serve.

Besides its regular meetings, the Commission must hold at least one public meeting a year in each of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Harrisburg, with newspaper notice at least 15 days ahead, to hear public comments about real estate practice.

Duties and powers

• Licensing: the Department of State issues licenses to everyone who complies with the act.
• Schools: any school offering real estate courses must first obtain Commission approval.
• Examinations: the Commission prescribes the subjects; a professional testing service writes and administers the exam.
• Rules: the Commission may promulgate regulations to carry out the act, including the rules setting continuing education requirements for renewal.
• Enforcement: it administers and enforces the law on activities that require a license and directs its agents to prosecute unlicensed practice.
• Fees: fees are set by regulation. If fees, fines and civil penalties will not match expenditures over a two-year period, the Commission must raise fees.
• Reports: each year it reports to the legislative licensure committees on complaints received, case status, actions taken and time to resolution.
• Office inspections: routine inspections of a main or branch office no more than four times a year during regular business hours, plus special inspections on a complaint or reasonable belief of a violation.

Complaints, investigations, hearings and appeal

The Commission may investigate on its own motion, and it must act promptly on a verified written complaint: it ascertains the facts and, if warranted, holds a hearing to suspend or revoke a license or impose fines. A licensee who fails, within a reasonable time, to provide information the Commission requests about a complaint commits a separate violation.

Hearings may be held by the Commission, by individual members or by a duly authorized representative. The Commission may adopt the representative's findings, send the matter back for more work, or make its own findings from the evidence in the record.

Revocation is serious and long. Unless Commonwealth Court orders otherwise, the Commission will not reinstate a revoked license within five years of revocation. Fines and civil penalties are paid into the Professional Licensure Augmentation Account.

The Real Estate Recovery Fund

The Fund reimburses a person who wins a court judgment against a licensee but cannot collect it.

1. Basis: a final judgment against a licensee on grounds of fraud, misrepresentation or deceit in a transaction that requires a license.
2. Timing and court: after all proceedings, including appeals, end, the claimant applies to the court that entered the judgment, no more than one year after those proceedings terminate.
3. Proof: the claimant is not the debtor's spouse (or that spouse's personal representative), holds a final judgment, and has exhausted reasonable collection efforts.

Caps: $20,000 per claim and $100,000 per licensee. When valid claims against one licensee exceed $100,000, the $100,000 is shared in proportion to the claims. If the Fund runs short, unpaid claims are paid in filing order as money comes in, plus 6% interest a year. The Commission may answer the court action and, with court approval, compromise a claim.

Consequences for the licensee: the license is automatically suspended on the date the Fund pays, and there is no reinstatement until the licensee repays the full amount plus 10% interest a year.

Funding: every new licensee pays $10 into the Fund on receiving the initial license. If the balance is below $300,000 at the start of a biennial renewal period, the Commission may assess each licensee up to $10 more to bring it to $500,000. The Fund does not cover campground membership sales or broker price opinions.

Verified complaint

A written complaint the Commission must promptly look into; it may also act without one.

Actual knowledge

What must be shown before an employee's violation can cost the employing broker a license.

Final judgment

The court judgment, with all appeals finished, that starts the one-year Recovery Fund clock.

Where this shows up on the exam

The Real Estate Commission area is 5 of the 40 scored State items on the Pearson VUE outline effective March 16, 2026. Expect quick recall: 3 public members and 5 brokers, five-year terms, the 15-day meeting notice, the four-a-year inspection limit, and the Recovery Fund numbers ($10 fee, one year to apply, $20,000/$100,000 caps, automatic suspension and 10% repayment).

Sources

North Carolina law as published by the General Assembly and the Office of Administrative Hearings, checked 2026-11-05:

• 63 P.S. § 455.202
• 63 P.S. §§ 455.401–455.408
• 63 P.S. § 455.501(c)
• 63 P.S. § 455.602(h)
• 63 P.S. § 455.604
• 63 P.S. §§ 455.701–455.702
• 63 P.S. §§ 455.801–455.803
• 49 Pa. Code § 35.246
• Pearson VUE PA Real Estate Content Outlines #093901 (03/2026)