Chapter 2
Avoiding Unlicensed Activity

Learning Objective: To understand the activities that require a real estate license under Arizona rules and statutes and learn ways to avoid unlicensed activities.


Every year, dozens of individuals are fined or otherwise disciplined by ADRE for “unlicensed activity.”

A. License Renewals – On Time, Every Time
A.R.S. 32-2130

1. An expired license is the same as no license at all.

While the license is expired it is unlawful for a person to act in a manner included in the definition of a real estate, cemetery or membership camping broker or salesperson.

2. The Department of Real Estate, although not obligated to do so, sends email reminders to the licensee 60 days prior to the license expiration. Licensees should know their expiration date and make sure that their continuing education requirements are fulfilled and their  licenses are renewed in a timely manner.

There is a one-year “grace period” after license expiration. If an individual is renewing a license within one year after it expired, the individual may apply continuing education hours completed after the expiration toward the continuing education required for renewal. However, please note that during the “grace period,” the licensee is “inactive.”

If more than one year passes beyond the expiration date, the individual cannot renew the license. The individual would have to complete the pre-licensing requirements again, take the school test and the State test.