N.Y. Real Property Law § 441-a: License and pocket card

§ 441-a. License and pocket card. 1. The department of state, if

satisfied of the competency and trustworthiness of the applicant, shall

issue and deliver to them a license in such form and manner as the

department shall prescribe, but which must set forth the name and

principal business address of the licensee, and, in the case of a real

estate salesperson, the name and business address of the broker with

whom the salesperson is associated.

2. Terms. A license issued or reissued under the provisions of this

article shall entitle the person, co-partnership, limited liability

company or corporation to act as a real estate broker, or, if the

application is for a real estate salesperson's license, to act as a real

estate salesperson in this state up to and including the date in which

the license by its terms expires.

3. Place of business; business sign required. Except as otherwise

provided in this article, each licensed real estate broker shall have

and maintain a definite place of business within this state, and shall

conspicuously post on the outside of the building in which said office

is conducted a sign of a sufficient size to be readable from the

sidewalk indicating the name and the business of the applicant as a

licensed real estate broker, unless said office shall be located in an

office, apartment or hotel building, in which event the name and the

words "licensed real estate broker" shall be posted in the space

provided for posting of names of occupants of the building, other than

the mail box. Where the applicant for a real estate broker's license

maintains more than one place of business, the broker shall apply for

and the department shall issue a supplemental license for each branch

office so maintained upon payment to the department of state for each

supplemental license so issued the same fee prescribed in this article

for a license to act as a real estate broker. Each such branch office

shall be under the direct supervision of the broker to whom the license

is issued, or a representative broker of a corporation or partnership or

manager of a limited liability company holding such license, or a duly

appointed office manager. Such fee shall accompany such application and

shall be non-refundable. For purposes of this subdivision, the principal

residence of a real estate broker or salesperson shall not be deemed a

place of business solely because such broker or salesperson shall have

included the residence telephone number in their business cards.

4. Display of license. The license of a real estate broker shall be

conspicuously displayed in his principal place of business at all times.

Licenses issued for branch offices shall be conspicuously displayed

therein. The display of a real estate broker's license, the term whereof

has expired, by any person, partnership, limited liability company or

corporation not duly licensed as a real estate broker for the current

license term is prohibited.

5. Change of address. Notice in writing in the manner and form

prescribed by the department shall be given the department at its

offices in Albany by a licensed real estate broker on their own behalf

and on behalf of each salesperson associated with them of any change in

their or its principal business address. The filing fee of ten dollars

for each licensee named therein shall accompany such notice. Such change

by a licensee without such notification shall operate to suspend their

license until such suspension shall be vacated by the department.

6. Pocket card. The department shall prepare, issue and deliver, with

the assistance of the department of motor vehicles, to each licensee a

pocket card in such form and manner as the department shall prescribe,

but which shall contain the photo, name and business address of the

licensee, and, in the case of a real estate salesperson, the name and

business address of the broker with whom they are associated and shall

certify that the person whose name appears thereon is a licensed real

estate broker or salesperson, as may be. Such cards must be shown on

demand. In the case of loss, destruction or damage, the secretary of

state may, upon submission of satisfactory proof, issue a duplicate

pocket card upon payment of a fee of ten dollars.

7. License term. From and after the date when this subdivision shall

take effect, the term for which a license shall be issued or reissued

under this article shall be a period of two years.

8. Death of broker. A license issued to a real estate broker who was,

at the time of their death, the sole proprietor of a brokerage office

may be used after the death of such licensee by their duly appointed

administrator or executor in the name of the estate pursuant to

authorization granted by the surrogate under the provisions of the

surrogate's court procedure act for a period of not more than one

hundred twenty days from the date of death of such licensee in order to

complete any unfinished realty transactions in the process of

negotiation by the broker or their salespersons existing prior to their

decease. There shall be endorsed upon the face of the license, after the

name of the decedent, the words "deceased", the date of death and the

name of the administrator or executor under whose authority the license

is being used. The period of one hundred twenty days may be extended

upon application to the secretary of state, for good cause shown, for an

additional period not to exceed one hundred twenty days. A license

expiring during such period or extension shall be automatically renewed

and continued in effect during such period or extension. No fee shall be

charged for any such license or renewal thereof.

9. Except for changes made on a renewal application, the fee for

changing an address on a license shall be ten dollars.

10. Except for changes made on a renewal application, the fee for

changing a name or for changing the status of a real estate broker's

license shall be one hundred fifty dollars. The fee for changing a

salesperson's name shall be fifty dollars.

11. If a real estate salesperson shall leave the service of a real

estate broker, the real estate broker shall file a termination of

association notice on such form as secretary may designate. The

salesperson's license may be endorsed to a new sponsoring broker upon

the establishment of a new record of association filed with the

department of state. The fee for filing a record of association shall be

twenty dollars.

12. Whenever any person licensed as a real estate broker or real

estate salesperson is convicted in this state or elsewhere of a felony,

of a sex offense, as defined in subdivision two of section one hundred

sixty-eight-a of the correction law or any offense committed outside of

this state which would constitute a sex offense, or a sexually violent

offense, as defined in subdivision three of section one hundred

sixty-eight-a of the correction law or any offense committed outside

this state which would constitute a sexually violent offense, such real

estate broker or real estate salesperson shall within five days of the

imposition of sentence, transmit a certified copy of the judgment of

conviction to the department of state.