Director of Licensing

Key Takeaways

• The Director of Licensing is appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate and heads the Washington Department of Licensing (RCW 43.17.020).
• The Director chairs the Washington Real Estate Commission, and its six members act in an advisory capacity to the Director rather than outvoting the Director (RCW 18.85.021).
• The Director issues the rules governing brokers, managing brokers, designated brokers, and firms, with the advice and approval of the commission (RCW 18.85.041).
• Discipline against a licensee is the Director's action, so an answer putting the Real Estate Commission in charge of suspending or revoking a license is wrong (RCW 18.85.361).

What It Means

The Director of Licensing heads Washington's Department of Licensing and is the single official who holds real estate regulatory authority in this state. The governor appoints the Director and the senate consents, which makes the office an executive appointment rather than an elected seat or an industry pick.

For a real estate student, the structural point matters more than the job description. Washington did not create an independent real estate board with the power to write rules and pull licenses. It put those powers in one appointed official. The Director issues the rules governing brokers, managing brokers, designated brokers, and firms, sets the arrangements for the licensing examinations, grants and denies licenses, holds hearings, approves the schools and instructors that teach pre-license courses, and takes disciplinary action against licensees.

The Real Estate Commission sits alongside the office, but its role is advisory. The Director chairs it and its members advise. So when a Washington exam question asks who has authority over a licensee, the answer runs to the Director and the Department Of Licensing, not to a board that votes. The rules the Director adopts are published in the Washington Administrative Code.

How It Works in Washington

Three statutes define the office. RCW 43.17.020 lists the director of licensing among the department chief executives the governor appoints with the consent of the senate. RCW 18.85.021 creates the real estate commission of the state of Washington, "consisting of the director who is the chair of the commission and six commission members who shall act in an advisory capacity to the director," with members required to have five years of real estate brokerage experience in Washington or three years of related investigative work, and at least two members drawn from each side of the Cascade range. Members elect a vice chair each year to preside when the Director is absent.

RCW 18.85.041 is where the working power sits. The Director, with the advice and approval of the commission, may issue rules to govern the activities of brokers, managing brokers, designated brokers, and real estate firms, and may fix the times and places for the licensing examinations. The Director shall enforce all laws and rules relating to licensing, grant or deny licenses, and hold hearings. The Director also runs the certificate of approval system for real estate schools, administrators, and instructors, sets standards for reciprocity with applicants licensed elsewhere, adopts the rules on clear and conspicuous advertising by licensees, and institutes the state's real estate education program.

Discipline is the Director's action as well. Under RCW 18.85.361 the Director may take disciplinary action against a broker, managing broker, Designated Broker, or firm and impose the sanctions and fines specified in RCW 18.235.110. The rules the Director adopts under this authority live in the WAC 308-124 chapters, with licensing and examination in WAC 308-124A.

Example

Hana Kealoha closes a $480,000 sale for a seller through Puget Line Realty. The firm's side of the commission is 2.5 percent, or $12,000, and Hana's 70 percent share is $8,400. Two months after closing, the seller files a complaint: Hana ran social media ads for the listing that never named the firm, and when the seller asked for a copy of an addendum, nobody at the firm could locate the file.

The complaint goes to the Department of Licensing, and every decision that follows belongs to the Director rather than to the Real Estate Commission. Advertising without including the real estate firm's name in a clear and conspicuous manner is a ground for discipline under RCW 18.85.361(8). A firm and its designated broker failing to preserve transaction records for three years following submission to the firm is a separate ground under RCW 18.85.361(17). If the case goes to a hearing, the Director holds it under RCW 18.85.041(2)(a), and the sanctions available come from RCW 18.235.110.

Note what the Real Estate Commission does in this scenario: nothing. Its six members advise the Director on rulemaking, and the outcome for Hana's license is the Director's call. Our guide to audit-proofing your Washington practice covers the file the firm should have been able to produce.

Common Mistakes and Exam Traps

• The Real Estate Commission advises and the Director decides. Any answer giving the commission power to adopt rules on its own or to revoke a license is wrong (RCW 18.85.021).
• The Director is appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate. The Director is not elected, and the commission does not choose the Director (RCW 43.17.020).
• The Director chairs the commission. A question describing a chair elected by the members is describing the vice chair, who presides only when the Director is absent.
• Washington has no separate real estate board or real estate department. Real estate licensing sits inside the Department of Licensing under the Director.