Recently there has been some confusion as to what an unlicensed personal assistant can or cannot do relative to hosting open houses or broker tours. Will you please clarify these issues?

Pursuant to the rules governing personal assistants, unlicensed assistants may not "host" open houses, kiosks, or home show booths or fairs." As a result, an unlicensed personal assistant may not, under any circumstances, sit or host an open house that is open to the public. The thinking is that the unlicensed personal assistant would be in a position of assisting the licensee in the "procuring of prospects," which is one of the licensed activities itemized under the License Law. In addition, the unlicensed personal assistant is placed in a position where he or she may be tempted to answer specific questions about the property that may go beyond simply quoting published information. Once again, this would put the unlicensed personal assistant in the position of engaging in licensed activities.

There continues to be some confusion as to whether or not an unlicensed personal assistant may sit for a broker tour. First, it is necessary to clarify the definition of broker tour. This would be a situation where one broker’s listing would be held open for a group of licensees to view the property. In other words, the home is not open to the public but to a group of licensees. In that event, the Office of Banks and Real estate, based on informal conversations, has said it would not prosecute a case where an unlicensed personal assistant sat for a broker tour. The key here is that it is not open to the public, thus subjecting the unlicensed personal assistant to far fewer possibilities of engaging in licensed activities. There have been reports of broker tours being scheduled, but on the day of the tour, an open house sign has been placed in the yard. This would imply that the public is invited, and in that event, the unlicensed personal assistant could not serve as host.

By Betsy Urbance, IR Legal Hotline Attorney