1. A. Continuing education requirements.

   1. 1. To be eligible for license renewal, a real estate salesperson or broker shall complete continuing education courses approved by the Department under R4-28-404, presented by a real estate school approved under R4-28-404. Continuing education courses completed after fulfillment of the renewal requirement and within 90 days of a renewal may be counted toward the next license period but may not be counted for two licensing periods.
   2. 2. A real estate salesperson or associate broker applying for renewal shall submit proof of satisfactory completion of 24 credit hours of continuing education courses in the categories specified in subsection (A)(5), and if applicable any required Current Issues except as exempted under (A)(9). The renewal applicant shall complete a minimum of three hours in each of the mandatory categories under subsections (A)(5)(a) through (A)(5)(h). The renewal applicant shall take additional courses in the mandatory categories, or shall take courses in the business brokerage or general real estate category described in subsections (A)(5)(g) and (A)(5)(h) to fulfill the required 24 credit hours.
   3. 3. A real estate designated or delegated associate broker applying for renewal shall submit proof of satisfactory completion of 24 credit hours of continuing education courses. The renewal applicant shall complete a minimum of three hours in each of the mandatory categories under subsections (A)(5)(a) through (A)(5)(f) and shall complete a Broker Management Clinic under A.R.S. § 32-2136 approved in the Requirements for Licensees category under subsection (A)(5)(c). The renewal applicant shall take additional courses in the mandatory categories, or shall take courses in the business brokerage or general real estate category described in subsections (A)(5)(g) and (A)(5)(h) to fulfill the required 24 credit hours.
   4. 4. A salesperson renewing for the first time may include credit for attendance at the Contract Writing class taken under A.R.S. § 32-2124(L) if taken within one year before the date of the salesperson’s original licensure. A broker renewing for the first time may include credit for attendance at the Broker Management Clinic under A.R.S. § 32-2136 taken before the broker’s original licensure date.

   5. 5. The categories for real estate continuing education courses are:

      1. a. Agency law. The class material concerns agency relationships, fiduciary duties, and disclosure, any of which may include related court decisions.

      2. b. Contract law. The class material concerns contract formation and implementation as provided for in Article 26, Section 1 of the Arizona Constitution, or the results of contract use, which may include:

         1. i. Various contract terms and conditions, fundamentals, updates, options, offers, counter offers, first right of refusal, exchanges, subject to, and assignments;
         2. ii. Forms, when used to demonstrate examples of elements of a contract. The teaching of how to fill in a form template does not meet the minimum content requirements for Continuing Education credit.
         3. iii. Contract writing and elements of an enforceable contract;
         4. iv. Required disclosures and law and rule requirements;
         5. v. Court decisions and case law studies;
         6. vi. Breach of contract issues;
         7. vii. Legal, ethical, and agency considerations, competency of the parties, and procedures;
         8. viii. Accommodating current financing procedures, requirements, and options.

      3. c. Requirements for Licensees. The class material relates to license laws, and may include:

         1. i. Article 26 of the Arizona Constitution;
         2. ii. A.R.S. Title 32, Chapter 20, and A.A.C. Title 4, Chapter 28, which includes trust accounts, recordkeeping, license requirements, exemptions to licensure, compensation, recovery fund provisions, development requirements, processes for public reports for and sale of subdivided and unsubdivided land, membership campgrounds and time-shares, cemetery regulations, and grounds for disciplinary action and hearings.
         3. iii. Any other statutory title and chapter, administrative code, or applicable case law directly related to the practice of real estate in the State of Arizona.

      4. d. Real estate legal issues. The class material concerns existing real estate law or associated knowledge pertaining to a licensee’s scope and reasonable skill and care, and may include:

         1. i. Sources of real estate law (constitutions, statutes, rules, zoning, common), and the legal system;
         2. ii. Land and its elements (air, mineral rights, water rights, real and personal property);
         3. iii. Land, title, and interests in land, homestead, encumbrances, and the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act;
         4. iv. Easements, fixtures, land descriptions, ownership, deeds, and building restrictions;
         5. v. Escrow procedures, financing documents, and lending laws and regulations, including Regulation Z;
         6. vi. Wills and estates, taxes, bankruptcy law, securities laws, title insurance, and appraisal law;
         7. vii. Case law studies, real estate fraud, disclosure law, and interstate and international real estate;
         8. viii. Homeowners Association regulations;
         9. ix. Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA);
         10. x. Judicially appointed real estate representation;
         11. xi. Environmental issues.

      5. e. Fair housing and Americans with Disabilities Act. The class material concerns equal opportunities, and may include:

         1. i. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), including but not limited to ADA architectural designs (construction and development), pertinent history, and court cases;
         2. ii. Arizona civil rights laws and federal fair housing laws, or any local ordinance of a similar nature, including advertising, marketing, information, current regulatory interpretation, enforcement, pertinent history, and court cases;
         3. iii. Housing developments, deed restrictions to include Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 33, Chapter 4, Article 7, affordable housing, elder housing, zoning, local ordinances, and disclosures, to include group homes, sober living homes, and other similar housing types;
         4. iv. Commercial and residential concerns;
         5. v. Administrative procedures, disparate impact, and business practices.

      6. f. Disclosure. The class material may include the following:

         1. i. Licensee’s disclosure obligations and the timing of delivery to client and others;
         2. ii. Seller’s and buyer’s disclosure obligations to each other;
         3. iii. Common material facts warranting disclosure, and liability for failure to disclose;
         4. iv. Avoiding inadvertent non-disclosures;
         5. v. Scope of licensee’s role in client’s review of required disclosures, to include buyer, seller, Homeowner Association, deed restriction, utilities, water access and uses, commitment for title insurance, homeowner insurance, or any other material and reasonable interest important to the client; and
         6. vi. Advising buyers and sellers of common “red flags.”

      7. g. Business brokerage. (May be allocated to satisfy Legal Issues, Contract Law, Disclosures, or General Category Requirements) The majority of class material concerns business brokerage including:

         1. i. Business brokerage basics including introducing licensees to business brokerage, associated terminology, marketing, prospecting, listing, pricing, closing practices, the use of contracts related to and unique to business brokerage, and the application of business brokerage contracts;
         2. ii. Business valuations and appraisals, and establishing an in-depth review of proper business valuation techniques for small, medium, and large businesses;
         3. iii. Tax structure and considerations, tax law, and policy including subjects such as financing tools available, options available, and tax implications;
         4. iv. Accounting for business brokers;
         5. v. Agency in business brokerages, the use of contracts related to and unique to business brokerage, and the application of business brokerage contracts; and
         6. vi. Disclosure issues in business brokerage, including common “red flags” in a business opportunity transaction, and advising buyers and sellers of common “red flags.”
      8. h. General real estate. The class material concerns real estate, but does not fall within any of the categories listed in subsections (A)(5)(a) through (A)(5)(g), and may include:

      9. i. Appraisal and valuation methodologies;

         1. ii. General finance and financial analysis of real property, mathematics, and managing cash flow;
         2. iii. History of development in metropolitan areas, municipal general plans, economic development plans, and regional planning bodies strategic plans;
         3. v. Market trends and analytics;
         4. vi. Property management.
   6. 6. The Department may require an individual applying for renewal to obtain credit hours based upon significant current issues in the real estate community. The Department shall notify licensees of a new requirement by written notice published in printed or electronic format.
   7. 7. The Department may grant continuing education credit for a course that does not have a certificate of approval under R4-28-404 if the applicant demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that the course meets the requirements prescribed in R4-28-404 and the course content requirements of this Section.
   8. 8. An applicant may substitute subject matter hours within a 90-hour broker’s prelicensure course that meet the criteria for credit under subsections (A)(5)(a) through (A)(5)(h), if taken since the last license renewal, for the continuing education credit required in subsection (A)(2) or (3).
   9. 9. If any change in the continuing education course requirements occurs during a renewal applicant’s license period and the applicant has fully complied with the continuing education requirement in effect before the change occurs, the Department shall consider the renewal applicant to be in compliance with the continuing education requirements for the license period.

2. B. Continuing education waiver. Under A.R.S. § 32-2130, the Commissioner may waive all or a portion of the continuing education requirement or grant additional time to complete a continuing education requirement when a salesperson or broker submits a written request to the Commissioner and shows good cause for the waiver or additional time.

   1. 1. Good cause may include:

      1. a. A person employed by the state or political subdivision establishes to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that the person’s employment during the prior license period involved real estate related matters;
      2. b. Any officer or employee of the state whose license is on an inactive status due to a possible conflict of interest or other employment requirement;
      3. c. The person demonstrates successful completion of a course on topics specifically related to the person’s field of real estate practice;
      4. d. An approved real estate instructor requests a waiver for a course the instructor has taught;
      5. e. The salesperson or broker demonstrates other extraordinary circumstances.
   2. 2. A salesperson or broker is granted additional time by the Commissioner to complete the continuing education requirement for license renewal shall complete the continuing education hours by the deadline or may be subject to disciplinary action.

3. C. Distance learning.

   1. 1. Only a school holding a Certificate of Approval shall offer a distance learning course. The school shall obtain course approval from the Department before advertising the course as approved by the Department for credit hours and before issuing Department credit hours for the course to students.

   2. 2. The Department shall not approve a distance learning course unless it contains:

      1. a. Individual modules of instruction for delivery on a computer or other interactive program;
      2. b. At least one learning objective for each module of instruction. The learning objective shall ensure that if all the objectives are met, the entire content of the course is understood;
      3. c. A structured learning method to enable the student to attain each learning objective;

      4. d. A diagnostic assessment of the student’s performance during each module of instruction;

         1. i. The assessment shall measure what the student learned throughout the module of instruction;
         2. ii. Include scenario-based questions, and;
         3. iii. Assess the comprehension of each concept covered in the module.

      5. e. Remediation.

         1. i. Repetition of a module if a student is deficient in a diagnostic assessment; and
         2. ii. Continuous repetition of the module until the student understands the content material.
   3. 3. An approved instructor shall not present any course content that is not current and accurate.

   4. 4. An approved instructor or the school administrator shall grade distance learning courses. The instructor or school administrator shall:

      1. a. Provide the student with assistance, if required;
      2. b. Certify the student has completed each assignment of instruction; and

      3. c. Certify the student is the licensee attending and completing a distance learning course only if the student:

         1. i. Completes all required instructional modules,
         2. ii. Attends any required hours of live instruction or testing, or both, for a given course; and
         3. iii. Passes a final examination.

      4. d. Certification of a student means the school is certifying the licensee is the one attending and completing the course. Means of certifying a student may include:

         1. i. Two factor authentication;
         2. ii. Random Audits of at least 10% of attendance;
         3. iii. Direct or Indirect Visual Confirmation.

      5. e. Means of certifying a student may not include:

         1. i. A unique username and password created by the student;
         2. ii. A signed or acknowledged affidavit;
         3. iii. Verification of information that is publicly available on ADRE’s website or otherwise publicly available on the internet.
   5. 5. As part of its application for approval of a distance learning course, a school shall file a plan with the Department describing how the school will deal with hardware and software failure.

Historical Note

Adopted effective May 1, 1980 (Supp. 80-3). Amended subsection (F) effective March 13, 1981 (Supp. 81-2). Former Section R4-28-11 renumbered without change as Section R4-28-402 (Supp. 87-1). Amended by deleting subsections (C) and (E) and renumbering accordingly effective March 7, 1988 (Supp. 88-1). Former Section R4-28-402 renumbered to Section R4-28-403, new Section R4-28-402 adopted by final rulemaking at 5 A.A.R. 650, effective February 3, 1999 (Supp. 99-1). Amended by final rulemaking at 6 A.A.R. 1886, effective May 2, 2000 (Supp. 00-2). Amended by final rulemaking at 11 A.A.R. 506, effective March 5, 2005 (Supp. 05-1). Amended by final rulemaking at 31 A.A.R. 4267 (November 7, 2025), effective December 13, 2025 (Supp. 25-4).