The license law has long stated this name requirement for decades, but LLR enforcement has been almost zero until recently. This is not a new law. LLR states the accurate name is necessary so when the public is harmed, the licensee can be identified for LLR prosecution.
(3) A licensee may not conduct real estate business under another name or at an address other than the one for which his license is issued.
There are a lot of members who are potentially in technical violation of this part of license law due to branding with nicknames, middle names, married last names, divorced last names, hyphenated names, name changes, etc.
Therefore, SCR has proposed several solutions to LLR such as (1) create a nickname, middle name, married name, divorced name category in the LLR licensee database so individuals can be searched and found.
LLR rejected this SCR database upgrade proposal.
This issue received LLR attention along with team name issues after team name laws went into effect in January 2017.
So far, there are no published LLR name issue decisions to help provide name issue guidance on best practices to proceed.
LLR staff require a formal court-ordered name change document to change the license name.
One idea to use until LLR clarifies this issue and best practices, use both the license name and the nickname. Example: John "Jack" "JFK" Fitzgerald Kennedy. Or get a formal court-ordered name change and change the LLR license name.
Another proposed solution is to require the LLR license number be used in all communications. Using the LLR number would be cumbersome sometimes (e.g. on "cold calls") so that is not a perfect solution but is good for signs and advertising. This could also help create a potential defense to a name/technical license law violation accusation.
Posted by: Byron King on 04/24/19 (This information is only accurate as of 04/24/19. You must contact SCR for updates and changes to this information after 04/24/19 as laws and regulations may change over time. SCR 803-772-5206 or email info at screaltors.org)