New last name California law allows advertising leniency for real estate licensees

Not sure what to do with those hundreds of business cards with your old name listed?

Real estate licensees need to follow advertising rules, which require each licensee to disclose on all solicitation materials their:

name;
license number; and
employing broker’s identity. [Calif. Business and Professions Code 10140.6(b)(1)]

A new law is easing restrictions, allowing some leniency when it comes to licensees who have changed their name.

Assembly Bill (AB) 830 allows anyone who legally changes their surname after already having a license to continue to use the name associated with the original license. Both names can be used for business actions. When filing, one’s original surname does not count as a fictitious name. The real estate licensee needs to have both names on filed with the Department of Real Estate (DRE)

To make a name change, the licensee can use eLicensing to quickly update their information.

Otherwise, there are multiple forms provided by the DRE for updating a license – one can notify the DRE through these forms, including:

salesperson change application [See RE 214];
broker change application [See RE 204];
corporation change application [See RE 204A]; and
and broker-associate affiliation notification. [See RE 215]

The salesperson and broker forms each include checkboxes for types of change, which includes: “change of personal name.” This is where a licensee can check for legal name changes, and proceed to fill out their new information.

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