§535.61 – Approval of Providers of Qualifying Course (effective 9/1/19)

The amendments add clarifying terms or timeframes for greater understanding and compliance. The amendments also provides that a provider cannot enroll students in a course days before the expiration of the provider’s approval, unless they have submitted an application for a subsequent approval at least days prior to the expiration of the current approval. This will offer greater protection for students who enroll in courses near the end of a provider’s approval term and give providers a way to avoid any business disruption when applying for a subsequent approval.

The amendments provide clarity about consumer protection issues when paying or receiving funds to/from other settlement service providers. A section was added to define settlement providers that mostly parallels the definition in the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) for consistency with the federal law. Exemptions from the prohibition provisions were also clarified. TREC currently has a rule that includes these provisions for inspectors but not explicitly for other real estate license holders. The change provides parity for license types subject to TREC’s jurisdiction and ensures settlement provider independence. These amendments prohibit holders from selling referrals or recommending settlement providers to their clients based solely on or other valuable consideration received in order to ensure that license holders are upholding their fiduciary duty by putting their clients’ above their own financial gain.

the word “ ” was removed from the prohibited terms set out in subsection (d)(5) to allow this word to be used at the beginning or middle of a team name.