Employee of LLC needs real estate license

Employee of LLC needs real estate license

  Question:  Our family’s limited liability company (“LLC”) owns several manufacturing companies, but also owns three small office buildings in Glendale.  My wife and I are the only members of this LLC.  One of our employees is primarily in sales for one of our manufacturing companies, but he also handles the rental of these three small office buildings, including occasional showings to prospective tenants and making arrangements for repairs/maintenance.  Is this employee required to have a real estate license, even though his primary job is manufacturing sales, and he gets very little compensation for the occasional showings to prospective tenants and for the occasional phone calls from tenants for repairs and maintenance?

  Answer:  The employee is required to have a real estate license.  An owner of real estate, or a principal of an LLC that owns real estate, generally does not have to have a real estate license to sell, lease, or manage that real estate.  An employee of the LLC, however, that receives compensation for any such activity generally needs a real estate license.