How to Get a Broker License in Connecticut

Obtaining a Connecticut Real Estate Broker License is crucial if you’re looking to advance your real estate career. Despite the streamlined online application process, many aspiring Connecticut real estate brokers find the requirements and procedures complex and challenging.

This How to Get a Broker License in Connecticut article will guide you through each step of the process, ensuring you have a clear understanding of what it takes to achieve this license and elevate your real estate career as quickly as possible.

Connecticut Real Estate Broker License

In order to get your Connecticut real estate broker license and take your career to the next level, there are several key steps you’ll need to complete. These include:

1. Ensuring You Meet the Eligibility and Experience Requirements
2. Completing the Mandatory Pre-Licensing Education
3. Submitting an Application for the Broker Licensing Exam
4. Passing the Broker Licensing Exam

In the sections below, we’ve explored each of these steps in more detail.

Note: If you’re just starting out, you’ll need to check out our Connecticut Real Estate License guide instead.

Step 1: Meet the Connecticut Eligibility and Experience Requirements

Before proceeding with the application process for your Connecticut real estate broker license, you’ll need to first make sure that you meet the following prerequisites outlined under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 20-314:

• You must be at least 18 years old
• You must be deemed to be sufficiently honest, truthful, and fair for this role
• You must have been practicing as a Connecticut real estate salesperson for a minimum of three years. During this time, you must have:
• Worked under the supervision of a broker in Connecticut for at least 1,500 hours; and
• Represented a buyer, seller, lessor, or lessee in a minimum of four real estate transactions (in the three years before your application)

While a criminal record won’t automatically prevent you from obtaining a broker license, the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) will take it into consideration. For this reason, you’ll need to complete a Criminal Conviction Review Worksheet and submit it alongside your application if you have any criminal convictions.

Note: You must provide documentary proof of your active experience by filling out this experience form and submitting it alongside the rest of your application (see Step 3).

Step 2: Complete the Mandatory Pre-Licensing Education

Beyond the general requirements mentioned earlier, you must also fulfill specific educational prerequisites under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 20-314(d)(1)(A) to be able to apply for a Connecticut real estate broker license.

In particular, this will involve completing a total of 120 hours of pre-licensing education that’s broken down as follows:

• Real Estate Principles and Practices Course (60 hours)
• Real Estate Brokerage Principles and Practices Course (15 hours)
• Real Estate Legal Compliance Course (15 hours)
• Two elective courses (15 hours each), or one of the below options:
• An Appraisal/Elective Pre-License Course (30 hours)
• 20 Real Estate Transactions (must be completed within the past five years)

After completing these required pre-licensing education hours, you’ll receive a Certificate of Completion for each of the courses above. Hold on to all of these because you must present them to apply for the broker licensing exam (see Step 3).

Step 3: Submit an Application for the Broker Licensing Exam

After completing your pre-licensing education and ensuring you satisfy all other licensing requirements, you’ll be ready to move on to the broker licensing exam.

Before you can do this, however, you must submit an application to the DCP and obtain approval to take this exam. You can do this through the DCP’s eLicense platform or by filling out a paper Real Estate Broker Exam Application and mailing it to the DCP.

Regardless of how you submit this application, you must include the following documentation with it (as physical or scanned copies):

• Your original Completion Certificates for the following:
• 60-Hour Real Estate Principles and Practices Course
• 15-Hour Legal Compliance Course
• 15-Hour Real Estate Broker Principles and Practices Course
• Two 15-Hour or One 30-Hour Pre-License Real Estate Elective Course (Or Proof of 20 Completed Real Estate Transactions
• Your completed 1,500 Hours Experience Form

For the purposes of the above requirements, a “real estate transaction” is defined as either the execution of a lease agreement or the legal transfer of real property.

Once the DCP reviews and approves your application, it’ll forward your details to PSI. PSI will then send you an Examination Eligibility Postcard with more detailed instructions on how to complete the rest of the exam registration process.

Note: Because this form doubles as an application to take this exam and for the Connecticut broker license, you’ll need to pay a $120 application fee when you first submit it as well as a $59 exam fee when you schedule your exam with PSI later.

Step 4: Pass the Broker Licensing Exam

After receiving approval from the DCP and scheduling your Connecticut broker exam with PSI, the next step is to demonstrate you’ve attained sufficient knowledge regarding the real estate profession’s laws by passing the broker licensing exam.

This three-hour exam includes 115 questions divided into two sections: general and state-specific. Between five and 10 “experimental” questions also may appear as part of this exam, but they aren’t scored and won’t take away from the total time you have to complete the exam.

Keep in mind that, as mentioned above, you’ll be required to pay a $59 exam fee at the time of reservation because you can’t pay this at the testing center.

In order to pass, you’ll need to obtain a score of 75% across the entire exam. You’ll find out how you performed immediately after finishing the exam and should shortly receive your score report by email as well.

After this, you’ll need to send your original passing score report — along with the license fee listed on it — to the Licensing Services Division of the DCP within two years of the date you pass both sections of the exam. Failure to do so will mean you must submit a completely new application.

Note: You’ll have a year from the date you receive your exam authorization in which to pass both sections of the exam before you must resubmit an eligibility application. However, you can attempt the exam as many times as you need during this period.

Step 5: Application Review

If you’ve managed to get this far, congratulations!

After sending your passing score report to the DCP, all that’s left to do is wait for the organization to review it and confirm you satisfy all mandatory requirements before issuing your Connecticut real estate broker license.

Be sure to take some time to celebrate your accomplishment. You’ve put in a lot of work and effort and deserve a celebration!

Note: If you’re not sure what’s happening with your license and it’s been longer than expected, contact the DCP by phone or email.

Connecticut Real Estate License Renewal

In order to keep your real estate broker license valid, you’ll need to renew it by Nov. 30 of every even-numbered year (i.e., every two years). The easiest way to do this is through the DCP’s eLicense platform for a $758 fee.

For each renewal period, you must complete 12 hours of continuing education (CE) broken down as follows:

• Current Real Estate and Fair Housing Legislation, Licensing Laws, and Regulations (Three hours)
• Elective Courses (Nine hours)

In lieu of the above CE hours, you may request to complete a Connecticut CE Examination offered by PSI during the renewal period. When contacting PSI about this, be sure to refer to it as the “40-Question” exam that you need in order to renew your Connecticut broker license.

Importantly, you don’t have to complete any CE hours by the end of the first renewal cycle after earning your real estate broker license as long as you obtained it through examination and not reciprocity.

While you shouldn’t rely on it, the DCP will send you a renewal notice between 30 and 45 days before your license’s expiration date — either by email or standard mail. An important reason you shouldn’t wait to receive this is that you must complete all required CE hours between April 1 and Aug.30 — around three months before the renewal date.

We always encourage our readers to think of the post licensing course they take as an investment in their future career — higher quality, more reliable course content is a central part of ensuring you continue to grow professionally.

Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection

Mailing Address:
License Services Division
450 Columbus Blvd, Suite 901
Hartford, CT 06103

Phone: (860) 713-6000

Fax: (860) 706-1200

Email: dcp.licenseservices@ct.gov

Website: https://portal.ct.gov/dcp/license-services-division/all-license-applications/real-estate-broker—initialexam?language=en_US