Permitted: administrative and clerical work
The permitted list is broader than many offices assume. The organizing idea is that the task is mechanical — it does not require interpreting information, exercising real estate judgment, or negotiating.
- Answer the phone, forward calls, take messages, schedule appointments for licensees
- Submit listing information to the MLS and complete the associated forms
- Run paperwork over to the lender, the closing attorney or another agent
- Copy and deliver public records; obtain keys from clients or have keys made
- Write and place advertising, with the content reviewed and approved by a licensee
- Receive and deposit funds held in trust for others, including earnest money and rent
- Perform company bookkeeping
- Place signs on property and arrange for repairs
- Make rental collection calls reminding tenants of payments due
- Answer property questions where the answer appears on a pre-printed form
- Hand keys to a prospect for a property visit
Prohibited: anything requiring a license
The prohibitions are just as concrete, and each one has been the subject of real complaints.
- Preparing or discussing a listing or property management agreement with an owner
- Showing property, or driving or accompanying prospects to a property
- Negotiating or discussing the terms of a sale, lease or rental
- Procuring, or assisting in procuring, prospects for a sale, exchange, lease or rental
- Answering questions that require interpretation or specialized real estate knowledge
- Any phone conversation that amounts to negotiation
Edge cases worth training on
Two boundaries generate most of the confusion. First, handing a prospect a key is permitted, but going with them to the property is not — the moment the assistant is at the showing, it starts to look like a showing. Second, answering a question from a pre-printed sheet is permitted, but the follow-up question almost always requires interpretation, and that is where the assistant has to stop and hand off to a licensee.
Rent collection has the same shape: reminding a tenant that rent is due is fine; discussing lease terms is not.
The broker's job
Because the qualifying broker is responsible for compliance, the practical control is to write the permitted and prohibited lists into office policy, cover them during onboarding, and track unlicensed staff separately from licensees on the roster so nobody assumes an assistant can cover a showing.