What is a License?

To start off our licensing lesson, we need to discuss what a license is, and what the purpose of licensing is. 

A license is simply a permit that is granted by an authoritative party to do an action or use an object. The authoritative party usually creates rules and regulations that govern the licensee in the licensee's actions. A licensee is someone that receives a license to do an action or use an object.

For example, an owner of a computer allows their friend to use the computer for a period of about 3 hrs. The owner of the computer has given a license to the friend to use the computer. Another example of a license is software. A software company sells licenses of the software to individuals and companies, so that they can use the software.

In real estate, states grant licenses to sell real estate to people that are qualified to do so. The qualified person can then go about selling real estate according to the rules and regulations of the state.

In Utah, once a person has met the qualifications, the state will issue a license to that person to start selling real estate. The person may then act as a real estate agent or broker. If anyone asks the agent or broker if they are qualified as a real estate professional, the person may show them their license issued by the state to prove that they are qualified.

Below is a visual image of a real estate license issued by the state of Utah.

One can easily tell from this license that a person with this license is a qualified and licensed real estate agent in the state of Utah.

Contained on the license is the date issued, expiration date, license number of the licensee, license type and the name and address of the licensee. The license also distinguishes that the licensee is an active real estate sales agent. The license is signed by the licensee and the real estate division director.

When a license is granted to a sales agent, the new sales agent is able to print their license by logging in to the Real Estate License Management System that the state has created in order to manage real estate licenses. The license will be kept on file and is searchable by the general public. This means that if a person would like to verify that a licensee is actually a registered licensee in the state of Utah, they may access the Real Estate License Management System and look up the licensee's license info. Through this system people may look up a licensee's license number, broker affiliation, and other information about the licensee.