Illinois has a residential leasing agent license that takes 15 hours of coursework, and a broker license that takes 75. The leasing license lets you rent and lease residential property and nothing else, while the broker license covers sales, listings and leasing. Both are issued under the Real Estate License Act of 2000 (225 ILCS 454), and both require a sponsoring broker before you can do any licensed work. If you are weighing the two, the second decision is just as big as the first, and that is how to choose your first brokerage.

The short version is that the leasing license is faster and cheaper to get, and the broker license is the one with the wider job description. This guide sets them side by side using the Act, the state's administrative rules at 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1450 and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), so you can see exactly where the line sits before you spend a dollar or an hour.

What the Law Lets Each License Do

Section 5-15 of the Act makes it unlawful to act as a managing broker, a broker or a residential leasing agent, or to advertise as one, without a license and a valid sponsorship registered with the state. That sentence covers all three license types.

The leasing agent license is created in Section 5-5. The Act calls it a "limited scope license" for people who want to do the leasing of residential real property "and only those activities." Those activities are leasing or renting residential real property, attempting, offering or negotiating to lease or rent it, and supervising the collection of rent for its use. Section 5-5 then closes the door on everything else. A leasing agent may not engage in any activity that would otherwise require a broker license, and the Act names the ones it has in mind: selling, offering for sale, negotiating for sale, listing or showing for sale, or referring for sale or commercial lease real estate.

The administrative rule says it again from the other direction. Under 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1450.200, a leasing agent may not take part in any licensed activity that does not relate to leasing residential property or that would otherwise need a broker license. So a leasing agent cannot take a listing, cannot show a house to a buyer, and cannot write a purchase offer. A leasing agent also cannot lease commercial space, because the license is residential only.

The broker license has no such fence. The Act defines a broker as someone who, for another and for compensation, sells, exchanges, purchases, rents or leases real estate, offers or negotiates to do any of those things, or lists real estate for sale, rent, lease or exchange. Leasing is in that list. A broker can do everything a leasing agent can do, with no separate leasing license required. Section 5-5(b) says so directly: a licensed managing broker or broker does not need a leasing agent license to perform leasing activities.

One license at a time

You cannot hold both. Rule 1450.160 says a licensee may not simultaneously hold a broker license and a residential leasing agent license, and the rule applies the same way to a managing broker and a leasing agent. When the state issues a new license, the earlier one is canceled. If you start with the leasing license and later want the broker license, you are replacing one with the other, not adding a second.

How the money flows

Rule 1450.200(c) has a line that new licensees often miss. A leasing agent may accept compensation for leasing residential property only from the sponsoring broker who sponsors them. Nobody else can pay you for the lease itself. The Act also describes a leasing agent as a person "employed by a broker," and Section 5-5 says leasing agents "must be sponsored and employed by a sponsoring broker."

Referral fees follow the same fence. Under Rule 1450.780, a leasing agent may not request or be paid a referral fee except one that comes from a lease or rental of residential real estate. A leasing agent who hears a friend is selling a house cannot collect a fee for passing the name along.

What It Takes to Earn Each One

The leasing license has the lower bar by a wide margin. The broker license asks for a good deal more, and the gap is mostly hours.

Section 5-10 sets the leasing agent requirements. You must be at least 18, be of good moral character, hold a high school diploma or an Illinois equivalent verified under oath, complete 15 hours in an approved course, pass a written exam on the parts of the Act that relate to leasing agents, and submit an application with the fee. The 15-hour course covers the Act as it applies to leasing agents, fair housing and human rights in leasing, advertising and marketing, leases, applications and credit and criminal background reports, owner-tenant relationships and laws, handling of funds, and environmental issues in residential property.

Section 5-27 sets the broker requirements. The age, character and diploma rules are the same. The difference is 75 hours of approved instruction, 15 of which must be situational and case studies. You then pass the broker exam and submit an application with the fee. If you want the full walk through, our guide to getting your Illinois real estate license covers each step in order, and the guide to the Illinois real estate exam covers the test itself.

Here is how the two compare on the points that decide the choice:

• Pre-license hours. Leasing agent, 15. Broker, 75.
• What you may do. Leasing agent, residential leasing only. Broker, sales, listings and leasing.
• Initial application fee under Rule 1450.130. Leasing agent, 100 dollars. Broker, 150 dollars. Exam fees are paid separately to the testing service.
• Renewal fee. Leasing agent, 150 dollars. Broker, 200 dollars.
• Continuing education. Leasing agent, at least 8 hours per term. Broker, 12 hours per term.
• Expiration. Leasing agent licenses expire July 31 of each even-numbered year. Broker licenses expire April 30 of each even-numbered year.

The numbers in that list come from the fee rule, which was amended effective July 7, 2025, so they are the current ones. The broker initial fee of 150 dollars is the same one our renewal dates and fees guide uses.

The rules both exams share

Approved pre-license education stays valid for two years after you finish it, under Section 5-35 of the Act. If you pass the exam, you have one year from the date of your passing score to apply and meet the licensing requirements. Under the rules, a person who fails the exam four consecutive times must repeat the pre-license course before testing again, which means the 15 hours for a leasing applicant and the 75 hours for a broker applicant. The Division of Real Estate has 30 days after it receives and approves the fees and documents to issue a leasing license or tell you why it was denied.

The permit that lets you start before you are licensed

One feature exists only on the leasing side. Section 5-5(d) lets a person do residential leasing for up to 120 consecutive days without a license, provided the sponsoring broker has told the state the person is pursuing licensure and the person enrolls in the pre-license course no later than 60 days after starting. Rule 1450.240 turns that into a permit. The permit application fee is 50 dollars, the permit is valid for 120 days, one sponsoring broker may sponsor the holder during that period, and a person may practice under a permit only once. When the 120 days end, the holder must stop leasing unless the license has been issued and a sponsorship is in place.

The broker license has no equivalent. Nobody may do any broker activity until the license is issued and a sponsorship is registered. That fact alone settles the question for some people, because it means the leasing path is the only one with a legal way to begin working while you finish the coursework.

Which Path Fits the Work You Want

The honest way to choose is to ask what you want to do in the first year, and then check which license permits it. The Act does not rank the two as better or worse. It treats them as different jobs.

Start with the leasing license if the work you want is renting homes and apartments. Suppose a property owner has a set of rental units and a sponsoring broker who needs someone to show them, screen applications, handle lease paperwork and collect rent. That entire job description fits inside Section 5-5. The license costs less and takes 15 hours, and its continuing education requirement is 8 hours per term. Rule 1450.250 also says a leasing agent does not have to complete continuing education for the first renewal after the initial license is issued.

Start with the broker license if you want to list or sell homes, or if you cannot say yet whether you will want to. The leasing license has a hard ceiling, and the Act describes it with the word "only." The first time a client asks you to list a house, the answer from a leasing agent has to be no. There is no gradual way to stretch the license. A leasing agent who wants to move to sales has to apply for a broker license.

That move is allowed. Rule 1450.430(c) says that if a broker applicant currently holds a leasing agent license, the leasing license must be in good standing. So the state expects people to make the step, and it asks that you leave one license in good order before taking the other. What does not appear in the Act or the rules is any text that credits the 15 leasing hours against the 75 broker hours. Sections 5-27 and 1450.420 both describe the 75 hours on their own terms. Before you plan around it, ask the Division of Real Estate whether anything carries over.

A detail that changes the next steps

Section 5-50(b) requires 45 hours of post-license education from "an individual whose first license is that of a broker" received on or after August 9, 2019. The words "first license" are the ones to read closely. A person who starts as a leasing agent and later becomes a broker did not receive a broker license as their first license, and the statute text speaks only to those who did. How the Division applies that to a leasing agent who upgrades is a question for the Division itself, so confirm it before you finish your pre-license hours. Our guide to the 45 post-license hours explains what the requirement is for a broker whose first license is a broker license.

The work that sits above both

Neither license gets you out of the sponsorship requirement. A leasing agent must be sponsored by a broker, and the sponsoring broker must tell the state within 24 hours of establishing the sponsorship and keep a public register of the leasing agents they sponsor. A broker is sponsored in the same way. The rule also expects a written employment or independent contractor agreement between the sponsoring broker and the sponsored licensee. In practice, that means you should have your sponsor lined up before the license arrives, not after.

The guide on broker versus managing broker takes that step on its own.

What to Ask a Brokerage Before You Choose

A license is the entry fee. What you do with it for the next two years depends mostly on the brokerage behind you, because the sponsor is the one that registers you with the state, signs the agreement and decides what support you get.

The first question for any office is whether it will sponsor the license you are studying for. Ask the second just as plainly: what does the sponsor provide, in writing, for a licensee on day one.

For brokers, here is what a new agent receives at Gambino Realtors, a Rockford brokerage in business since 1923. A new agent gets a personal business coach, weekly classes and sales meetings twice a month. A mentor goes along on first appointments, and Gambino brings leads to its agents. Ask any brokerage you are considering for the same kind of list, and compare it with what you are being offered.

The Bottom Line

The residential leasing agent license takes 15 hours, an exam and a sponsor, and it covers only residential leasing. The broker license takes 75 hours, an exam and a sponsor, and it covers sales, listings and leasing. You cannot hold both at once, the leasing license has a 120-day permit that the broker license does not, and the Act sets a hard line between the two jobs. If renting homes is the whole goal, the leasing license fits and costs less. If there is any chance you want to sell or list, start with the broker license and skip the detour. Either way, the sponsor you pick shapes the work more than the license does, so read how to choose your first brokerage before you pay for a course.

The questions below are the ones people ask when they are deciding between the two licenses.

Frequently Asked Questions