An unlicensed assistant in Illinois may handle administrative, clerical and personal work for a real estate licensee, and the state lists 19 tasks it has in mind. The same rule, 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1450.740, also names five things an assistant may never do, including showing property and explaining a contract. If you are starting out, this is one of the first rules to understand, and it sits right beside the choice of how to choose your first brokerage, because the broker you join is the one who answers for any assistant you use.

This guide walks through the rule line by line, then connects it to the Real Estate License Act of 2000 (225 ILCS 454) and the rest of Part 1450. It explains what the text says. It is not legal advice, and a question about a specific task belongs with your sponsoring broker, your designated managing broker or the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR).

What the Rule Lets an Assistant Do

Start with the opening sentence of Section 1450.740(a). Licensees may use the services of unlicensed assistants to help with "administrative, clerical, or personal activities for which a license under the Act is not required." That sentence sets the whole boundary. The assistant's work is paperwork, scheduling, errands and record keeping. It is not the work the Act reserves for people with a license.

Subsection (b) then lists 19 activities an unlicensed assistant may engage in under the supervision of a licensee. The rule adds that the list "is not intended to increase or decrease the scope of licensed activities." In other words, the list does not widen what an assistant may do beyond the Act, and it does not shrink what the Act already allows. It describes tasks that fall on the permitted side of the line.

The 19 items fall into a few natural groups, and it helps to read them that way.

Phones, messages and appointments

An assistant may answer the telephone, receive inquiries and forward messages and inquiries to a licensee. An assistant may schedule appointments for the licensee. There is one carve-out in that second item, and it matters. The rule says scheduling "does not include making phone calls, telemarketing or performing other activities to solicit business on behalf of the licensee." So an assistant can put a showing on the calendar when a client asks for it. An assistant cannot phone strangers to find new clients for the licensee.

An assistant may also respond to questions by quoting directly from published information. The word that carries the weight there is "directly." The assistant repeats what a published source says. The assistant does not interpret it, and interpretation appears on the prohibited list, which comes up in the next section.

Listings, keys, signs and showings support

Several items support a listing without touching the client relationship. An assistant may submit listing data and changes to a multiple listing service. An assistant may have keys made or secure entry codes for a listing. An assistant may place signs on property. An assistant may sit at a property for a broker tour that is not open to the public, and may gather feedback on showings.

Read that broker tour item closely. The rule permits sitting at a property for a broker tour only when that tour is not open to the public. Sitting at a public event is a different matter, and Section 1450.740(c) lists hosting open houses as something an assistant may not do. The public or not-public wording is the only thing separating the two, so it deserves attention.

Documents and public records

An assistant may obtain public information from any government source. The rule gives examples: a courthouse, a sewer district, a water district or any other repository of public information. An assistant may assemble documents for a closing and may follow up on a transaction after a contract has been signed.

An assistant may also complete contract forms with business and factual information, but only at the direction and approval of a licensee. For a new broker who has not yet finished the 45-hour post-license education, the approval comes from the designated managing broker instead. The word "factual" is doing real work in that item. Filling in a name, an address or a date is administrative. Deciding what a clause should say is not.

Advertising and promotional material

An assistant may draft advertising copy and promotional materials for approval by a licensee. An assistant may place advertising. An assistant may prepare and distribute promotional information under the direction and approval of a licensee. In each of these three items, the same new-broker rule applies: when the licensee has not completed the 45 hours of post-license education, the designated managing broker gives the approval.

The pattern is worth noticing. The assistant drafts, places and distributes. A licensee approves. The Act separately says advertising may not be fraudulent, deceptive or inherently misleading (Section 10-30(a)), and the rules require every advertisement to include the sponsoring broker's name (Section 1450.715(b)). Our guide to Illinois real estate advertising rules for brokers covers those requirements in full. The practical meaning for an assistant's work is simple. The assistant may type and post, but the licensee remains the person whose name and sponsoring broker's name the rules attach to.

Money and bookkeeping

Two items touch money. An assistant may record and deposit earnest money, security deposits and rents, but only at the direction of, and with approval by, the designated managing broker. An assistant may also compute commission checks and perform bookkeeping activities.

Notice who has to approve the deposits. It is the designated managing broker, not just any licensee. The rule ties handling of client money to the person who supervises the office. Part 1450.750, the special accounts section, backs this up by letting a sponsoring broker delegate bookkeeping duties to a bookkeeper, an accountant, an unlicensed assistant, a licensed assistant or a sponsored licensee. The same sentence says those duties must not go to a new broker who has not completed the 45-hour post-license education, and it says compliance remains the sponsoring broker's responsibility. Our guide to Illinois escrow and trust account rules for brokers explains the account side of that.

Files and tenants

The last items are the quietest ones. An assistant may monitor licenses and personnel files. An assistant may also provide concierge services and other similar amenities to existing tenants. The second item is limited to existing tenants, which keeps it on the service side of the line. Leasing a unit to a new tenant is licensed activity under the Act.

What an Assistant May Never Do

Subsection (c) of the rule gives the other half. An unlicensed assistant "may not perform licensed activities, including, but not limited to" five things. The words "but not limited to" mean the five are examples. They are not a complete list of what is off limits.

• Hosting open houses, kiosks, or home show booths or fairs.
• Showing property.
• Interpreting information regarding listings, titles, financing, contracts, closings, or other information relating to a transaction.
• Explaining or interpreting a contract, listing, lease agreement or other real estate document for or with anyone.
• Negotiating or agreeing to any commission, commission split, management fee or referral fee on behalf of a licensee.

Put the permitted list next to this one and the logic shows. Everything on the first list moves information or paper. Everything on the second list involves judgment or conversation with the public about a specific transaction or a specific home. That is the line the Act itself draws.

Where the line comes from in the Act

Section 1-10 of the Act defines a broker as a person who, for another and for compensation, or with the intention or expectation of compensation, does a series of things. The list includes selling, renting or leasing real estate, offering to do so, negotiating, and listing. It also includes items that go well beyond selling. The definition covers anyone who "assists or directs in procuring or referring of leads or prospects" intended to result in a sale or lease. It covers anyone who "assists or directs in the negotiation of any transaction." It covers anyone who "opens real estate to the public for marketing purposes." And it covers preparing or providing a broker price opinion or comparative market analysis.

Line those up with the assistant rule. Opening real estate to the public is the open house, and the rule bars assistants from hosting them. Assisting or directing in negotiation is the commission, split and fee language in item five.

Section 5-15(a) of the Act makes it unlawful to act as a managing broker, broker or residential leasing agent, or to advertise or assume to act as one, without a license and a valid registered sponsorship. An assistant who crosses into one of the five prohibited activities is no longer assisting. That person is acting as a broker without a license.

What unlicensed practice can cost

Section 20-10 of the Act sets a civil penalty for a person who practices, offers to practice, attempts to practice or holds oneself out to practice as a managing broker, broker or residential leasing agent without a license. The penalty is not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars for each offense, and the Department sets it after a hearing. The same section gives the Department power to investigate any unlicensed activity.

A short scenario shows how the rule reads in practice. Picture an assistant at a brokerage who is asked by a buyer, during a phone call about a listing, whether the earnest money is refundable if the inspection goes badly. Quoting a line from a published document would be permitted, in the sense of the rule's item about quoting directly from published information. Telling the buyer what the contract means for that buyer's situation is different. The rule bars "explaining or interpreting a contract" for or with anyone. The right move for the assistant is to pass the question to the licensee, which is the first item on the permitted list: receive inquiries and forward them to a licensee.

Who Answers for the Assistant, and Who Can Pay Them

The rule puts responsibility on the licensee. Section 1450.740(d) says any licensee who supervises an unlicensed assistant "shall be responsible for the unlicensed assistant's acts or omissions." It adds that any licensee who "permits, aids, assists or allows an unlicensed assistant to perform any licensed activities shall be in violation of the Act." Two things follow from that sentence. The licensee is. Second, the licensee cannot avoid the problem by saying the assistant acted without being asked. Allowing it is enough to violate the Act.

The sponsoring broker and the managing broker

The responsibility climbs the ladder. Section 1450.700(b) lets a sponsoring broker delegate to unlicensed personnel, including accountants, office managers and unlicensed assistants, "activities or duties not prohibited by the Act or this Part." A licensee who supervises that person is responsible for the person's actions. Section 1450.705(b) adds that a designated managing broker supervises the activities of licensees and unlicensed assistants in the offices that person manages. That supervision includes training all sponsored licensees and unlicensed assistants and supervising all advertising for any service that needs a license.

The rules also draw a careful boundary around discipline. Under Section 1450.700(f), a violation of the Act by an unlicensed assistant or other unlicensed employee is not cause for suspending or revoking the sponsoring broker's license unless the sponsoring broker had knowledge of the violation. Section 1450.705(e) says the same for a designated managing broker. The rules then add the other side. A sponsoring broker's failure to provide an appropriate written company policy, or to properly supervise, is cause for discipline, including suspension or revocation. Knowledge is the hinge. A broker who does not know is protected on the license question, while a broker who failed to supervise is not.

For a reader deciding between brokerages, this is a useful question to ask during an interview. Ask whether the office has a written company policy, since Section 1450.700(a) requires one from any sponsoring broker other than a sole proprietor with no other sponsored licensees. Ask who the designated managing broker is. The titles and what each person does are covered in broker vs managing broker in Illinois.

New brokers and the 45 hours

Until a new broker finishes the 45 hours, the designated managing broker must directly oversee all earnest money and escrow, take part in contract negotiations and approve all of that licensee's advertising. A new broker in that period has no authority to bind the sponsoring broker to a contract.

For assistants, this means the usual approving licensee is replaced by the designated managing broker on three tasks: drafting advertising copy, completing contract forms and preparing promotional information. The 45 hours are explained in Illinois post-license education: the 45 hours explained.

How an assistant may be paid

Section 1450.740(a) contains a single sentence on money: "Compensation for unlicensed assistants cannot be transaction based." The rule does not say what form pay may take beyond that. A salary, an hourly wage and a flat fee are not mentioned, and the sources do not say which are acceptable. The rule only excludes pay that depends on a transaction closing.

That restriction ties to a related rule. Section 1450.780(a) says no licensee may pay a referral fee to an unlicensed person who is not a principal to the transaction. A person receiving a referral fee must be licensed as a residential leasing agent, broker or managing broker in Illinois, or hold an equivalent license from another state or country. An assistant who is paid by the sale, or who receives a fee for sending a client over, would be on the wrong side of both lines.

Who the assistant can work for

Section 1450.740(e) addresses licensees who help other licensees. A licensee is prohibited from acting as an assistant under that Section for any licensee other than the licensee's own sponsoring broker or a licensee sponsored by the same sponsoring broker. A licensed agent may therefore help a colleague at the same brokerage, but may not do assistant work for an agent at another brokerage. This links to Section 10-5(b) of the Act, which says a sponsored licensee may accept compensation for activities under the Act only from the sponsoring broker.

Two limits that sit beside the assistant rule

Two parts of the Act matter for anyone who is thinking of building a small team. Section 20-20(a)(24) of the Act makes it grounds for discipline to permit the use of a broker license to enable a residential leasing agent or unlicensed person to operate a real estate business without actual participation in it and control of it by the broker. An assistant supports a licensee's business. The business remains the licensee's to run.

Section 1450.900(n) lists, as unprofessional conduct, "assisting or inducing a licensee or unlicensed individual to violate the Act or this Part." The list in that Section "includes, but is not limited to" the items it names, so it works as a floor and not a ceiling.

What the sources do not say

Several things a reader might expect are not in the text. The rule does not cap how many assistants a licensee may use. It does not require an assistant to register with IDFPR, to hold any credential or to complete a course. A search of the full Part 1450 for the word assistant turns up Sections 1450.700, 1450.705, 1450.740 and the bookkeeping delegation text in 1450.750, and nothing more. If a task is not on either list in Section 1450.740, the rule gives no direct answer. The cautious reading is the one the rule itself points to, which is to ask whether the task is a licensed activity under Section 1-10 of the Act, and to ask the designated managing broker before the assistant does it.

The Bottom Line

The rule reduces to one test. An unlicensed assistant may move paper, information and schedules for a licensee. An unlicensed assistant may not talk to the public about a specific home or a specific contract, may not host an open house, and may not negotiate money. The licensee who supervises the assistant answers for every act and omission, and the pay cannot depend on a deal closing.

If you are thinking about a real estate career, the practical point is that the structure around you matters as much as the license. Whether an office has a written policy, a designated managing broker who trains and supervises, and a clear understanding of this rule decides how safely you could use help in your own business. Read how to choose your first real estate brokerage in Illinois before you decide, and ask the questions in this guide when you interview.

The questions below cover the points that come up on this rule.

Frequently Asked Questions