Illinois assistant task boundaries
Licensed vs unlicensed assistants in Illinois
An unlicensed assistant can perform supervised clerical, administrative and personal tasks that do not require a real estate license. Showing property, soliciting business, interpreting documents and negotiating are different. A licensed assistant needs a valid license, the proper scope and sponsorship. The title “assistant” changes none of those requirements.
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Which tasks may an unlicensed assistant perform?
68 Ill. Admin. Code 1450.740 supplies the assistant rules, including the July 7, 2025 amendments. Its permitted-task list operates under licensee supervision and does not enlarge the scope of unlicensed work. The examples below assume an ordinary brokerage assistant, with no separate statutory exemption or permit stated.
| Task | Permitted clerical work | Where to stop |
|---|---|---|
| Calls and appointments | Receive inquiries, forward messages and schedule appointments for a licensee | Do not make solicitation calls or telemarket for business |
| Listing data and advertising | Submit MLS data and changes; draft copy for required approval and place advertising | Do not substitute unapproved claims or treat drafting permission as authority to solicit |
| Signed-contract follow-up | Arrange routine follow-up and assemble closing documents | Do not interpret performance duties, change terms or negotiate an extension |
| Forms | Enter business and factual information at the required direction and approval | Do not choose a client's terms, explain the document or negotiate |
| Public information and listing questions | Obtain government records and quote published information directly | Do not interpret title, financing, restrictions or legal rights |
| Keys and entry codes | Have keys made or secure entry codes for a listing | Do not turn access administration into a prospect showing |
| Broker tour | Sit at a tour not open to the public | Do not host a public open house, kiosk, home-show booth or fair |
| Existing tenant support | Provide concierge services and similar amenities to existing tenants | Do not turn service coordination into soliciting or negotiating a lease |
The rule also permits gathering showing feedback, monitoring license and personnel files, placing signs, computing commission checks and bookkeeping. The boundary remains the actual work: recording a comment is different from persuading a prospect, and calculating an approved commission is different from negotiating the split. The assistant cannot negotiate commissions, commission splits, management fees or referral fees for a licensee.
A published fact does not authorize an interpretation
An assistant may read “The published association fee is $300 per month.” That does not support adding “It will never increase” or “The reserves are adequate.” The extra statement changes a quotation into a prediction or assessment. The safe response is to quote the source accurately and refer the follow-up. For example: “I can read the published figure, but the licensee needs to answer what it means for your offer.”
Which tasks need particular approval?
Rule 1450.740(b)(7), (10) and (14) addresses advertising copy, factual form entries and promotional information. Follow the directing licensee's required approval. When that licensee is a new broker who has not completed the 45-hour post-license education, the specified approval comes from the designated managing broker.
For example, an assistant can enter a buyer's name and an offered price supplied by the responsible licensee into a selected form with the required approval. The assistant cannot then recommend waiving inspection, choose a new contingency or explain the buyer's legal remedies. Clerical permission stops before that advice.
Money is a separate approval rule. Under 1450.740(b)(9), recording and depositing earnest money, security deposits and rent requires the designated managing broker's direction and approval. Do not replace that named role with approval from any available coworker.
That clerical permission does not make the assistant the decision maker for disputed funds. 1450.750(i)(10) permits qualified bookkeeping delegation while preserving the sponsor's responsibility and barring delegation to the specified new brokers who have not completed post-license education. See the client-money lesson for release authority, account records and deadlines.
How do pay, license scope and sponsorship change the answer?
| Situation | Applicable rule | What it does not authorize |
|---|---|---|
| Unlicensed assistant paid by the hour or salary | Nontransaction pay can fit 1450.740(a) | Licensed activity does not become clerical because wages are hourly |
| Unlicensed assistant paid per closing or a percentage of commission | Transaction-based assistant compensation is prohibited | Even purely clerical work does not cure the pay trigger |
| Licensed assistant with a residential leasing agent credential | Remain within residential leasing scope | The assistant title does not permit sales or commercial leasing brokerage |
| A licensee acting as assistant for an outside brokerage's licensee | 1450.740(e) restricts whom the licensee may assist | An active license does not create permission for that outside assistant role |
225 ILCS 454/5-15 requires the license and valid registered sponsorship for the covered brokerage work. 5-5 limits a residential leasing agent to the specified residential leasing activities. Check the actual credential and task; merely holding a license does not authorize every form of brokerage work.
10-15(a) separately prohibits paying an unlicensed person for licensed activities performed in violation of the Act. Keep the assistant's compensation restriction separate from the statute's other consumer-incentive and referral provisions. Calling a closing payment a gift does not change the pay arrangement in an assistant example.
For licensed work, 10-5 generally routes a sponsored licensee's compensation through the sponsoring broker, subject to its stated exceptions. One exception concerns qualifying payment under a previous employment agreement for licensed work performed during a former sponsorship. That is different from accepting new assistant work across unrelated sponsorships.
Does supervision make a prohibited task permissible?
No. Under 1450.740(d), the supervising licensee is responsible for the assistant's acts and omissions. A licensee who permits, aids or allows unlicensed licensed activity violates the Act. Approval, a nearby broker or a written job description cannot turn an unlicensed showing into a permitted task. Presence at an event is not the same as hosting it: assess an incidental clerical assignment separately, while keeping licensed work with the licensee.
1450.700 supplies the wider sponsoring-broker and office oversight framework. Useful practice is to name the supervising licensee, record the needed approval and define when the assistant must transfer a question. Those are practical controls, not a substitute for the legal task limits.
Try three original assistant questions
These are original study examples, not released or recalled PSI questions. Apply the stated role and task rather than assuming a title settles the answer.
1. The assistant reads only the brochure
An unlicensed assistant hosts a public open house while the broker works elsewhere. The assistant reads only the approved brochure and offers no opinions. Under 1450.740, which fact controls?
- The approved brochure permits public hosting
- The broker's telephone availability replaces a license
- Hourly pay permits the assistant to host
- Hosting the public open house is itself prohibited
D is correct. A confuses quotation with a different prohibited activity. B treats remote supervision as a license. C confuses pay with task authority. D applies the public-event prohibition.
Change the fact: the assistant sits at a broker tour that is not open to the public and performs only permitted administrative tasks. The rule expressly allows that nonpublic tour role; it does not authorize public hosting or showing.
2. Every task is clerical, but the bonus depends on closing
In this fictional pay plan, an unlicensed coordinator earns $25 per hour plus $150 for each file that closes. All assigned work is clerical. Which conclusion fits 1450.740(a)?
- The hourly pay can fit, but the per-closing payment is transaction based
- The clerical duties make every pay arrangement permissible
- The transaction payment is allowed if called a gift
- Supervisory approval creates an exception to the pay restriction
A is correct. A tests compensation separately from tasks. B ignores the pay rule. C changes the label without changing the trigger. D invents an approval exception.
Change the fact: the assistant receives a fixed salary unrelated to transactions and performs only permitted supervised work. The transaction-pay problem described here is removed; all task and other applicable employment requirements still need to be followed.
3. An active broker takes outside negotiation work
An active broker sponsored by Firm A is offered new paid work negotiating inspection credits as an assistant to a licensee sponsored by Firm B. What does 1450.740(e) require?
- Any active Illinois license permits the arrangement
- Calling the worker a virtual assistant removes sponsorship limits
- The assistant role must remain with the sponsoring broker or a licensee sponsored by that broker
- Hourly compensation alone makes the outside role permissible
C is correct. A ignores the restriction on whom the licensee may assist. B changes the location and title, not the rule. C follows (e). D confuses payment method with authority to perform the work.
Change the fact: Firm B is the broker's former sponsor and owes payment under a qualifying prior employment agreement for work done while sponsored there. That payment can fall within 10-5's stated exception. It does not authorize new outside assistant work.
Illinois assistant questions answered
Can an unlicensed assistant show property if a broker approves?
No. Rule 1450.740(c) prohibits an ordinary unlicensed assistant from showing property or hosting a public open house. Supervision or an employer's approval does not remove that prohibition. Having keys made or obtaining entry codes is a different administrative task. These examples do not assume a separate statutory exemption or permit.
Can an unlicensed assistant answer a listing question?
The rule permits direct quotation from published information. For example, the assistant may read the published association-fee amount. Explaining the association's financial health, predicting a future fee or interpreting a restriction goes beyond that quotation. Refer those follow-up questions to the responsible licensee or appropriate professional.
Does a virtual assistant have different task limits?
Working remotely does not turn solicitation, document interpretation or negotiation into clerical work. Apply the same task, approval, compensation and supervision rules. For a licensee acting as an assistant, 1450.740(e) also restricts the role to that licensee's sponsoring broker or a licensee with the same sponsor. Individual out-of-state licensing and employment questions require separate review.
Practice the task that changes the result
The PSI state II.G Licensed/Unlicensed Assistants outline is within the Illinois License Act's 40% allocation, or 16 of 40 scored state items. That does not mean sixteen assistant questions. Pair this comparison with client and customer duties and the Illinois License Act guide. If short phone sessions help you practice these distinctions, you can download Pass Illinois for additional broker-exam preparation.