Illinois License Act study guide

Licensed and unlicensed real estate assistants in Illinois

An unlicensed assistant can handle supervised clerical, administrative and personal work that does not require a license. The task, required approval and payment arrangement each matter. A licensed assistant must also stay within the actual license and sponsorship.

Last reviewed: October 24, 2026

What can an unlicensed assistant do?

Support the transaction without taking over licensed work. Rule 1450.740 permits supervised administrative, clerical and personal activities for which a license is not required. It separately limits compensation. A permitted task does not make every pay plan permissible, and hourly pay does not make a prohibited task permissible.

The map below covers all 19 activities in subsection (b). Numbers refer to that subsection. The list does not increase or decrease the scope of licensed activities. These examples assume an ordinary brokerage assistant, with no separate statutory exemption or permit stated.

All 19 permitted activities, grouped by the work involved
Work and rule item	Permitted supervised activity	Boundary to keep
Calls and calendars: (1), (15)	Answer calls, receive and forward inquiries, and schedule appointments for the licensee.	Scheduling does not include prospecting calls, telemarketing or other solicitation.
Listings and promotion: (2), (7), (8), (13), (14)	Submit MLS data and changes; draft copy for required approval; place advertising and signs; prepare and distribute promotional information under required direction and approval.	Drafting is permitted. Obtain the specified approval before using the material; see the new-broker rule below.
Transaction files: (3), (4)	Follow up after a contract is signed and assemble closing documents.	Track the file. Do not interpret a contingency or negotiate a different deadline.
Information: (5), (16)	Obtain public information from government sources and answer by quoting published information directly.	Do not interpret listings, title, financing, contracts, closings or other transaction information.
Keys and codes: (6)	Have keys made or secure entry codes for a listing.	This access-administration permission does not authorize conducting a showing.
Funds: (9)	Record and deposit earnest money, security deposits and rent at the designated managing broker's direction and approval.	Do not turn a clerical deposit assignment into a decision about disputed money.
Forms: (10)	Enter business and factual information at the required direction and approval.	Do not choose the client's terms, explain the document or negotiate changes.
Office records: (11), (12)	Monitor licenses and personnel files, compute commission checks and perform bookkeeping.	Calculating a commission check does not permit negotiating a fee or paying the assistant a commission percentage.
Tours and feedback: (17), (18)	Sit at a property for a broker tour not open to the public and gather showing feedback.	Do not host a public open house, kiosk, home-show booth or fair, or show property.
Existing tenants: (19)	Provide concierge services and similar amenities to existing tenants.	Tenant support does not authorize prospect solicitation or lease negotiation.

Subsection (c) also expressly prohibits explaining or interpreting a contract, listing, lease or other real estate document and negotiating or agreeing to a commission, commission split, management fee or referral fee on a licensee's behalf. Its prohibited examples are not the entire universe of licensed activities.

Published information: stop before the extra conclusion

An assistant may read the published tax amount. Adding “so your bill cannot increase” changes the response from a quotation to an interpretation or prediction. A useful handoff is: “I can read the published figure. The licensee needs to address what it means for your decision.”

Carrying approved brochures while a licensee hosts an event is a different assignment from hosting it yourself. Assess that clerical role on its own facts. It does not authorize the assistant to conduct a prospect showing or take over the public event.

Likewise, “I received the signed inspection notice” is administrative follow-up. “You should waive inspection” or “I agreed to extend the deadline” is different. A transaction coordinator title does not turn advice or negotiation into file administration.

Whose direction and approval are required?

Advertising, forms and promotional information

Subsections (b)(7), (10) and (14) cover drafting advertising copy, entering business and factual information on contract forms, and preparing or distributing promotional information. Follow the specified licensee approval and direction requirements. If the directing broker has not successfully completed the 45-hour post-license education, the required approval comes from the designated managing broker.

The 45-hour condition concerns that new broker's education, not an assistant-training certificate. It does not authorize the assistant to explain a form after someone approves the factual entries.

For a form: a licensee selects the form and supplies the buyer's name and offered price. The assistant enters those facts with the required direction and approval. The assistant does not choose a contingency, recommend a different price or explain a party's legal remedies. Supplying facts is different from asking the assistant to decide which terms belong in the form.

Deposits have their own named approval

Under (b)(9), recording and depositing earnest money, security deposits and rent requires the designated managing broker's direction and approval. This does not depend on whether the directing broker has completed post-license education. Approval from any available colleague is not the same thing.

That permission is clerical. It does not authorize the assistant to decide entitlement to disputed funds. The special-account rules still govern the account and any release. Referring a dispute to the designated managing broker does not give that broker automatic authority to release the funds without the required legal basis.

Under 1450.750(i)(10), a sponsoring broker may delegate bookkeeping to a qualified person, including an unlicensed assistant, but not to a new broker who has not completed the 45-hour post-license education. The sponsor retains responsibility. This qualification is separate from permission to make a directed deposit.

How may an assistant be paid?

Unlicensed assistant compensation cannot be transaction based. A salary or hourly plan unrelated to transactions can fit 1450.740(a). A per-closing amount, percentage of commission or bonus triggered by a completed transaction does not. Check the trigger, not whether the office calls the payment a gift, thank-you or administrative fee.

Test the assignment and the pay separately
Example	Task question	Pay question
Hourly assistant submits listing data under supervision	A listed clerical activity	Time-based pay can fit; other requirements still apply
Hourly assistant conducts a prospect showing	Showing remains prohibited for an ordinary unlicensed assistant	Hourly pay does not cure the task
Clerical coordinator earns a payment for each closing	Clerical work may be permitted	The transaction-triggered payment is still prohibited
Assistant computes an approved commission check	Bookkeeping is listed; negotiating the split is different	Computing a check does not permit receiving a commission percentage

Section 10-15(a) separately prohibits compensation for unlicensed performance of licensed activities in violation of the Act. The section's consumer-incentive and referral provisions are different questions. They are not a blanket exception to the assistant compensation rule. The rule tests whether assistant pay is transaction based; it does not make every payment called a bonus automatically permissible or prohibited. This guide does not approve an employment classification or decide wage, tax or benefit obligations.

What changes when the assistant holds a license?

Check three things: current authority, the credential's scope and the sponsoring broker. Section 5-15(a) requires the covered license and valid registered sponsorship. Passing the exam, completing a course or having held a license in the past does not itself establish present authority for licensed work.

A residential leasing agent license permits the specified residential leasing activities. It does not grant a broker's authority for sales or commercial leasing work. Being employed as an assistant does not widen that credential.

Stay within the same sponsoring brokerage. Rule 1450.740(e) prohibits a licensee from acting as an assistant for anyone other than the sponsoring broker or a licensee sponsored by that same broker. Two offices sharing a franchise name do not necessarily share a sponsoring broker.

For licensed work, Section 10-5 generally routes compensation through the sponsoring broker, subject to its stated exceptions. Its former-sponsorship exception concerns qualifying payments under a previous employment agreement for work performed while sponsored by that former broker. That is different from permission to accept new assistant work across unrelated sponsors.

Who supervises the assistant?

Under 1450.740(d), the licensee supervising the assistant is responsible for the assistant's acts or omissions. A licensee who permits, aids, assists or allows unlicensed licensed activity violates the Act. A signed job description, an available supervisor or a client's permission does not authorize a prohibited showing or document explanation.

The designated managing broker supervises licensees and unlicensed assistants in the managed office, including training, advertising and special-account oversight. The sponsoring broker has the wider policy and supervision duties. Keep these roles distinct from the individual licensee directing a particular assignment.

Rules 1450.700(f) and 1450.705(e) distinguish knowledge of a subordinate violation from failures of policy or proper supervision. Do not infer automatic suspension or revocation of the sponsor or designated managing broker from every assistant violation.

A practical assignment should name the task, required approval and person who receives questions the assistant cannot answer. That is a useful office control, not an additional licensing exception.

Five original assistant-task questions

Choose an answer before opening its explanation. Then test the changed fact. These are original study examples, not actual or recalled PSI questions.

Question 1 of 5 · Quote or interpret

An unlicensed assistant reads a published property-tax amount to a buyer. The buyer asks whether that means next year's tax bill cannot rise. What should the assistant do?

Promise that the amount will stay the same because it is published.
Estimate the increase using nearby homes.
Keep the quotation factual and refer the follow-up to the responsible licensee.
Answer freely if paid by the hour.

Show answer and explanations

Answer: C. Keep the quotation factual and refer the follow-up to the responsible licensee.

Why this misses: A published historical amount does not authorize the assistant to make that prediction.
Why this misses: Applying other information to predict the buyer's future bill goes beyond a direct quotation.
Correct. The rule permits direct quotation, while interpretation of transaction information is prohibited for the assistant.
Why this misses: Payment by time does not expand the assistant's task authority.

Change the facts: If the buyer asks only to hear the published figure again, the assistant may quote it directly without adding a prediction or opinion.

Source: 1450.740(b)(16), (c)(3)

Question 2 of 5 · Who must approve

An assistant drafts promotional copy and enters factual information supplied by a new broker into a selected contract form. That broker has not completed the 45-hour post-license education. Whose approval is required for these assignments?

Only the new broker's approval.
The designated managing broker's approval, with the required direction for the work.
Any experienced assistant's approval.
The client's approval instead of licensee oversight.

Show answer and explanations

Answer: B. The designated managing broker's approval, with the required direction for the work.

Why this misses: The rule specifically requires designated managing broker approval in this new-broker situation.
Correct. The special approval rule covers advertising copy, factual contract-form entries and promotional information when the directing broker has not completed those 45 hours.
Why this misses: Experience does not replace the role named in the rule.
Why this misses: Client permission does not remove the regulatory direction and approval requirements.

Change the facts: If the directing broker has completed the 45-hour post-license education, apply the ordinary licensee direction and approval requirements. The assistant still cannot explain the form or select the client's terms.

Source: 1450.740(b)(7), (10), (14)

Question 3 of 5 · The public-access fact

An unlicensed assistant is sitting at a property for a broker tour that is closed to the public. A walk-in buyer asks the assistant to give a private tour while the licensee is away. Which answer fits?

The broker-tour permission also covers the buyer's private showing.
The assistant can show the home after the buyer signs a visitor sheet.
The assistant may show only the rooms pictured in the brochure.
The assistant should arrange contact with a licensee rather than conduct the showing.

Show answer and explanations

Answer: D. The assistant should arrange contact with a licensee rather than conduct the showing.

Why this misses: The permission is for a tour not open to the public. It does not authorize showing the property to this prospect.
Why this misses: A sign-in sheet does not supply a real estate license or create an exception.
Why this misses: Limiting the route does not change the fact that the assistant is conducting a showing.
Correct. The new request is a showing, which the rule prohibits for an ordinary unlicensed assistant.

Change the facts: If only brokers attend the nonpublic tour and the assistant performs the permitted sitting or clerical role, subsection (b)(17) applies. That is different from hosting a public open house.

Source: 1450.740(b)(17), (c)(1)-(2)

Question 4 of 5 · Clerical funds handling

The designated managing broker directs and approves an unlicensed assistant's recording and deposit of earnest money. A buyer also asks the assistant to decide who should receive the money after a dispute. What is the correct separation?

Perform the directed clerical task and refer the disputed-release question to the designated managing broker.
Reject every money-related task because the assistant is unlicensed.
Decide the release because authority to deposit includes authority to resolve disputes.
Release the money to whoever requests it first.

Show answer and explanations

Answer: A. Perform the directed clerical task and refer the disputed-release question to the designated managing broker.

Correct. The rule permits recording and depositing with that direction and approval. It does not make the assistant the decision maker for a disputed release.
Why this misses: This ignores the narrow permission to record and deposit the listed funds.
Why this misses: Recording and depositing are not a grant of dispute-resolution or disbursement authority.
Why this misses: A request is not a substitute for the applicable agreement and special-account controls.

Change the facts: If only an ordinary coworker approves the deposit and no designated managing broker direction or approval exists, the facts do not satisfy subsection (b)(9). Do not substitute a different role.

Source: 1450.740(b)(9); special-account controls remain separate

Question 5 of 5 · Licensed does not mean every task

A sponsored residential leasing agent works as an assistant. The sponsoring broker asks that assistant to negotiate a commercial office lease. What controls the answer?

The assistant title permits the commercial assignment.
Sponsoring-broker approval alone expands the license.
The residential leasing license does not authorize this commercial brokerage work.
The work is permitted if no fee is charged for it.

Show answer and explanations

Answer: C. The residential leasing license does not authorize this commercial brokerage work.

Why this misses: A job title does not expand the person's limited-scope license.
Why this misses: Supervision does not turn a residential leasing credential into a broker license.
Correct. Section 5-5 limits this credential to residential leasing activities and prohibits the broader broker activities identified in the section.
Why this misses: Removing a charge does not expand the credential's authorized scope in this assistant assignment.

Change the facts: If the assignment is permitted residential leasing work for the same sponsoring broker, the commercial-scope objection is removed. The license, sponsorship, supervision and other applicable requirements still matter.

Source: 225 ILCS 454/5-5(a)-(b)

Illinois real estate assistant FAQ

Can an unlicensed assistant show property or host an open house in Illinois?

Not in the ordinary assistant role covered here. Rule 1450.740(c) prohibits showing property and hosting public open houses, kiosks, home-show booths and fairs. Having a licensee nearby or available by phone does not remove the restriction. Sitting at a nonpublic broker tour is a separate permitted role.

Can an unlicensed assistant fill out a contract?

The assistant may enter business and factual information at the required direction and approval. That is not permission to choose terms or explain the document. If the directing broker has not completed the 45-hour post-license education, designated managing broker approval is required.

Can an unlicensed assistant earn a closing bonus?

A bonus triggered by a transaction closing is transaction-based assistant compensation, which 1450.740(a) prohibits. Calling it a gift or paying it alongside a salary does not change the trigger. A pay plan unrelated to transactions still has to comply with all other applicable requirements.

Can an unlicensed assistant calculate a commission check?

Yes, the rule lists computing commission checks and bookkeeping. That is different from negotiating a commission, split, management fee or referral fee. It also does not authorize paying the assistant a commission percentage.

Do virtual assistants and transaction coordinators have different permissions?

The label or remote work arrangement does not change the Illinois task and compensation limits. Follow the actual assignment, approvals and license status. This guide does not determine employment classification, data-security requirements or another jurisdiction's law.

Who is responsible for an unlicensed assistant's work?

The supervising licensee is responsible for the assistant's acts or omissions. The designated managing broker supervises the managed office, and the sponsoring broker has company-policy and supervision duties. Approval cannot authorize prohibited licensed work.

Can a licensed assistant work across sponsoring brokerages?

Rule 1450.740(e) restricts the licensee's assistant role to the sponsoring broker or a licensee sponsored by that same broker. A shared franchise name, team label or hourly pay arrangement does not establish the same sponsoring broker.

How many assistant questions are on the Illinois exam?

PSI lists Licensed/Unlicensed Assistants in state II.G but publishes no separate question count for it. The entire Illinois License Act area has 16 of the 40 scored state questions, or 40%. That allocation is not sixteen assistant questions. The five questions on this page are original practice.

Use the mistake to choose your next review

For a shorter side-by-side recap, use the licensed versus unlicensed assistant comparison. If the question turned on a deposit, read handling client and customer money. For the firm relationship, see sponsored licensees and sponsoring brokers.

If short phone sessions would help you revisit these decisions, you can download Pass Illinois. The complete guide and explanations remain available here.

Official sources and review scope

Reviewed October 24, 2026. PSI lists this topic in Illinois state II.G. The entire Illinois License Act area has 16 of 40 scored state questions, or 40%. PSI does not publish an assistant-only question quota.

The current assistant and supervision rule source notes identify amendments effective July 7, 2025. That effective date is separate from this page's October 2026 review. These examples do not determine a separate exemption or permit, another jurisdiction's law, a live fund release, or an employment or compensation dispute.

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