Where this fits on the exam
| Official syllabus topic | State Laws and Rules: Required Licensure |
|---|---|
| Official PSI group | State Laws and Rules |
| Published group count | 16 of the 52 Georgia questions |
| Exam portion | Georgia salesperson supplement |
| Source edition | PSI Georgia Candidate Information Bulletin dated July 1, 2026 |
The Rule
PSI publishes 16, 21, and 15 items for the three Georgia groups. It does not publish a guaranteed subtopic count. The statute, current GREC rule, contract, or other cited primary authority controls each lesson.
The lesson
Owner-side exceptions
An owner, qualifying related person, or regular employee may perform specified acts concerning the owner's property, subject to the current statute and any special property rules.
Professional and fiduciary roles
A licensed practicing attorney acting solely incident to legal practice and a receiver, executor, administrator, guardian, or trustee acting under authority may qualify.
Employee limits
An employee exception depends on who employs the person, what property is involved, and which tasks are performed. Independent contractors do not become employees by label.
2025 amendment
HB 399 took effect July 1, 2025. It added qualifying family members and LLC officers to paragraph (a)(1), narrowed paragraph (a)(7), and removed the former full-time owner-employee paragraph (a)(8). Paragraph (a)(1) still includes regular employees within its conditions. Do not conclude that every owner employee now needs a license; check the remaining exception and the actual role.
Nonresident landlords have an additional rule
Section 44-7-25 requires a nonresident landlord that owns or operates Georgia single-family or duplex residential rentals to employ a licensed broker. If that broker is also outside Georgia, the broker must employ at least one person in Georgia to handle tenant maintenance and other communications. An owner-side exemption is not the end of this analysis.
Decision rule
Georgia rule and national contrast
Worked Georgia example
Scenario. A licensed salesperson places the license on inactive status and accepts payment to lease homes owned by an unlicensed employer.
Reason it through. GREC Rule 520-1-.05 states that a licensee may not use inactive status to perform brokerage activity for an unlicensed person. The employee exception is not available to licensees in that way.
Answer. The inactive salesperson may not perform the paid leasing activity under the employee exemption.
Common exam traps
- Assuming every owner employee is exempt
- Applying an attorney exception to a separate brokerage business
- Letting an inactive licensee claim an unlicensed-person exception
- Using the 2024 exemption text without the 2025 amendment
Original practice questions with detailed explanations
These are original instructional questions mapped to the July 1, 2026 PSI outline. They are not copied from PSI or a live examination. Choose an answer before opening the explanation.
Question 1A licensed salesperson moves the license to inactive status and takes a salaried job leasing homes for an unlicensed investor. Can the salesperson rely on an owner's-employee exemption?
- A. Yes, because inactive status suspends the license law
- B. Yes, because the investor owns the homes and pays a salary
- C. No, because the exemptions do not apply to a licensee
- D. No, because only attorneys and fiduciaries are exempt
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: C. No, because the exemptions do not apply to a licensee
Georgia's exemptions do not apply to anyone who holds a real estate license, and GREC rules bar using inactive status to do brokerage for an unlicensed person. The salesperson remains a licensee while inactive. The salary answer looks plausible because it looks like the employee idea, but holding a license takes the exemption off the table.
- A. Incorrect. Inactive status limits practice but does not end the person's status as a licensee.
- B. Incorrect. Salary and the employer's ownership do not make these exemptions available to a license holder.
- C. Correct. The statutory exemptions do not apply to a person who holds a Georgia real estate license.
- D. Incorrect. Georgia has several exemptions besides attorneys and fiduciaries; the problem here is licensed status.
Question 2A Georgia-based LLC owns a rental duplex. Under the owner exemption as amended effective July 1, 2025, who may sell the duplex for the LLC without a real estate license?
- A. A consultant the LLC pays a commission to find a buyer
- B. An independent contractor hired full time to manage it, with no ownership or officer role
- C. A licensed salesperson acting outside the firm to save fees
- D. An officer of the LLC acting on the company's behalf
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: D. An officer of the LLC acting on the company's behalf
An LLC officer acting within paragraph (a)(1) can qualify. The independent contractor is not a regular employee merely because the work is full time, and the question gives no other exempt role. HB 399 narrowed the former paragraph (a)(7) language, but it did not remove regular employees from paragraph (a)(1). A person who holds a real estate license cannot use these exemptions to avoid license-law duties.
- A. Incorrect. A commissioned outside consultant has no exempt owner, employee, or officer role on these facts.
- B. Incorrect. Full-time work alone does not turn an independent contractor into the owner's regular employee or LLC officer.
- C. Incorrect. A license holder cannot use the owner exemptions to bypass firm affiliation and license-law duties.
- D. Correct. An LLC officer acting for the owning company may qualify under the amended owner exemption.
Question 3Which person is most likely exempt from Georgia licensing for the real estate act described?
- A. An executor selling estate property under the will's authority
- B. An attorney who runs a side business listing homes for commission
- C. An unlicensed assistant who negotiates leases for a broker
- D. A friend who shows an owner's home for a promised finder's fee
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: A. An executor selling estate property under the will's authority
Fiduciaries such as executors, administrators, guardians, and trustees acting under their legal authority fall within a listed exemption. An attorney is exempt only when acting incidentally to law practice, not when running a separate listing business. The attorney answer looks plausible because attorneys appear on the list, but the exemption follows the role, not the profession.
- A. Correct. An executor acting under lawful estate authority fits the fiduciary exemption.
- B. Incorrect. The attorney exemption covers acts incidental to law practice, not a separate brokerage business.
- C. Incorrect. An assistant's employment by a broker does not authorize unlicensed lease negotiation.
- D. Incorrect. A promised finder's fee for showing and procuring buyers is compensation for brokerage work.
Question 4A landlord living outside Georgia owns a Georgia rental duplex and hires an unlicensed local assistant to take maintenance calls. No licensed broker is employed. Does the local assistant alone satisfy the nonresident-landlord requirement effective July 1, 2025?
- A. Yes, because any local employee replaces the broker requirement.
- B. Yes, because owning the duplex eliminates every licensing requirement.
- C. No, the landlord must employ a licensed broker; local communication staff alone is not enough.
- D. No, because a qualifying broker must personally live in Georgia.
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: C. No, the landlord must employ a licensed broker; local communication staff alone is not enough.
Section 44-7-25 requires a nonresident owner or operator of covered single-family or duplex rentals to employ a licensed broker. If that broker is outside Georgia, the broker must also employ at least one person in Georgia for tenant maintenance and other communications. Local staff do not replace the licensed broker, and the broker need not personally reside in Georgia.
- A. Incorrect. The local communication employee is an additional condition when the broker is outside Georgia, not a substitute for a broker.
- B. Incorrect. The owner exemption does not remove this separate statutory requirement for a nonresident landlord.
- C. Correct. The covered nonresident landlord needs a licensed broker even when local staff answer maintenance calls.
- D. Incorrect. An out-of-state broker is allowed if the required in-state communication employee is employed.
Ready to move on?
You are ready for the next lesson when all of these are true.
- Identify the owner, employer, property, and activity before applying an exemption.
- Explain why an independent contractor is not automatically a regular employee.
- Use the post-July 2025 owner exemption instead of a superseded summary.
- Answer the practice questions without looking back, then explain why the other choices fail.
- Explain the worked example in your own words and identify the fact that decides the answer.
- Retest this topic on another day in a mixed question set.
Recommended next lesson
Continue with Georgia Salesperson, Associate Broker, Broker, CAM, and Firm Licenses. If no exemption fits, the person needs a license, and the next lesson sorts out which one: salesperson, associate broker, broker, CAM, or firm, and whose supervision each works under.
Return to the State Laws and Rules hub for the complete official branch and the full lesson list for this Georgia group.