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Georgia curriculum lesson · State Laws and Rules

Maintaining, Renewing, Reinstating, and Changing a Georgia License

An individual Georgia license generally renews on the last day of the licensee's birth month in the fourth calendar year after issuance. Active renewal requires the applicable continuing education. A lapsed license cannot be used for brokerage. Reinstatement requirements increase with the length and reason for lapse, and a lapse longer than five years generally requires requalification as an original applicant. Address, legal-action, status, and affiliation changes have separate notice rules.

Facts checked against the current PSI Candidate Information Bulletin and GREC sources. Editorial standards.

What is the exam-ready answer?

An individual Georgia license generally renews on the last day of the licensee's birth month in the fourth calendar year after issuance. Active renewal requires the applicable continuing education. A lapsed license cannot be used for brokerage. Reinstatement requirements increase with the length and reason for lapse, and a lapse longer than five years generally requires requalification as an original applicant. Address, legal-action, status, and affiliation changes have separate notice rules.
Official syllabus mapping for Maintaining, Renewing, Reinstating, and Changing a Georgia License
Official syllabus topicState Laws and Rules: Qualifications and Fees; Substantive Regulations
Official PSI groupState Laws and Rules
Published group count16 of the 52 Georgia questions
Exam portionGeorgia salesperson supplement
Source editionPSI 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

Georgia questions reward the Georgia rule. A national rule that sounds right can still be the wrong answer when the question names a Georgia statute, document, role or procedure.

Renewal date

Individual licenses lapse on the last day of the birth month in the relevant fourth calendar year if renewal requirements are not met.

Active and inactive

Inactive licensees may not perform brokerage for others. Reactivation can require the CE that would have applied during inactive status or requalification.

Lapse windows

Within two years, two to five years, and more than five years lead to different reinstatement paths under Rule 520-1-.05.

Change notices

Specified final legal actions are reported within ten days, while mailing, residence, and maintained email address changes are reported within one month.

Decision rule

Identify the exact status, lapse reason, elapsed time, education history, affiliation, and event date before selecting the remedy.

Georgia rule and national contrast

Georgia uses detailed lapse windows and notice periods. Do not collapse renewal, reactivation, reinstatement, transfer, and original application into one process.

Worked Georgia example

Scenario. A salesperson's license has been lapsed for three years because renewal fees were not paid, and the person wants active status.

Reason it through. A lapse longer than two but less than five years falls in the prelicense-course reinstatement window, with the course taken within the required period plus applicable fees and process.

Answer. Paying the ordinary renewal fee alone is not enough; the Rule 520-1-.05 reinstatement path applies.

Common exam traps

  • Treating lapse as inactive status
  • Ignoring the reason for lapse
  • Using the same remedy for every lapse length
  • Mixing ten-day and one-month notices

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 1

A salesperson born in October receives an original license in 2026. If it is not renewed, when does it lapse?

  1. A. On the fourth anniversary of the issue date
  2. B. On December 31, 2030
  3. C. On October 1, 2030
  4. D. On October 31, 2030
Show answer and explanation →

Answer: D. On October 31, 2030

An individual Georgia license renews on the last day of the licensee's birth month in the fourth calendar year after issuance, which here is October 31, 2030. The anniversary answer looks plausible because many licenses renew that way, but Georgia ties renewal to the birth month. October 1 has the right month but the wrong day.

Question 2

A salesperson's license lapsed three years ago for failure to pay renewal fees. What does reinstatement require?

  1. A. Paying the ordinary renewal fee and resuming practice
  2. B. Requalifying as an original applicant, including the exam
  3. C. Completing the prelicense course and the reinstatement steps
  4. D. Completing 36 hours of CE and paying a late fee
Show answer and explanation →

Answer: C. Completing the prelicense course and the reinstatement steps

A lapse of more than two but less than five years falls in the reinstatement window that calls for the prelicense course within the required period, plus the applicable fees and process. Requalifying as an original applicant applies after a lapse of more than five years. The renewal-fee answer can mislead, but a lapsed license is not an ordinary renewal.

Question 3

A licensee moves to a new home and, separately, becomes subject to a final legal action of a kind GREC requires licensees to report. What are the deadlines?

  1. A. One month for both
  2. B. One month for the move; ten days for the legal action
  3. C. Ten days for the move; one month for the legal action
  4. D. Ten days for both
Show answer and explanation →

Answer: B. One month for the move; ten days for the legal action

Specified final legal actions must be reported within ten days, while changes to a mailing, residence, or email address are due within one month. The reversed answer looks plausible because both deadlines are short, but the more serious event carries the shorter deadline.

Ready to move on?

You are ready for the next lesson when all of these are true.

  • Explain Maintaining, Renewing, Reinstating, and Changing a Georgia License in one clear answer without notes.
  • Separate Renewal date from Active and inactive using a fresh example.
  • Apply the decision rule to a new fact pattern and name the fact that controls the result.
  • State the Georgia-specific point or explain why the national rule applies unchanged.
  • Answer every practice question and explain the rule each rejected option misapplies.
  • Revisit this topic later in mixed practice without category labels.

Recommended next lesson

Continue with Georgia Practice Boundaries and Unauthorized Practice of Law. The next lesson moves from keeping a license to using it within bounds: which forms a licensee may complete, why legal opinions and closings belong to a Georgia attorney, and when to refer a client to a lawyer.

Return to the State Laws and Rules hub for the complete official branch and the full lesson list for this Georgia group.

Maintaining, Renewing, Reinstating, and Changing a Georgia License questions

Facts checked against the current PSI Candidate Information Bulletin and GREC sources. Editorial standards.

Is Maintaining, Renewing, Reinstating, and Changing a Georgia License on the Georgia real estate exam?

Yes. It maps to PSI's State Laws and Rules group, which has 16 of the 52 Georgia questions. PSI does not publish a guaranteed question count for this individual lesson.

What is the main Georgia rule for Maintaining, Renewing, Reinstating, and Changing a Georgia License?

Identify the exact status, lapse reason, elapsed time, education history, affiliation, and event date before selecting the remedy.

How is this different from a national real estate rule?

Georgia uses detailed lapse windows and notice periods. Do not collapse renewal, reactivation, reinstatement, transfer, and original application into one process.