What is the Texas Real Estate License Act?

TRELA in plain terms

The Texas Real Estate License Act, usually shortened to TRELA, is Chapter 1101 of the Texas Occupations Code. It is the statute that licenses and regulates real estate brokers and sales agents in Texas. It also gives the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) its job: license and regulate license holders, and enforce the Act to protect consumers of brokerage services.

Two terms show up constantly on the exam. 'The Act' means TRELA. 'TREC Rules' means the rules the Commission itself adopts. Pearson VUE's Texas content outline states both definitions outright, so when a question says 'under the Act,' it is asking about the statute.

TRELA is why you need a license, why you need a sponsoring broker, how agency works in Texas and what TREC can do when someone breaks the rules. TREC can impose administrative penalties and can reprimand, suspend, probate or revoke a license.

How TRELA maps to the Texas state exam

The Texas sales agent exam has a national portion and a state portion. Under the outline effective January 1, 2026, the state law portion has 40 scored items plus 10 unscored pretest items, and you get 90 minutes. You need 28 correct to pass, which is 70%.

Licensing: what a new Texas sales agent needs

Sponsorship is a TRELA concept you must know cold. Under §1101.351(c), a sales agent may engage in brokerage only while associated with and acting for their sponsoring broker. A sales agent may accept compensation for a transaction only from the broker they were associated with when the commission was earned. Doing brokerage with an inactive license is a violation subject to sanctions.

One exemption appears often: a licensed Texas attorney is exempt from the Act and can do what a broker does, except sponsor sales agents or serve as the designated broker for a licensed business entity.

• Education: 180 classroom hours in six 30-hour courses: Principles of Real Estate I and II, Law of Agency, Law of Contracts, Promulgated Contract Forms, and Real Estate Finance.
• Fingerprints on file with the Texas Department of Public Safety.
• Exam: pass both portions through Pearson VUE.
• License status: you are issued an inactive license and need a sponsoring broker to go active.
• First renewal: 270 total hours of qualifying courses, plus Legal Update I and II.

Agency under TRELA: IABS and intermediary

Texas requires a written agency notice early. Under §1101.558(b-1), a license holder must give the Information About Brokerage Services (IABS) notice at the first substantive communication with a party about a proposed transaction. TREC lists exceptions, including certain residential leases of less than one year, meetings with a party known to be represented by another license holder, and open house communications about that property.

Texas does not permit dual agency. A broker who represents both sides must act as an intermediary (§1101.561(b)). Before doing so, both the seller and the buyer must authorize it in writing, and that document must state the prohibited conduct in conspicuous bold or underlined print (§1101.651(d)).

• The intermediary may not favor one principal over the other.
• Confidential information from one principal stays confidential without that principal's written instructions, unless TRELA or a court requires disclosure or it materially relates to the property's condition.
• Without written authorization, the intermediary may not reveal that the seller will accept less than the asking price or that the buyer will pay more than the written offer.
• The broker may appoint different license holders to work with each party, but there is always a single intermediary broker.

Standards of conduct: the 9-item block

The outline lists the topics: professional ethics and conduct, grounds for discipline, unauthorized practice of law, trust accounts, splitting fees, rebates and advertising. Expect scenario questions that ask whether an action is allowed and who is responsible for it.

Two anchors help. First, a broker is responsible for the authorized acts of their sales agents unless that scope is limited or revoked in writing, even though the broker does not have to supervise each agent directly. Second, the Contracts block centers on TREC-promulgated contracts, forms and addenda, the Statute of Frauds and seller disclosure requirements.

A worked TRELA question

How to study TRELA for the state portion

Treat the outline's item counts as your study budget, and practice with questions written in exam language.

The quiz on this page pulls Texas-specific questions from the Cinna RE bank, which has 151 Texas questions and 1,783 state-law questions across 25 states.

• Study the six outline areas by item count, starting with agency/brokerage (11 items).
• Learn the exact triggers: when the IABS is due, when intermediary consent is needed and when a sales agent may act.
• Know who may pay a sales agent and who is responsible for a sales agent's acts.
• Read TREC's own FAQ pages; their wording is close to how exam questions are phrased.
• Know the retake rules: three attempts per application; after three failures, 30 extra classroom hours for one failed portion or 60 for both.