Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1949 )

PmaCE ANilEI. Aus~xrv. TEXAS 12, 1949 Hon. L. ED. Ramvom Executive secretary Texas Real Rstate Commission Auatin, Texas opinion rio.v-960 Re: The Issuance of seperate real estate dealers'licenses for the balance of 1949 to the &ame Individual, authorizing him to engage as a dealer for hlmself lndivldually, In behalf of a corporation, and in behalf OS a partnership. Dear UP. Ransom: Your recent letter requests our cplnlon~as to the legality of the ~Issuanceof Real Estate Dealers!Ll- censes.undsr the following fact situation: “There has been issued a real estate deal- er’s license to a corporation in Houston for the year 1949, setting forth a certain designat-’ ed- officer of said corporation as the agent deal- and whose name appears OR said license as ;%scribed by Section 9(d) of the Texas Rek Estate Dealers License Act. We have today re- ceived two applications for real estate dealer licenses for the remainder of the year 1949. One of said applications is on behalf of a part- nership, and In said partnership’s application there has been designated one of the partners as the agent dealer on behalf of said partner- ship. The other said application is for an ln- dividual real estate dealer’s license. We have noted that the designated agent dealer in said partnership’s application and said indlvldualls application for an Individual real estate deal- er’s license are one and the same person, and further that they are the same Individual who appears as the agent dealer of the corporatlon\‘s real estate dealer’s license which has previously Ron. L. D. Ransom, Page 2 (V-960) been issued. “Due to the fact that a real estate deal- erts license for the year 1949 has previously been issued to a corporation designating a specific officer as the agent dealer on behalf of such corporation, may this office at this time issue a real estate dealer’s license SOP the remainder of the year 1949 to the said partnership and to the said Individual when the said Individual, the agent dealer for said partnership, will be the one and same person who Is the agent dealer on behalf of said COP- poratlon, as shown on the said corporation18 outstanding real estate dealer’s license.” The eliglblllty of an applicant, be he a person, partnership or corporation, to be licensed la dependent on the terms of the statute. An applicant who posseses the statutory quali- fications and who complies with the statutory conditions Is entitled to a license. The authority to issue a real estate dealers’ license Is found in Article 6573s of Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes, as amended b the Acts of the slat Leg., 1949, R.S., ch. 149, page 30% . Sec. 6 ~of ,the Act requires an applicant desir- ing to act as a real estate dealer to file an appllcatlcn vith the Texas Real Estate Commission upon its prescrib- ed form, .Applicanta may be Individuals, partnership?, associations or corporation and if the applicant Is a eartnershlp or corporation the applicant Is to set forth the dqslgnated member or officer thereof who Is to re- ceive Q3.slicense by virtue of the Issuing of a license to the partnership, association or corporation as Is pro- vided for In Subdivision (d) of Subsaction 10, of Section 6.” sec.6(a) (8) o Other ertinent provisions of Sec. 6, are in subsections (10)Pd) and (10)(e) and provide in pe.rt: “(d) Every partnership and association in its application shall designate and appoint one of its members, and every corporation in its -, BOW L. D. Ransom, Page 3 ( V-960) ,C application shall designate and appoipt one of its officers; to ~submit an application for,a dealer's license. :~Theapplication of the,said partnership, association, or corporation and the application of said member or officer so deslg- nated shall be.filed with the Commission together. Upon compliance ,wlth-all.requirements'of law by the partnership, asso&ation or corporation, as well as bysaid, designated member oP officer the Commission shall 1asue.a dealer's license to said partnership, association or corporation, wh$ch shall bear the name,of such member or of- ficer, and thereupon the member or officer so designated shall, wlthout,payment of any furth- ,er fee, be entitled to perform all the pacts of a real estate dealer contemplated by the provi- sions of this Act; provided. however. said ll- cense,,shallentitle ,such member or officer so ,designated to act as a real estate dealer onle as officer or agent of said wrtnershir,. asso- ciation or corDoration and not in his own be- half; and provided further, that if in any case theperson so designated shall be refused a ll- tense by the Commission, or In case such peraou"~ ceases.to be connected with such partnership, association or corporation,,said partnership, association or corporation shall be entitled to designate another person to qualify and act as In the first instance; "(e) Bach and every member or officer of a partnership, association or corporation who will perform or engage in any of the acts speclflcally set out In Section 2, Subdlvlslon (a) of this Act other than the designated member or officer of the partnership, association or corporation, in the manner above provided, shall be required to make application for and take out a separate dealer's license In his or her own name lndlvldual- lg; provided. however that the license Issued to such member or officer or agent of said Dartner- shin, association or cornoration shall entitle such member or officer to act asreal estate deal- er only as"oSricer or agent of such rartnersh%Q, association, cr,corporatlon and not on his own -0 half n (a phasis supplied) Hon. L. D. Ransom, Page 4 (V-960) Briefly, you desire to know if the sale lndlvl- dual may be named as ths licensed officer of a licensed corporation, the licensed member of a licensed partner- ship, and also a fully licensed dealer In his own right. We construe the underlined portions of Section (10)(d) and (10)(e) as a llmltation on the permissible scope of actlvlty under a partnership or corporation ll- cerise,and not as a limitation on the designated licensee’s eliglblllty for an Individual dealer *a license in addl- tion to his ellglbillty to be designated by the partner- ship or corporation. Since independently of this license lav the same person may handle matters for himself, SOP a partnership of which he Is a member, and also for a corporation of which he is an officer, subject only to the common law requirement of truthful disclosures of con- flicting Interests to all concerned, If they exist, we see no reason to deny that right In real estate traneac- tlonB by llmlting the privilege of anyone person to only one of the categories named. 9-y Under Article 6573a, V.C.S., the same per- son may obtain a real estate dealers’license as an officer of a licensed corporation, such a license as a member of a licensed partnership, and another such license in his lndlvldual ca- pacity. Yours very truly, ATTOMRY ORRERAL OF TEXAS -‘A*BY David Wuntch Assistant DW:gW FIRST ASSISTANT ATTORRXY GRRRRAL