PERMANENT RULES
Date of Adoption: March 23, 2004.
Purpose: Will amend rule to allow for newer technology to store records and to allow for real estate brokers to maintain records at a distant location from their business license address.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 308-124C-030.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 18.85.040(1).
Adopted under notice filed as WSR 04-03-037 on January 15, 2004.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making:
New 0,
Amended 0,
Repealed 0;
Pilot Rule Making:
New 0,
Amended 0,
Repealed 0;
or Other Alternative Rule Making:
New 0,
Amended 0,
Repealed 0.
Effective Date of Rule:
Thirty-one days after filing.
March 16, 2004
Mykel D. Gable
Assistant Director
OTS-6925.1
AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending WSR 98-01-107, filed 12/17/97,
effective 1/17/98)
WAC 308-124C-030
Accuracy and accessibility of records.
(1) Accuracy. All required real estate records shall be
accurate, posted and kept up to date.
(2) Location. All required real estate records shall be
kept at an address where the real estate broker is licensed to
maintain a real estate office((. Such)), except physical
records of transactions may be stored at one remote facility
within the state of Washington. Only transactions that have
been closed for at least one year can be maintained at the
remote facility. Transactions stored at a different location
must be available upon demand of the department and maintained
in a manner to be readily retrievable. A listing of all
transactions must be maintained at the broker's licensed
office for all the transactions stored at the remote facility.
All records shall be retained and available for inspection by
the director or the director's authorized representative for a
minimum of three years. ((While RCW 18.85.230(20) requires
the retention of records for three years, licensees should be
aware that the applicable statute of limitations may vary from
this three-year retention period.))
(3) Alternative storage. Records may be stored on permanent storage media, such as optical disk or microfilm, provided the retrieval process does not permit modification of the documents. Retrieval must be possible at the broker's licensed location and allow for viewing and printing the document in its original form. The permanent media storage shall be nonerasable and prevent changes to the stored documents or records. The broker must maintain equipment at their licensed location in good repair to allow viewing and printing upon demand by the department. The storage media must be indexed to allow for immediate retrieval of all documents.
(4) Responsibility for records. In the case of a corporate, limited liability company, limited liability partnership or partnership brokerage firm, the responsibility imposed by this section shall apply to both the corporation, limited liability company, limited liability partnership or partnership and the natural person designated and licensed to act as broker for the corporation, limited liability company, limited liability partnership or partnership. Prior to issuing a new license indicating a change of designated broker for a corporate, limited liability company, limited liability partnership or partnership licensee, the licensee must submit evidence that the requirements have been satisfied.
(5) Change of broker. A statement signed by both the outgoing designated broker and the incoming designated broker, listing all outstanding client trust liabilities, copies of trust account bank statements and the latest trust account reconciliations and certifying that funds in hand in the trust account maintained by the licensee are adequate to meet these client trust liabilities will satisfy this requirement. The incoming designated broker shall not be deemed responsible for any discrepancy identified in the statement, unless the incoming designated broker contracted to accept such responsibility.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 18.85.040. 98-01-107, § 308-124C-030, filed 12/17/97, effective 1/17/98; 87-20-091 (Order PM 683), § 308-124C-030, filed 10/7/87; 82-17-039 (Order 130), § 308-124C-030, filed 8/13/82; Order RE 120, § 308-124C-030, filed 9/20/77; Order RE 114, § 308-124C-030, filed 7/2/75.]