California Department of Real Estate
The California Department of Real Estate is the state agency responsible for administering real estate license examinations, issuing real estate licenses and certain mortgage loan originator endorsements to such licensees; regulating and disciplining real estate licensees, and qualifying certain residential subdivision offerings.
It is headed by the Real Estate Commissioner, who is appointed by the Governor. The DRE is headquartered in Sacramento and has district offices in Oakland, Fresno, Los Angeles, and San Diego. As of July 1, 2013, the DRE had 336 authorized positions and there are approximately 408,496 total real estate licensees in California as of October 2013.
Founded in 1917, the Department of Real Estate was briefly merged into the California Department of Consumer Affairs on 1 July 2013 as the Bureau of Real Estate. It was restored to independent Department status five years later on 1 January 2018, by Senate Bill 173.
Real estate licensing is subject to both the Real Estate Law and regulations of the Real Estate Commissioner. The Real Estate Law is codified at Division 4 of the California Business and Professions Code, and regulations are codified in Chapter 6, Title 10 of the California Code of Regulations. The Subdivided Lands Act is codified in Sections 11000 et seq. of the Business and Professions Code.
