TREC opens and resolves multiple disciplinary matters, including fines, referrals and audits
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Summary
During a lengthy legal session Dec. 17, the commission voted on dozens of enforcement items: it assessed civil penalties, opened administrative complaints, referred a matter to the title‑company regulator, ordered audits and deferred others for more information.
The Tennessee Real Estate Commission spent the latter half of its Dec. 17 meeting reviewing its legal report and voting on a wide range of complaints and enforcement actions. Legal staff presented counsel's recommendations and commissioners pulled multiple items for discussion before voting.
Major outcomes included an assessment of a $1,000 civil penalty for failure to comply with an audit and the administrative opening of a complaint against a principal broker (Case 4). For Case 14 the commission amended counsel's recommendation to assess $1,000 for unlicensed activity plus a $500 civil penalty for failure to respond, for a total of $1,500. In another matter (Case 18) the commission accepted counsel's recommendation to assess a $1,000 civil penalty for failure to respond and to refer the matter to the appropriate title company regulatory board to investigate the status of earnest money.
The commission also adjusted penalties and education remedies in several matters: in one case involving improper distribution of lockbox codes (Case 24) commissioners increased the recommendation from $500 to $1,000, required a 30‑hour trace course (to be completed within a 180‑day timeline) and considered opening a failure‑to‑supervise complaint against the principal broker; that portion was later pared back to a monetary penalty plus required education. Commissioners referred one matter (Case 77) to the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division and voted to defer others pending additional information (for example, Case 123 was deferred to February to allow counsel to gather more documentary evidence).
Executive Director Denise Baker emphasized enforcement workload and metrics earlier in the meeting: "From January 1 through December 15, TREC has processed over 29,770 initial applications, renewal applications, and transfer applications," she said, and noted the agency opened 171 audits and closed 164 with an average processing time of 17.8 days.
What to watch: many of the administrative complaints the commission opened will reappear on future legal reports for hearings, consent‑order consideration or administrative action. The meeting record shows the commission used a mix of dismissals, letters of warning, civil penalties, mandated education and referrals to other regulators as remedies depending on case facts.
Next step: staff will prepare consent orders, audits and referrals as directed and present follow‑up recommendations at subsequent commission meetings.