(a) A real estate broker who engages in escrow activities for five or more transactions in a calendar year pursuant to the exemption from the Escrow Law contained in Section 17006 of the Financial Code, or whose escrow activities pursuant to that exemption equal or exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000) in a calendar year, shall file with the department a report, within 60 days following the completion of the calendar year, documenting the number of escrows conducted and the dollar volume escrowed during the calendar year in which the threshold was met. This report shall be made on a form acceptable to the commissioner.
(b) A real estate broker subject to this section and Section 10232.2 may file consolidated reports that include all of the information required under this section and Section 10232.2. Those consolidated reports shall clearly indicate that they are intended to satisfy the requirements of both sections.
(c) A real estate broker who fails to submit the report required pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be assessed a penalty of fifty dollars ($50) per day for each day the report has not been received by the department, up to and including the 30th day after the first day of the assessment penalty. On and after the 31st day, the penalty shall be one hundred dollars ($100) per day, not to exceed a total penalty of ten thousand dollars ($10,000), regardless of the number of days, until the department receives the report.
(d) The commissioner may suspend or revoke the license of a real estate broker who fails to pay a penalty imposed pursuant to this section. In addition, the commissioner may bring an action in an appropriate court of this state to collect payment of that penalty.
(e) All penalties paid or collected under this section shall be deposited into the Recovery Account of the Real Estate Fund and shall, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be available for expenditure for the purposes specified in Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 10470).
(f) The reports described in this section are exempted from any requirement of public disclosure by paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 6254 of the Government Code.
(g) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2012.
(Added by Stats. 2011, Ch. 717, Sec. 4. (SB 53) Effective January 1, 2012. Section operative July 1, 2012, by its own provisions.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018