Rhode Island

The Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation, Division of Commercial Licensing, Real Estate Section sits at the John O. Pastore Center in Cranston and licenses salespersons and brokers under R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 5-20.5 and 230-RICR-30-20-2. It does not write the exam. Pearson VUE does, under Candidate Handbook #094000 (January 2026): salesperson national 80 scored items in 2.5 hours at $53, salesperson state 50 scored in 1.5 hours at $50, broker national the same 80 at $53, broker state 60 scored in 1.5 hours at $50. Passing is a scaled 70 on every paper. Candidates sit Pearson first, then file DBR.

Classroom is a defined term. 230-RICR-30-20-2.2 and 2.7 require 45 classroom hours for salesperson and 90 for broker, in person or live-virtual with the student on camera. On-demand pre-licensing is prohibited. The salesperson 45 cannot count toward the broker 90. Hours die at two years (salesperson) or four years (broker). A separate 3-hour Lead Poisoning / Lead Hazard Mitigation certificate is a listed attachment on original and reciprocal files. Reciprocity is named — Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Florida mutual recognition — and none of those paths skip lead.

The DBR packet is two instruments ($140 salesperson original or $180 broker original to the Treasurer, plus $25 Recovery Account), an Attorney General BCI from 4 Howard Avenue, and errors-and-omissions insurance with a $50,000 / $150,000 individual floor. Licenses issued after January 1, 2020 expire on the anniversary; older licenses expire May 1 of even years. CE is 24 hours with 9 CORE including 3 fair housing. A Rhode Island broker is two years full-time as a salesperson, 90 new classroom hours, and a principal-broker seat that holds the escrow account — not a second 45-hour salesperson course.