Virginia lists 18 tasks an unlicensed assistant may do

Most independent coordinators invoice by the file. In Virginia, until 1 April, the only line in the licensing regulations that described how an unlicensed assistant could be paid described something else: compensation 'at a predetermined rate that is not contingent upon the occurrence of a real estate transaction'. It sat in a list of activities an unlicensed person was permitted to perform, which is an odd place for a pay rule, and it is now gone.

The clause left with the Real Estate Board's general review of 18VAC135-20, the Virginia Real Estate Board Licensing Regulations. The Board adopted the final amendments on 4 December 2025, the text was published in the Virginia Register of Regulations on 23 February 2026 as Volume 42, Issue 14, and the effective date is 1 April 2026.

What was struck

The Board's own final-stage background document, prepared on 16 December 2025, describes the change in one sentence: 'provisions for activities that are permitted to be performed by unlicensed individuals are revised to remove language related to receiving compensation for work at a predetermined rate that is not contingent upon the occurrence of a real estate transaction.' The proposed-stage document of June 2025 proposed the same removal. Neither document gives a reason, and neither says what pay structure is now permitted. The Register text shows the item, formerly subdivision 7 r of the supervising broker section, struck through.

Where the lists now sit

The other change is organisational, and for a coordinator it is the more useful one. The lists of licence-only and unlicensed-permitted activities have moved out of the supervising broker section, 18VAC135-20-165, into a section of their own, 18VAC135-20-335, titled 'Activities to be performed by licensees; activities permitted to be performed by non-licensees'. The Board's final-stage document says it moved them in response to a public comment, from Virginia REALTORS, suggesting the lists be made easier to locate.

Subsection A reserves five activities to a licensed individual or business entity: showing property; holding an open house; answering questions on listings, title, financing, closing, contracts, brokerage agreements, and legal documents; discussing, explaining, interpreting, or negotiating a contract, listing, lease agreement, or property management agreement with anyone outside the firm; and negotiating or agreeing to any commission, commission split, management fee, or referral fee.

The list runs to eighteen items in all. The remainder cover keys for listings, computing commission cheques, placing signs, courier work, accepting rent and deposits on rental files, accepting and signing broker-approved rental agreements and required disclosures, preparing promotional material for approval, monitoring licence and personnel files, and ordering routine repairs as directed by a licensee. Read together with subsection A, the boundary for a Virginia file is now printable on one page, which was not true when the same material was folded into the broker's supervision duties.

What the association says, and what the Board has not

Virginia REALTORS has published two staff notes on the change. On 19 March 2026 associate general counsel Jon Haley wrote: 'Now, a broker can choose to pay unlicensed assistants per transaction rather than just paying them a salary.' On 30 June 2026 staff counsel Ryan Leonard wrote that if a broker or firm prefers to compensate an unlicensed assistant on a per-transaction basis, 'that payment structure is now permitted under the revised regulation', while the limits on what an unlicensed assistant may do 'are now contained in 18VAC135-20-335'.

What did not change

Two constraints survive the rewrite, and both matter more to a coordinator than the pay clause did. Section 18VAC135-20-280, renamed 'Improper financial transactions and dealings' and amended in the same action, still lists as an improper transaction 'offering to pay, paying, or providing valuable consideration to any person not licensed in this or any jurisdiction for services that require a real estate license'. Per-file pay for permitted work is one thing. Pay for answering a buyer's question about the contract is licensed work whatever the invoice calls it.

And unlicensed activity carries its own penalty in the Code of Virginia. Under § 54.1-2105.2 the Board may order a person acting as a broker or salesperson without a licence to cease and desist, and may impose a civil penalty 'not to exceed $1,000 for any real estate transaction or the compensation received from any such real estate transaction, whichever is greater'.

The supervising broker's duty now names outside entities

The amended 18VAC135-20-165 sets out four duties for supervising brokers in addition to those in Code of Virginia § 54.1-2110.1. The second is to 'undertake reasonable steps to ensure only licensees undertake activities requiring a license, to include such activities described in 18VAC135-20-335 A'. The third is to 'provide adequate supervision over all unlicensed individuals or entities associated with the firm or the firm's licensees, to include such activities described in 18VAC135-20-335 B'. The old text spoke of unlicensed employees or assistants under the supervision of a broker. The new text reaches individuals or entities associated with the firm or its licensees, which on its face includes an independent coordinator's company.

The statute underneath already required a supervising broker to keep written procedures and policies covering, among other things, 'exercising appropriate oversight and limitations on the use of unlicensed assistants, whether as part of a team arrangement or otherwise'. A Virginia brokerage using outside coordinators is therefore expected to have a written policy on what they may do, and the regulation now tells the broker which list to write it from.

The practical read for a Virginia file

1. Cite 18VAC135-20-335 by number in the engagement letter or scope document. It is the first time the lists have had an address of their own.
2. Where a brokerage pays per file, expect it to have checked that with its counsel. The Board's documents do not say it, and the association's note is an interpretation.
3. Keep the licence-only five in front of every agent who forwards a client question. Answering questions on listings, title, financing, closing, contracts, brokerage agreements and legal documents is on the reserved list.
4. If you operate through an entity, assume the supervising broker's duty to supervise unlicensed individuals or entities now names you, and ask what the firm's written policy on unlicensed assistants says.