Property Management

It is a new license classification under the Utah Real Estate Licensing and Practices Act, Utah Code Title 61, Chapter 2f. It lets an individual manage residential rental property owned by someone else without holding a broker, associate broker, or sales agent license. The Legislature created it in House Bill 337 (2025 General Session).

January 1, 2027. Utah Code § 61-2f-201(1)(d) makes it unlawful, on or after that date, to engage in property management with respect to real estate located in Utah unless the person is licensed. The Division will make the application available on the effective date.

Yes. It has moved twice, which is a common source of confusion:

• House Bill 337 (2025 General Session) created the license.
• House Bill 1002 (2025 First Special Session) adjusted the property manager provisions and set a July 1, 2026, date for licensing.
• House Bill 377 (2026 General Session) extended the implementation date for the property manager license to January 1, 2027.

January 1, 2027, is the current date in statute. Older Division materials and news coverage may still refer to the earlier dates.

No. There is no application to submit, no approved course to take, and no exam to schedule. Nothing is required of you before the license becomes available. The most useful thing to do now is read the affiliation and trust account sections below and decide which category you expect to fall into.

Under § 61-2f-201(4), a licensed property manager may do the following for one or more residential rental units:

• engage in property management;
• offer to engage in property management on behalf of another person; and
• advertise or otherwise hold themselves out as engaged in property management.

The license does not reach beyond residential rentals. The statute expressly says a property manager may not do those things in relation to real estate other than a residential rental unit. “Residential rental unit” has the meaning given in Utah Code § 57-22-2.

A property manager may also fill out any form, contract, or lease agreement associated with the renting and management of real property (§ 61-2f-307), and may solicit referrals, pay a finder’s fee to an unlicensed person for referring a prospective client, accept a referral fee, contract for services, pay bills and act on behalf of an owner as provided in a management agreement, and advertise properties for rent or lease (§ 61-2f-411(2)).

Section 61-2f-102(32) defines it as managing real estate owned by another person, with the expectation of receiving valuable consideration — or advertising or otherwise claiming to be engaged in that management — by:

• advertising for, arranging, negotiating, offering, or otherwise attempting or participating in a transaction calculated to secure the rental or leasing of real estate;
• collecting, agreeing, offering, or otherwise attempting to collect rent for the real estate; or
• signing a lease agreement or an addendum with a tenant.

The definition expressly excludes:

• hotel or motel management;
• rental of tourist accommodations — including hotels, motels, tourist homes, condominiums, condominium hotels, mobile home park accommodations, campgrounds, or similar public accommodations — for a period of less than 30 consecutive days, and the management activities associated with those rentals; and
• leasing or managing surface or subsurface minerals or oil and gas interests, if that work is separate from a sale or lease of the surface estate.

No. Property management remains within the scope of practice for principal brokers, associate brokers, and sales agents. Section 61-2f-201(3) allows a principal broker, associate broker, sales agent, dual broker, or property manager to engage in property management for consideration.

If you do want to add the property manager license, § 61-2f-203(7) provides that on or after January 1, 2027, an individual with an active broker, associate broker, or sales agent license may obtain a property manager license without meeting the property manager education requirement or passing the property manager exam. Other requirements, including fees, still apply.

Section 61-2f-202.5 lists the individuals who do not need a license under Chapter 2f for property management activity:

• an owner or lessor performing the activity in connection with real estate that the individual owns or leases;
• a member of the property owner’s immediate family performing the activity in connection with real estate the owner owns;
• an unlicensed or remote assistant of a property manager;
• an individual who exclusively performs maintenance and repairs on real property, or bookkeeping and accounting; and
• a regional manager or corporate official of a rental agency who does not personally engage in property management activity.

These exemptions are narrow. An assistant, for example, is exempt only as an assistant — taking on the activities listed in the definition of property management moves the person outside the exemption.

Under § 61-2f-302(6), an individual licensed as a property manager who is engaged — whether as an employee or an independent contractor — to perform real estate-related services by or on behalf of a principal broker, associate broker, or sales agent must affiliate with a principal broker before engaging in property management, offering to engage in property management on behalf of another person, or advertising or otherwise holding themselves out as engaged in property management.

In plain terms: if your property management work is being performed for or on behalf of a real estate licensee, you affiliate.

Under § 61-2f-302(7), you affiliate your property manager license with either:

• the same principal broker with whom the associate broker or sales agent you perform real estate-related services for is affiliated; or
• the person that your employer, or the person you contract with, is affiliated with.

Section 61-2f-302(8) provides that an individual is not required to affiliate with a principal broker if the individual is licensed as a property manager and:

• is not subject to the affiliation requirement described above;
• is employed by a property management company that managed at least 750 residential rental units in Utah in any of the three previous calendar years; or
• is employed by a housing authority, as that term is defined in Utah Code § 35A-8-401.

Note that the 750-unit threshold is measured at the company level and looks back across the three previous calendar years, so a company that met the threshold in any one of those years qualifies. Property managers who are not required to affiliate carry their own recordkeeping obligations — see the records question in the next section.

A dual broker is a principal broker who functions as the principal property manager of a property management company that is a separate entity from a brokerage (§ 61-2f-102(20)). A dual broker may engage in property management without obtaining a property manager license.

A principal property manager is the primary contact for a property management company who holds a valid, active license as either a property manager or a principal broker (§ 61-2f-102(31)).

A property management company is an entity that engages solely in property management, is required to register with the Division, and is supervised by a dual broker, a principal broker, or a principal property manager (§ 61-2f-102(33)). Registration requirements for persons and offices are in § 61-2f-206. The mechanics of company registration and principal property manager designation are expected to be addressed in the forthcoming rule.

Generally yes. Under § 61-2f-411(3), and except as provided in subsection (4) and subject to subsection (5), a property manager shall associate with at least one real estate trust account in a bank or credit union located within the state.

Unless otherwise modified by a contract for property management, the account is used to secure:

• tenant security deposits;
• rent;
• money tendered by a property owner as a reserve fund or for payment of an unexpected expense; and
• any other purpose designated by the Real Estate Commission.

The account must be non-interest bearing unless the parties to a property management contract do all three of the following: agree in writing to deposit the funds in an interest-bearing account; designate in writing the individuals to whom the parties will pay the interest on completion or failure of the property management contract; and ensure that the parties and the trust account comply with any other rules established by the Commission or the Division.

Under § 61-2f-411(4), and except as provided in subsection (5), a property manager is not required to maintain property management client funds in a trust account if both of the following are true:

1. the property owner agrees in the property management agreement that the property manager is not required to hold property management client funds in a trust account; and
2. a lease agreement states that the property manager is not required to hold property management client funds in a trust account.

Both conditions must be satisfied. An owner’s agreement alone is not enough if the lease is silent, and a lease provision alone is not enough without the owner’s agreement in the management agreement.

No. HB 337 (2025) originally exempted a property manager who obtained and held a security bond protecting at least 30 percent of estimated property management client funds. HB 377 (2026) replaced that bond exemption with the two conditions described above. The 30 percent security bond option is no longer in the statute, and property managers should not plan around it.

Subsection (5) controls, and it overrides the exception in subsection (4). A property manager who is affiliated with a principal broker shall keep property management client funds in the principal broker’s trust account, in accordance with rules established by the Commission or the Division and requirements established by the principal broker. If you affiliate, your broker’s trust account procedures govern your client funds.

Section 61-2f-309 applies to a brokerage and to a property manager described in § 61-2f-302(8) — that is, a property manager who is not required to affiliate with a principal broker. Those persons must maintain and safeguard trust account records, including the monthly reconciliation of the trust account, along with the other transaction records the section lists.

Records must be kept:

• physically at the principal business location designated on Division records, or at a designated branch office, or electronically in a storage system that complies with Utah Code Title 46, Chapter 4, Uniform Electronic Transactions Act; and
• for at least three calendar years after the year in which an offer is rejected, a transaction closes or fails, a lease agreement commences, or the term of a property management agreement ends.

Records must be made available to the Division for inspection and copying on request. A brokerage must also notify the Division in writing within ten business days after it terminates business operations, stating where records will be kept, and must notify the Division on filing for bankruptcy.

Under § 61-2f-203(1)(d), the Division will create an educational program for the property manager license that requires at least 24 hours of training, covers the subjects the Division determines necessary, and establishes the proportion of hours allocated to each subject. An “hour” means 50 minutes of instruction in each 60 minutes, and the maximum number of program hours available to an individual is eight hours per day.

On or after January 1, 2027, the property manager exam must cover the topics that appear in the educational program, and the proportion of questions for each topic must match the proportion of hours the Division designates for that topic. The Division, with the Commission’s concurrence, may modify the length and material of the exam if the applicant is licensed as a property manager in another state, if the Division determines the applicant’s prior experience warrants a modification, or if the Division determines the applicant has good cause.

If you hold a property manager license in another state on the day you apply, the Division may require you to complete a division-approved, state-specific educational program consisting of the number of hours designated by rule. The exam may also be modified as described above. The specific criteria have not been adopted yet.

Yes. Under § 61-2f-204(1)(d), a property manager applicant on or after January 1, 2027 must, at the time of application, submit fingerprint cards in a form acceptable to the Department of Public Safety, submit a signed waiver acknowledging registration of the applicant’s fingerprints in the FBI Next Generation Identification System’s Rap Back Service, consent to a criminal background check by the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification and the FBI, and pay the associated fee. A license issued under this provision is conditional pending completion of the background check.

Fingerprinting also applies at renewal or reinstatement for any licensee who is not already subject to ongoing monitoring of their criminal history.

Fee amounts have not been set or published. Section 61-2f-204(1) provides for a nonrefundable fee for admission to the examination and a nonrefundable fee for issuance of an initial license or a license renewal, each determined by the Commission with the concurrence of the Division under Utah Code § 63J-1-504. A separate fee applies to the criminal background check.

The Division issues a license for a period of not less than two years. As a condition of renewal, an active licensee must demonstrate competence by completing 18 hours of continuing education within a two-year renewal period, subject to rules made by the Commission with the concurrence of the Division. Whether property managers will have a property-management-specific continuing education requirement has not been decided.