§34-27-66. Examination and license requirements; issuance and renewal of license; inactive status; change of address.

(a) Any person desiring to act as a seller of vacation time-sharing plans shall file with the commission a written application upon such form as the commission shall designate and shall pass to the satisfaction of the commission the examination hereinafter prescribed.

(b) Prerequisites for taking the vacation time-sharing sales examination are as follows:

(1) Evidence satisfactory to the commission that the applicant bears a good reputation for honesty and truthfulness.

(2) The applicant should not have been convicted of any criminal offense involving moral turpitude or of any felony in this or any other state.

(3) The applicant shall be at least 19 years of age.

(4) The applicant shall be a citizen of the United States or, if not a citizen of the United States, a person who is legally present in the United States with appropriate documentation from the federal government, or shall possess a certification of lawful permanent residence issued by the United States government.

(c) The commission shall prepare and conduct an examination on the fundamentals of this article and related topics and shall schedule such examination at least quarterly. No applicant shall be entitled to examination unless all prerequisites enumerated above have been met as determined by the commission. The minimum passing grade shall be 70 percent.

(d) Every applicant shall pay the sum of seventy-five dollars ($75) for each examination taken. Should an applicant be scheduled and issued a permit for an examination and fail to appear, the entire amount of the examination fee shall be forfeited. Liability for forfeiture occurs at the time the examination permit is issued. The applicant shall be allowed up to 60 days after notice of passing the examination to either be designated as a qualifying broker or to secure a qualifying broker under whom to be licensed. In the alternative, the applicant may place his or her license on inactive status with the commission within the allotted 60-day period. Every applicant shall also pay a license fee of fifty dollars ($50) upon successful completion of the examination, provided he or she submits the license fee along with appropriate documentation to the commission within the allotted 60-day period. The 60-day period shall begin on the date which the results of the applicant's examination are made available to the applicant. The results shall be mailed from the commission office, and the applicant shall be considered to have received such notification three days from the date of mailing. Should an applicant not become licensed within 60 days after receiving notification of his or her having passed the examination, he or she shall be required to again meet the requirements of an original applicant before becoming licensed, including the taking and passing of the examination. The commission may contract with any outside source to prepare and conduct vacation time-sharing sales examinations in its behalf and to pay for the reasonable cost thereof from the examination fees collected.

(e) Vacation time-sharing sales licenses are due to be renewed annually on or before August 31, on a form prescribed by the commission. September 30 shall be the annual expiration date for such licenses. Any license renewed after August 31 and prior to January 1 of the following year shall be subject to a penalty fee of fifteen dollars ($15) in addition to the annual license fee of fifty dollars ($50). On January 1 of the year following the expiration of a vacation time-sharing sales license, the license may no longer be renewed, and the former license holder shall be required to again meet the requirements of an original applicant before again becoming licensed, including the taking and passing of the license examination. Upon submission of a renewal request in such form as the commission shall prescribe and payment of a fifty dollar ($50) renewal fee, the commission shall issue the appropriate license.

(f) The qualifying broker for a vacation time-sharing plan shall meet all the general requirements for a time-sharing sales license and shall have a current, active real estate broker's license issued under the Alabama Real Estate License Law as well as a time-sharing sales license. If the qualifying broker is not licensed on active status with a real estate company, he or she may place his or her real estate broker's license on active status in the name of the time-sharing plan.

(g) Each qualifying broker shall supervise each seller licensed under him or her and insure that every seller licensed under him or her, as well as the vacation time-sharing plan for which he or she is the qualifying broker, complies with this chapter, and the broker shall be responsible to any injured party for actual damages caused to such party by any violation of this chapter by any vacation time-sharing plan or seller for whom he or she is acting as qualifying broker.

(h) There shall be a license transfer fee of fifty dollars ($50) for any of the following: A change of qualifying broker; a change of name or address of the vacation time-sharing plan; a change of name of a licensee; a change of employment by a licensee; or the activation of an inactive license.

(i) A representative of the vacation time-sharing plan authorized to do so may designate an office located off the site of the time-sharing project as a branch sales office of the vacation time-sharing plan provided that a qualifying broker is designated for each such branch sales office.

(j) A real estate company licensed by the commission may act as an agent for the purpose of reselling time-shares for persons who each own no more than four unit weeks of a given time-sharing plan provided that the contract for such resale shall meet all the requirements of a contract for the initial sale of a vacation time-sharing interest, including the nonwaivable right of the purchaser to cancel the contract within the specified five-day period; and further provided that the qualifying broker for such real estate company be licensed as a time-share seller by the commission and that any sales agent of the company who participates in the sale of time-shares be licensed by the commission as a time-share seller.

(k) No applicant to be a seller of vacation time-sharing plans shall be issued a license by the commission unless the applicant is designated as a qualifying broker by a representative of a vacation time-sharing plan or real estate company authorized to make such a designation, or unless the applicant is sponsored by a duly authorized qualifying broker who has signed a written statement accepting sponsorship of the applicant, or unless the applicant has his or her license issued on inactive status and maintained at the office of the commission.

(l) No vacation time-sharing licensee shall perform any of the acts authorized by such license until the license certificate is in his or her actual possession, if the licensee is a qualifying broker, or in the possession of his or her sponsoring broker, if the licensee is not a qualifying broker.

(m) A licensee may place his or her license on inactive status with the commission for a period of up to 24 consecutive months and may renew his or her license while it is on inactive status. No license which is on inactive status shall be reactivated without the commission receiving evidence that the licensee's surety bond is in effect. Any license which has been on inactive status for longer than 24 consecutive months shall automatically expire as of the day following the 24-month period.

(n) Each licensee shall notify the commission of any change of address, business or residential, within 30 days of such change.

(Acts 1983, No. 83-670, p. 1035, §17; Acts 1984, No. 84-282, p. 472, §1; Acts 1985, No. 85-750, p. 1204, §1; Acts 1986, No. 86-375, p. 560, §1; Acts 1989, No. 89-284, p. 447, §3; Act 2008-141, p. 214, §3.)