Real Estate Agent License Renewal in Massachusetts
Massachusetts renews on your birthday every two years: 12 hours of CE, $103 for a salesperson. Skip the hours and the Board renews you inactive rather than refusing you.
| Renewal cycle | Every 2 years |
|---|---|
| CE hours required | 12 hours 12 hours within the 24 months before each renewal, taken from the curriculum the Board publishes. The statute sets a range of 6 to 12 hours and lets the Board pick the number; the Board picked 12. At least 6 of the 12 must concern compliance with laws and regulations, drawn from a list of nine subjects in M.G.L. c. 112 s. 87XX 1/2. Renewal falls on your birthday, so no two agents in an office share a deadline. Massachusetts attorneys in good standing with the Board of Bar Overseers are excepted from the hours. |
| Renewal fee | $103.00 |
| Mandatory CE topics | At least 6 of the 12 hours must concern compliance with laws and regulations, selected from: fair housing; equal employment opportunity; accessibility for the disabled; agency law; environmental issues in real estate; zoning and building codes; real estate appraisal and financing; property tax assessments and valuation; real estate board regulations, Remaining hours from the curriculum the Board certifies in advance |
| Licensing board | Massachusetts Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons |
Sourced from Massachusetts Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons, verified July 24, 2026. Requirements change. Confirm with your board before relying on this.
Massachusetts renews you on your birthday, which is either a gift or a trap depending on how you keep a calendar. There is no statewide deadline to overhear in the office, no seasonal rush, and no colleague to remind you. The Board opens renewal 90 days early, and after that the date is yours to remember.
Twelve hours, six of them about the law
The statute does something unusual: it fixes a range, not a number. Between six and twelve hours, as the Board determines. The Board settled on 12, and that is what you certify at renewal.
Of those 12, at least 6 must concern compliance with laws and regulations, drawn from a list the legislature wrote into the statute:
- Fair housing
- Equal employment opportunity
- Accessibility for the disabled
- Agency law
- Environmental issues in real estate
- Zoning and building codes
- Real estate appraisal and financing
- Property tax assessments and valuation
- Real estate board regulations
Note what that list is not. It is not nine separate hour quotas the way Arizona assigns three hours per category. It is a menu: pick from it until six hours of your twelve are compliance material. The remaining six come from the wider curriculum the Board certifies in advance.
Missing the hours does not stop your renewal
This is the part that catches people, and it works the opposite way from most states. If you do not certify your 12 hours, Massachusetts does not reject the renewal. The Board renews you as inactive.
An inactive licensee is prohibited from practicing. You are still licensed, still on the register, and legally unable to work. The one thing an inactive broker may still do is receive a referral fee from an active licensed broker, which is a narrow carve-out and not a business model. The Board also does not issue a license document to anyone on inactive status, so there is nothing to hang on the wall.
Coming back is not automatic either. Reactivating means completing the 12 hours and filing a License Reactivation Form with the certificates attached, then waiting weeks for the wallet license. Practically, letting a renewal go inactive costs a month or more of working time.
One exception worth naming: Massachusetts attorneys in good standing with the Board of Bar Overseers are excepted from the continuing education hours.
The fee
Salesperson renewal is $103 and broker renewal $142. A business license runs $221, a school $264, a school branch $147. Renewals go through the eLIPSE portal, and every renewal now requires a notarized CORI authorization form uploaded with the application, which is a step that surprises anyone whose last renewal predates it.
How this compares
Twelve hours is the lightest load of any state covered here: Virginia asks 16 over the same two years, Arizona 24, Washington 30. The fee is modest too, $103 against Washington’s $233. What Massachusetts substitutes for volume is a consequence that is quiet rather than loud. North Carolina tells you plainly that your license expires if the fee is late; Massachusetts simply hands back a renewed license you are not allowed to use, and it is entirely possible to not notice until a client asks you to list something.
Add your renewal deadline to your calendar
Enter your expiration date and download a calendar file. Your own calendar will remind you at 90, 60, 30, and 7 days out. We don't ask for your email, we store nothing, and the date never leaves your device.
Works with Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, and Outlook. This is a convenience, not a compliance service. Confirm your exact deadline with the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons.
How many CE hours do you have left?
Massachusetts requires 12 CE hours this cycle. Enter what you've completed and see what's left. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
Hours alone aren't the whole requirement. Some must be these specific topics:
- At least 6 of the 12 hours must concern compliance with laws and regulations, selected from: fair housing; equal employment opportunity; accessibility for the disabled; agency law; environmental issues in real estate; zoning and building codes; real estate appraisal and financing; property tax assessments and valuation; real estate board regulations
- Remaining hours from the curriculum the Board certifies in advance
A convenience, not a compliance service. Confirm your exact requirement with the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons. This is not legal advice.
Continuing education hours per renewal cycle
Massachusetts asks for 12 hours. That is below the median of 18 across the 51 states that set a flat hour count, which run from 7 to 45. Ranked lowest to highest, Massachusetts is 10 of 51.
Renewal fee
Massachusetts charges $103. The median across the 48 states that publish a figure is $115, running from $0 to $578. Ranked cheapest to dearest, Massachusetts is 23 of 48.
Each mark is one state. The taller line is the median, the filled dot is Massachusetts. States that set no flat hour count, or publish no fee, are left out of that comparison rather than counted as zero.
What will this renewal cost?
Massachusetts's renewal fee is filled in from the board below. Add what you expect to spend on CE courses, plus a late fee if you're past due, for a running total. Nothing you type is stored.
The renewal fee is from the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons and dated on this page; the CE and late-fee figures are your own estimates. A convenience, not a compliance service, and not legal advice. Confirm fees with your board.