Licensing: Real Estate – Rental Property

(1)Where two individuals who were not licensed Missouri real estate brokers formed a business to help rental property owners locate prospective tenants for which they would receive compensation from apartment owners in return for referring prospective tenants, the trial court’s imposition of an injunction prohibiting the practice as prohibited by Missouri’s real estate broker licensing law was not erroneous because the business model did not fit within the exemption that allows an unlicensed person to manage real property since the business offered additional services such as providing rental advisors who marketed selected units to prospective tenants and provided detailed advice on apartment search strategies.

(2) Missouri’s real estate brokerage law was not an unconstitutional restriction on the right to free speech because it did not bar the business from advertising or providing information about apartments.

Judgment is affirmed.

Kansas City Premier Apartments, Inc. v. Missouri Real Estate Commission (MLW No. 62472/Case No. SC91125 –30 pages) (Missouri Supreme Court, Fischer, J.) (Wolff, J., dissenting) Appealed from circuit court, Platte County, Shafer, J. (David E. Roland, St. Louis, for appellant) (Edwin R. Frownfelter, Jefferson City, for respondent).

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