The California Department of Real Estate (DRE) requires real estate licensees to disclose their license number on marketing materials that serve as a consumer’s first point of contact with them. This rule has been in effect since July 1, 2009 when we first started addressing the requirements.
Update (2026): This post was originally published in 2009 when the California Department of Real Estate (DRE) license disclosure rule first took effect. The underlying law hasn’t gone away — if anything, enforcement and awareness around it have picked up again recently. We’ve updated this article to reflect the California DRE’s current guidance, and point you to the DRE’s official disclosure chart so you can verify requirements for your own situation.
PDF: DRE License Disclosure Requirements for Advertising
What This Means for You as a Real Estate Licensee
On any “first point of contact” solicitation material, you must disclose:
- Your name
- The responsible broker’s name (the brokerage you’re licensed under)
- Your 8-digit DRE license number
The DRE’s current disclosure chart specifies that this license number must appear in a font size no smaller than the smallest text used elsewhere in the material.
“First point of contact” materials include:
- Business cards
- Stationery
- Websites owned, controlled, or maintained by the licensee
- Promotional and advertising flyers, brochures, and leaflets
- Regular mail and email marketing designed to solicit a professional relationship or induce a consumer to make contact
- “For sale,” “for rent,” “for lease,” “open house,” and directional signs that display the licensee’s name (signs showing only the responsible broker’s identity, with no individual agent named, are exempt)
A Correction on Our Original Post
Our original 2009 version speculated that email might not count as a “first point of contact” and therefore might not require a license number. Under Regulation 2773, electronic media — explicitly including email — is listed as solicitation material requiring disclosure when the licensee controls the content and it’s intended to let consumers contact them directly. If you’re running email marketing through your IDX platform, CRM, or drip campaigns, your license number should be in there.
What’s Exempt
The DRE’s chart still carves out a few categories that do not require a license number in the ad itself:
- Radio, cinema, and television ads, and the opening section of streaming video/audio
- Print advertising in newspapers or periodicals (though these still require a designation — see below)
- “For sale” signs that display only the responsible broker’s identity, without naming an individual agent
Note also: if a third-party platform (like a syndicated listing aggregator) controls the content and presentation of your listing, that’s generally not treated as your advertisement — unless you personally forward or repost that content to a consumer, at which point it becomes yours again.
Print Ads Still Need a Designation
Separately from the license number requirement, any print ad (newspaper, periodical, mail) must include a designation identifying you as a licensee — “broker,” “agent,” “Realtor,” or an abbreviation like “bro.” or “agt.” This has been a requirement since the original rule and hasn’t changed.
New Since 2009: Team Names and DBAs
If you operate under a team name or a salesperson-owned fictitious business name (DBA), additional disclosure rules apply that weren’t addressed in our original post:
Team names: Your advertising must conspicuously display the team name, at least one licensed team member’s name and license number, and the responsible broker’s identity displayed just as prominently as the team name. Materials can’t use language implying the team is an independent brokerage.
DBAs: The fictitious business name, the salesperson’s name, and the broker’s name must all appear, with the broker’s identity displayed as prominently as the DBA and the salesperson’s name/license number kept conspicuous.
If your brand relies on a team name or DBA, it’s worth double-checking your marketing against these rules specifically.
DRE Website Requirements for Agents
If you’re licensed in California, there’s one non-negotiable item to check off before your website goes live: your DRE license number. Under a regulation clarifying California Business & Professions Code section 10140.6, any website “owned, controlled, and/or maintained” by a real estate licensee counts as solicitation material — which means your license number needs to be displayed on it, just like it would on a business card or brochure.
A few things to know:
- Size matters. Your license number can’t be smaller than the smallest text on the page. Burying it in 8px footer text technically doesn’t cut it.
- It’s not just your homepage. The requirement covers your site broadly, not one specific page — most agents handle this with a footer or About page mention that appears sitewide.
It’s a small detail, but it’s the kind of thing that’s easy to overlook when you’re focused on design and listings. One more reason it helps to work with our IDXCentral team that builds real estate websites with IDX for a living. When we design a site for an agent, license number placement is part of the standard build, not an afterthought you have to catch later.
For the full breakdown of the regulation, see our post on DRE License Number Requirements. And if you’re setting up a new site (or auditing an existing one for compliance gaps like this), take a look at our real estate website portfolio — we handle the legal must-haves alongside the parts that actually generate leads.
Where to Verify Current Requirements
Rather than relying on a summary (including this one), we recommend keeping a copy of the DRE’s own disclosure chart on hand: License Disclosure Requirements for Advertising, DRE Form RE 559. It’s the department’s official, plain-language breakdown of what’s required and lays out the underlying statutes (Business & Professions Code §§ 10140.5, 10140.6, 10159.5–10159.7) and Commissioner’s Regulations (§§ 2770.1, 2773) in full. If you originate mortgage loans as well, note there’s a companion chart for mortgage advertising disclosures, DRE Form RE 858.
If you have questions about how these rules apply to your specific marketing, the DRE’s Enforcement section can be reached at (877) 373-4542, or consult your broker or a real estate attorney.
Sources: California Business & Professions Code §§ 10140.5, 10140.6, 10159.5, 10159.6, 10159.7; California Code of Regulations, Title 10, §§ 2770.1, 2773; DRE Form RE 559 (Rev. 5/19).
