Real estate advertising rules in California for agents

In California, agents are licensed by the Department of Real Estate (DRE). The advertising rules sit in two places: the Real Estate Law in the Business and Professions Code, and the Regulations of the Real Estate Commissioner. Both are published by the DRE.

Two sets of rules shape an agent’s own marketing most: the license number rule for “first point of contact” materials, and the rules on team names. This page sets out both, with the sections we read. It’s one of our state guides, alongside Texas, Florida and New York.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules change, and your responsible broker may have its own requirements. Check with your broker or the DRE before you publish.

Your name, license number and broker

Section 10140.6(b)(1) of the Business and Professions Code says a licensee must disclose their name, license identification number and responsible broker’s identity on all solicitation materials intended to be the first point of contact with consumers. Mortgage loan originators must also show their NMLS unique identifier.

Solicitation materials include business cards, stationery, advertising flyers, advertisements on television, in print or in electronic media, signs, and other materials designed to solicit a professional relationship with a consumer.

Section 2773 of the Commissioner’s Regulations fills in the detail:

• Which number. Your eight-digit license identification number, and your responsible broker’s name as currently licensed. You may also show the broker’s license number, but you don’t have to.
• More than one name. If more than one licensee is named, each one’s license number must appear.
• Type size. In written material, the license number can’t be in smaller type than the smallest type used in the piece.
• Which materials. The list includes business cards, stationery, websites owned, controlled or maintained by the licensee, promotional flyers and mail, electronic media advertisements (including internet and email), print advertising, and signs that display the licensee’s name.

The regulation narrows “advertisements in electronic media” to ads you buy or place yourself, where you control the content and presentation and the ad lets consumers contact you directly. Where another party controls the content and visual presentation of your information on a platform, it’s excluded, unless you then distribute or forward that ad to a consumer.

What “responsible broker’s identity” means

Section 10015.4 defines it as the name under which your responsible broker is currently licensed by the DRE and conducts business in general or is a substantial division of the firm, or both that name and its license number. It doesn’t include a team name or a fictitious business name a salesperson has obtained. So a team name or brand alone never stands in for your broker’s name.

Showing that you’re licensed

Section 10140.6(a) says newspaper, periodical or mail advertising must carry a designation showing that you’re performing acts that need a real estate license. Section 2770.1 of the Regulations says terms such as broker or agent, or the abbreviations “bro.” or “agt.”, are enough to meet this.

Team names

Section 10159.7 defines a team name as a professional identity or brand name used by a salesperson and one or more other licensees. A team name doesn’t need a separate license, and it isn’t treated as a fictitious business name if:

• it’s used by two or more licensees who work together, or who present themselves as a team, group or association;
• it includes the surname of at least one team member together with “associates”, “group” or “team”; and
• it doesn’t include terms such as “real estate broker”, “real estate brokerage”, “broker” or “brokerage”, or any other term suggesting a real estate entity independent of the responsible broker.

Section 10159.6 then sets the advertising rules for team names:

• Ads with a team name must show the team name and the name and license number of at least one licensed team member, conspicuously and prominently.
• The responsible broker’s identity must be displayed as prominently and conspicuously as the team name.
• The materials mustn’t contain terms that imply a real estate entity independent of the responsible broker.

Fictitious business names for salespeople

Under section 10159.5, a responsible broker can, by contract, let a salesperson obtain a fictitious business name. The DRE must approve it, it’s identified with the broker’s license number, and the salesperson may use it only as the broker permits. Ads using that name must show the responsible broker’s identity equally as prominently as the fictitious business name, plus the name and license number of the salesperson using it.

Edited listing photos

Section 10140.8 deals with digitally altered images in property ads. If you add, remove or change elements of a photo, such as furniture, paint color, landscaping or the view, the ad needs a statement that the image has been altered and a link, URL or QR code to the original. On a website you control, you include the unaltered images or link to them. Lighting, white balance, color correction, cropping, straightening, exposure and similar adjustments that don’t change how the property is represented don’t count.

An example signature

Here’s how the first point of contact details might look in an email signature for James Okafor, a sample agent at the sample brokerage Harborline Realty in Carlsbad. The license number is a placeholder.

If James ran a team, the signature would also need the team name, with Harborline Realty shown at least as prominently. Our guide to email signatures for US agents covers layout.

Where each item goes

A Real Agent Marketing website shows your brokerage’s name and your license details. Your broker has the final say on how they’re presented.

NAR members

If you’re a member of the National Association of REALTORS®, the Code of Ethics applies too. Article 12 requires members to be honest and truthful in their real estate communications and to present a true picture in their advertising. Standard of Practice 12-5 requires the firm’s name in advertising in a reasonable and readily apparent manner, and Standard of Practice 12-9 requires members’ websites to show the firm’s name and the member’s state or states of licensure.

Checklist

• Your name and eight-digit DRE license number on every first point of contact piece, including your website, cards, email and ads.
• Your responsible broker’s name as currently licensed, not just a team or brand name.
• The license number no smaller than the smallest type in the piece.
• A word such as “agent” or “broker” that shows you’re licensed.
• A team name with a member’s surname plus “associates”, “group” or “team”, and no “broker” or “brokerage”.
• Team ads showing at least one member’s name and license number, and the broker’s identity as prominent as the team name.
• Altered listing photos labeled, with a link to the originals.

For the wider legal picture in your marketing, see our guide to fair housing in agent marketing.

Sources

• California Department of Real Estate, Real Estate Law, as amended and in effect January 1, 2026: Business and Professions Code sections 10015.4, 10140.6, 10140.8, 10159.5, 10159.6 and 10159.7.
• California Department of Real Estate, Regulations of the Real Estate Commissioner, 2026 edition: sections 2770.1 (license designation) and 2773 (license number on first point of contact materials).
• California Department of Real Estate, Real Estate Law publications page, where both are published.
• National Association of REALTORS®, 2026 Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice: Article 12 and Standards of Practice 12-5 and 12-9.

Based on the rules and guidance as we read them in November 2026. This is general information, not legal advice, and doesn’t cover every rule that applies to you.