§ 440-a. License required for real estate brokers and salespersons. No
person, co-partnership, limited liability company or corporation shall
engage in or follow the business or occupation of, or hold themselves or
itself out or act temporarily or otherwise as a real estate broker or
real estate salesperson in this state without first procuring a license
therefor as provided in this article. No person shall be entitled to a
license as a real estate broker under this article, either as an
individual or as a member of a co-partnership, or as a member or manager
of a limited liability company or as an officer of a corporation, unless
they are twenty years of age or over. No person shall be entitled to a
license as a real estate salesperson under this article unless they are
over the age of eighteen years. No person shall be entitled to a license
as a real estate broker or real estate salesperson under this article
who has been convicted in this state or elsewhere of a crime, unless the
secretary makes a finding in conformance with all applicable statutory
requirements, including those contained in article twenty-three-A of the
correction law, that such convictions do not constitute a bar to
licensure. No person shall be entitled to a license as a real estate
broker or real estate salesperson under this article who does not meet
the requirements of section 3-503 of the general obligations law.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this section, tenant
associations and not-for-profit corporations authorized in writing by
the commissioner of the department of the city of New York charged with
enforcement of the housing maintenance code of such city to manage
residential property owned by such city or appointed by a court of
competent jurisdiction to manage residential property owned by such city
shall be exempt from the licensing provisions of this section with
respect to the properties so managed.