Applicant may be licensed as a real estate salesperson having overcome past issues with alcohol abuse.

Petitioner was formerly licensed by the Georgia Real Estate Commission (“the Commission”).  However, the Commission revoked Petitioner’s license after he neglected to mention several criminal convictions—in addition to the DUI convictions that he did disclose—on a renewal application.  Petitioner applied for a real estate license in 2014, this time fully disclosing his entire criminal history.  The Commission denied Petitioner’s application based upon the original grounds for revocation and prior sanctions.  The Court reversed the denial in light of the fact that Petitioner’s nondisclosure of his criminal history was done at a time when Petitioner was struggling with alcoholism, which he had since overcome, and was likely unintentional.  Moreover, Petitioner had since maintained a good reputation as a competent real estate salesperson in fourteen years of practice in South Carolina, indicating that he met the requisite characteristics to be granted a salesperson license.