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What is the Rap Back Fingerprinting Requirement for License Renewal?

Written by Kacie Goff

The Utah Division of Real Estate makes quite a few efforts to make sure the real estate professionals they license are educated and ethical. That means they do things like ask you to complete 18 hours of continuing education each renewal cycle. And, more recently, they’ve instructed licensees to complete a new Rap Back fingerprinting requirement.

What, exactly, is the Rap Back program and what should Utah real estate licensees expect from this new requirement? Let’s take a look. 

What is the Rap Back program?

The FBI maintains what they call “Next Generation Identification (NGI) Rap Back Service.” Essentially, it allows authorities — like the Utah Division of Real Estate — to submit the fingerprints of certain individuals to this monitoring service. Those fingerprints are regularly reviewed, and the authority that submitted the fingerprints gets notified if any of their fingerprinted individuals get arrested or flagged with other criminal activity.

In other words, Rap Back is a way for agencies across the country to make sure that when they allow people to assume positions of public trust, those individuals are, in fact, trustworthy. Instead of having to wait until their next renewal to learn an individual committed has committed a crime, the Utah Division of Real Estate gets notified right away because they’ve adopted this service. 

Getting started with Rap Back to complete your Utah real estate license renewal

Thanks to Senate Bill 140, all real estate licensees in Utah have had to comply with Rap Back requirements since January 1, 2020. This basically just means you need to get fingerprinted as part of your real estate license renewal process. 

If you’re within 45 days of your license expiration, you can start this process here. Within that portal, you’ll need to sign a Consent to Background Check form. Then, you’ll get an Authorization for Live Scan Fingerprinting Form, which you need to take with you when you get fingerprinted. Bring your real estate license and driver’s license or passport, too. 

That portal should also provide you with a list of third-party locations at which you can get the necessary fingerprinting completed. Or, if you live in the Salt Lake City area, you can head to the Salt Lake Board of Realtors, where the Division has Live Scan fingerprinting machines. The address there is:

230 West Towne Ridge Parkway #100

Sandy, UT 84070

While those fingerprinting services offered by the Division of Real Estate are currently suspended due to COVID-19, we encourage you to hold onto this link. Once those services are available again, you can use that online tool to schedule your fingerprinting appointment. Expect for it to take about 20 minutes to get fingerprinted. 

You’re going to pay $45 to enroll in the Rap Back program and, if you choose a third-party fingerprinting location, you’ll be subject to their fees, too. The Division of Real Estate will bill you the $45 enrollment fee as you complete your renewal. 

Complying with the new Rap Back requirement is just one of your real estate license renewal to-dos. If you want more information about the current Utah real estate license renewal process, you can check out our recent guide on the subject.