Wayne Bell Out As Department of Real Estate Commissioner

While there has been no official announcement, as of July 9, 2018, the Commissioner of the (now) California Department of Real Estate is no longer Wayne Bell.  The new acting Commissioner will be the Chief Deputy Commissioner, Daniel Sandri. There is conjecture that this leadership change at the Department of Real Estate is in some way connected to the reorganization of the agency from the Bureau of Real Estate, a bureau within the California Department of Consumer Affairs, back to the California Department of Real Estate, an independent agency.  But until the Department of Real Estate offers additional information or clarity, there are more questions than answers as to what this change may mean for real estate licensees operating in the State of California.  We might just add that enforcement and discipline under the Bell era of the Bureau of Real Estate was notably more aggressive among certain licensees compared to previous commissioners. It also remains to be seen how this shakeup will change the DRE’s enforcement and discipline protocols, if at all.