Bureau gears up for license renewal process

For the last year or so, the state has been rolling out the Pennsylvania Licensing System – known as PALS – as the licensing portal for all 29 licensing boards and commissions overseen by the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs.

The system has been partially active for real estate licensees since last year, but the bureau is looking to move towards full functionality as the real estate licensee renewal cycle begins in the next few weeks. The next steps in that process started at the beginning of March, as the bureau started making certain license application forms available through PALS.

Previously, licensees could download and mail printed applications from the commission’s website, or could utilize selected electronic applications through the prior online system. The most obvious outcome of this transition is that once PALS is fully functional, paper applications will no longer be posted or accepted for processing; everything will be done electronically. Online applications through the PALS platform should ultimately result in far faster and more accurate processing of applications, but the system is not quite there yet.

As it stands on the date of publication, most printed forms have been removed from the commission’s website, and many (but not all) of those applications are available through PALS. The list of available items is quite literally changing daily, so we won’t attempt to list them here. If you have a printed application ready to mail in, you should call the commission directly to determine whether they are still accepting printed forms for that specific application process.

According to the bureau, electronic renewal notifications will be sent out in early April notifying licensees that they may access PALS to begin their renewal. Paper notifications will also be mailed. The bureau will no longer accept paper renewal applications.

Now is a good time to prepare for the renewal cycle. Take time and get yourself set up in the PALS system so you’ll be ready for the renewal cycle that ends May 31. If you used the previous online system (MyLicense), you should be able to log into PALS using your existing user ID and password. If you don’t have an account at all, you can register yourself for one from that same page.

Commission staff will not provide tech support if you have login issues. The “contact us” button at the top of the page will take you to an extensive help center that explains the overall system and gives information on specific topics. Each of those help topics then has a “looking for something else” option that allows you submit a message directly to a help desk. Unfortunately, PAR is not available to provide technical support while you’re working on the new PALS system, as it is not our system.

As with all change, there are inevitably growing pains with a new system while all the kinks are worked out. As PALS continues to integrate the real estate licensee processes, you’ll see a more state-of-the-art system to handle real estate license applications. Though PALS isn’t yet at full functionality, it is our hope that licensees will soon be able to reap the benefits of this new system as it is fully implemented.