New York Real Estate Email Signature Requirements (19 NYCRR 175.25, 2026)
Updated July 2026 · 7 steps
New York is unusually clear about email. Its advertising rule names e-mail in the definition of advertising, and then adds a provision aimed squarely at the first message you send someone. It also bans three job titles that agents use in signatures constantly.
This is a plain-English summary of a published rule, not legal advice. Advertising rules change and brokerages impose stricter policies than the state does. Confirm with your broker or the NY Department of State before relying on it.
Step by step
1
Use your full licensed name
Your name as it appears on the licence. A nickname is allowed only where “the full-licensed name is listed clearly and conspicuously” alongside it — it cannot stand in for it. Middle names and initials may be omitted.
2
State your license type — and avoid the three banned ones
The rule requires advertisements to “correctly and accurately state the type of license held,” and then prohibits three specific titles outright: “sales associate,” “licensed sales agent,” and simply “broker.” Write Licensed Real Estate Salesperson or Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker. Sensible abbreviations are allowed if not misleading.
3
Name your brokerage exactly as licensed
Unconditional once your own name appears: “Where an advertisement includes the name of an associate broker, real estate salesperson or a team, the name of the real estate broker and/or real estate brokerage must also be printed.”
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Add the brokerage's address or its phone — either one
The rule offers a choice: the advertiser must provide the brokerage name and “either (i) the full address… or (ii) the telephone number.” You do not need both. (Printed business cards are held to a stricter combined list.)
5
Label every other phone number by type
A rule almost nobody follows: additional numbers are permitted only where the advertisement “clearly identifies the type of such other telephone number as desk, home, cell phone, or otherwise.” An unlabelled mobile number in your signature is the common breach.
6
Skip the license number — New York does not ask for one
Every occurrence of “number” in the advertising rule refers to a telephone number. New York wants your licence type, not your licence number — the opposite of California.
7
Do not give yourself a corporate title
Per the Department of State’s own advertising checklist, corporate titles such as President or Vice President are for the broker of record; associate brokers and salespeople are not permitted to advertise as corporate officers.
The provision that makes this a New York guide
Most states leave you guessing whether an email counts as advertising. New York answers it twice.
First, in the definition — 19 NYCRR § 175.25(a)(1) defines advertising as promotion and solicitation related to licensed real estate activity “including but not limited to, advertising via mail telephone, websites, e-mail, electronic bulletin boards, business cards, signs, billboards, and flyers.” It then carves out commentary “that is not related to promoting licensed real estate activity” — so genuinely personal email is not caught.
Second, and more usefully, § 175.25(d)(4) addresses email specifically:
“An initial e-mail from a real estate broker, associate real estate broker, real estate salesperson or team to a client or potential client shall provide the information required by these rules and regulations. Such information may be omitted from subsequent e-mail communications to the same recipient.”
Read plainly: the full disclosure is mandatory on your first message to a given person, and optional on the rest of that thread. In practice nobody maintains two signatures and swaps them by recipient — a single standing signature satisfies the rule everywhere by default, which is why that is the sensible implementation.
Websites are stricter than email
Worth knowing if you also run a site: § 175.25(d)(3) requires the disclosures on every page of a licensee’s website, including search-results pages — not just the homepage. Separately, § 175.29(c) requires a prominent homepage link to the Department’s Fair Housing Notice. Both are website duties; neither applies to your email signature.
Team names
Under § 175.25(e)(1), a team name must either include the full licensed names of its members, or be immediately followed by “at/of [full name of the broker/brokerage].” The name must use the word “team” — and “the use of any other terms besides ‘team,’ such as ‘associate,’ ‘realty’ or ‘group’ is prohibited.” A New York “Smith Group” or “Smith Realty” team name is not permitted; “The Smith Team at Acme Realty” is.
State law vs. NAR and REBNY
Only the rules above are enforced by the Department of State against your licence. NAR’s Standard of Practice 12-5 separately requires REALTOR® members to disclose their firm’s name when advertising in any medium “(e.g., electronically…)” — enforced by your association, not by DOS. REBNY’s co-brokerage agreement adopts the state’s definition of advertising and layers on its own formatting rules; that is a membership contract. And in New York City the FARE Act (effective June 2025) governs broker-fee disclosure on rental listings — genuine city law, but about fees, not signatures.
Sources: 19 NYCRR § 175.25 (Advertising), last amended eff. 2 Nov. 2020; § 175.29(c); NY Real Property Law § 441-c; NY Department of State Checklist for Real Estate Advertising and Real Estate License Law (Jan. 2024); NAR 2026 Code of Ethics. Verified against the Department of State’s published texts, September 2026.
What does your state actually require?
Pick a state. Every answer is taken from the current rule text and checked against that state’s own statute and regulations — not from a template, and not from the regulator’s summary of its own rules, which is wrong in twenty-six jurisdictions.
Get the first email right, every time
New York’s disclosure is mandatory on the initial email to every new contact — the one you are least likely to be thinking about it. Autograph builds the signature once with your licence type, brokerage and labelled numbers, then installs it into Apple Mail in one click and onto your iPhone by QR code.
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Common questions
Does New York require a license number in my email signature?
No. Every mention of “number” in the advertising rule refers to a telephone number. New York requires your licence type — for example “Licensed Real Estate Salesperson” — not a licence number. This is the reverse of California, which requires an eight-digit number and no type.
Why can't I call myself a Sales Associate?
Because the rule names it. § 175.25(c)(4) prohibits “the use of the titles, ‘sales associate,’ ‘licensed sales agent’ or simply ‘broker.’” Those three are out in New York advertising regardless of how common they are elsewhere. Use the full licence type instead.
Do I need the disclosures on every email, or just the first?
Strictly, the rule requires them on the initial email to a client or potential client, and allows omission from later emails to that same recipient. Practically, a standing signature is the safe implementation — nobody reliably tracks who has already received a first email.
Does my cell number need anything special?
Yes, and this is widely missed. Additional telephone numbers are permitted only if the advertisement clearly identifies each one by type — desk, home, cell phone, or otherwise. Label it “Cell” rather than listing a bare number.
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