How long must brokers generally retain transaction and trust-account records?

States require brokers to retain transaction records — listing and purchase agreements, disclosures, trust-account ledgers, bank statements, and related documents — for a specified period, commonly a few years after the transaction closes or terminates. These records must be kept in an organized way and made available to the state licensing authority for inspection or audit on request. Failing to keep required records, or being unable to produce them during an audit, is itself a violation even absent any other wrongdoing. The exact retention period and format vary by state, but the duty to retain and produce transaction and trust records is a standard state broker-portion requirement.