(1) A mentor for a licensed trainee must:

(a) be a certified residential or certified general appraiser for a minimum of three years;

(b) be approved by the board prior to beginning mentoring duties;

(i) a mentor shall make application on forms provided by the board, pay the required fee, and submit two appraisal reports prepared by the mentor in accordance with USPAP standards with all three approaches to value; and

(ii) failure to prepare appraisal reports in compliance with USPAP can result in denial of mentor status.

(c) be in good standing with the board, not currently hold a probationary license with the board, and may not have been subject to any disciplinary action within any jurisdiction within the past three years that affects the mentor's legal ability to engage in appraisal practice;

(d) certify the mentor's agreement to provide ongoing supervision of the licensed trainee;

(e) be responsible for and must provide direct supervision of all appraisal assignments performed by the trainee in accordance with the USPAP;

(f) review and sign each page of the activity experience log with their name and license number, certifying its accuracy;

(g) inspect the first 50 properties with each trainee under the mentor's supervision;

(h) prior to allowing the trainee to perform an appraisal assignment with limited supervision, the mentor shall evaluate the competency of the trainee after the first 50 properties. The mentor must determine that the trainee is competent to perform an appraisal assignment within the minimum criteria of USPAP, with limited supervision. Failure to provide adequate supervision is unprofessional conduct according to 37-1-316, MCA;

(i) be limited to mentoring a total of three trainees at any particular time; and

(j) be limited to mentoring trainees in areas where the mentor is competent to perform appraisal assignments.

(2) A mentor must notify the board within ten days when mentoring of a trainee has terminated.

(3) Any and all disciplinary actions against a mentor's appraiser license in any state where licensure is held must be disclosed in writing to the board within five days of receiving notification of the disciplinary action. 

(4) The board may, in its discretion, allow a mentor to provide limited supervision to a trainee with whom the mentor has not inspected a minimum of 50 properties when:

(a) the mentor making this evaluation has personally inspected a minimum of ten properties with the trainee and supervised the trainee, with respect to all corresponding assignments;

(b) the trainee has completed a minimum of 50 appraisal assignments related to properties that were personally inspected by an approved mentor for the trainee at the time of the inspection;

(c) the mentor has evaluated all appraisal activity the trainee completed under the mentor's supervision, including the appraisal assignments involving properties which the mentor inspected with the trainee;

(d) on the basis of the mentor's evaluation of the appraisal assignments completed, while the trainee was under the mentor's supervision, the mentor has determined that the trainee is competent to perform appraisal assignments within the minimum criteria of USPAP, with limited supervision by the mentor; and

(e) the mentor and trainee request and receive approval from the board to allow the trainee to complete appraisal assignments with limited supervision.

(5) A mentor shall complete a course that, at a minimum, complies with the specifications for course content established by the AQB. The course will be oriented toward the requirements and responsibilities of mentors and trainees and must be completed by the mentor prior to the mentor's supervision of a trainee.