All licenses required under this chapter expire on December thirty-first of each year and may be renewed. Renewals are effective the succeeding January first. Applications for renewal must be submitted no later than thirty days before the expiration of the license and must be accompanied by the required annual renewal fee, which is not subject to refund. The renewal fee must equal five hundred dollars or two dollars and forty cents per one hundred thousand dollars of North Dakota mortgage loans serviced, whichever is greater. The renewal fee shall be based on the average mortgage loans serviced over the previous four quarters ending June thirtieth of the current year as reported on the mortgage call report. The renewal fee may not exceed one hundred thousand dollars. Fees must be paid to the department of financial institutions and be deposited in the financial institutions regulatory fund. The form and content of renewal applications must be determined by the department of financial institutions, and a renewal application may be denied upon the same grounds as would justify denial of an initial application. When a licensee has been delinquent in renewing its license, the department of financial institutions may charge an additional fee of fifty dollars for the renewal of the license. A residential mortgage loan servicer license is not transferable. If the commissioner determines that an ownership change has occurred in a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability partnership, corporation, or limited liability corporation that was previously granted a residential mortgage loan servicer license, the commissioner may require a new application from the purchaser. The application must be filed within forty-five days from the date change of ownership is consummated. The residential mortgage loan servicer license granted to the previous owner continues in effect to the new purchaser until the application is either granted or denied.