Florida: your license, the contract forms, and the rules of a deal
Florida licenses real estate agents through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), under the rules of the Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC). This guide covers how to get the license, what you may do under your broker, the brokerage relationships, the "AS IS" contract and the deposit, and the documents a seller owes a buyer, condos and HOAs included. Every fact comes from a Florida statute, a rule, or a source such as the Florida Realtors and Florida Bar contract forms, and links to its source.
Every fact links to its source. Checked Oct 9, 2026
Getting your Florida license
To be eligible, you must be at least 18 years old and hold a high school diploma or its equivalent. You must also be honest, truthful, trustworthy, and of good character, and have a good reputation for fair dealing. (Source: Florida Statutes)
You apply to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) on the form it prescribes, and the application includes your social security number. (Source: Florida Statutes)
A licensee who stops living in Florida tells the Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC) within 60 days. Nonresident applicants and licensees must meet all of the Commission's rules and part I of chapter 475. (Source: Florida Statutes)
A sales associate applicant completes FREC's Course I: 63 hours of 50 minutes each, including the end-of-course exam, where 70% or higher passes. An active member in good standing of The Florida Bar who otherwise qualifies is exempt from this course, and an applicant with a 4-year degree or higher in real estate from an accredited institution is exempt from the prerequisite education. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
To take the license exam, you submit to DBPR your application, digital fingerprint data, and the fee. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI process your fingerprints for a criminal history record, and DBPR uses the results to decide if you qualify for the exam. At the exam, you show the course completion certificate from the school or college that gave the course, the exam admission letter, and proof of identification. (Source: Florida Statutes)
DBPR says Pearson VUE gives the exam, and that you schedule it after DBPR approves your application. (Source: DBPR)
Your application expires 2 years after DBPR receives it if you have not passed the exam. If you do not pass the exam within 2 years after you complete the course, the course no longer counts for a license. (Source: Florida Statutes)
DBPR's application form says that passing the exam gets you a certificate of licensure, and that this does not make the license active. When a broker employs you, you or the broker activate it by filing form DBPR RE 11, or the broker adds you in the broker's online DBPR account. (Source: DBPR)
Rule 61J2-1.011 sets a sales associate application fee of $11.00, an initial license fee of $46.75, and a biennial (every two years) renewal fee of $64.00. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
Keeping your license
Before your first renewal, you complete FREC's post-licensing course, and 75% or higher on its end-of-course exam passes. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
Post-licensing education is 45 classroom hours of 50 minutes each. If you do not complete it before your first renewal, your license is null and void, and you must take the pre-license course and pass the state exam again to work as a sales associate. It does not apply to a person with a 4-year degree or higher in real estate from an accredited institution. (Source: Florida Statutes)
In each renewal period except the first renewal period of your current license, you complete at least 14 hours of continuing education: the 3-hour Core Law course, the 3-hour Business Ethics course, and at least 8 hours of specialty courses. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
A broker license needs at least 24 months in the last 5 years as an active sales associate under a broker (licensed in Florida, another U.S. state or territory, or a foreign jurisdiction), as a salaried sales associate for a government agency doing the work a real estate license allows, or as a broker licensed outside Florida. A sales associate who owes post-licensing education must complete it and hold a current, valid license first. (Source: Florida Statutes)
A sales associate who wants a broker license completes FREC's Course II: 72 hours of 50 minutes each, including the exam. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
Working under your broker
Under Florida law, a broker is a person who, for compensation or the expectation of it, sells, buys, exchanges, rents, or auctions real property for another, or offers, tries, or agrees to negotiate it. Advertising or holding yourself out as in that business, finding buyers, sellers, landlords, or tenants, and helping to negotiate or close a transaction are broker acts too. A sales associate does these acts under the direction, control, or management of another person. One such act is enough, and each prohibited act is a separate offense. (Source: Florida Statutes)
Working as a broker or sales associate without a valid, current, active license is a third-degree felony. A sales associate may not work as a broker, or for any person who is not registered as the associate's employer. (Source: Florida Statutes)
As a sales associate, you collect money in a transaction (a commission, a deposit, a payment, or rent) only in your employer's name and with your employer's express consent. You can sue for a commission only against the person registered as your employer when you did the work. (Source: Florida Statutes)
Sharing a commission with, or paying a referral fee to, a person who is not licensed in Florida as a broker, broker associate, or sales associate is a ground for discipline. A Florida broker may pay a referral fee to, or share a commission with, a broker licensed in another state when that broker does not violate Florida law. (Source: Florida Statutes)
A written listing agreement includes a definite expiration date, a description of the property, the price and terms, the fee or commission, and the signature of the principal (your client). The principal gets a legible, signed copy within 24 hours. The agreement must not require the principal to give notice to cancel after the expiration date. (Source: Florida Statutes)
You may give a comparative market analysis, a broker price opinion, or an opinion of value, but you must never call it an appraisal. (Source: Florida Statutes)
You do not give an opinion that title is good or merchantable unless it rests on a current opinion of a licensed attorney. You advise a buyer to consult an attorney on the title or to get title insurance. (Source: Florida Statutes)
Advertising and team names
Every ad must let a reasonable person know they are dealing with a real estate licensee. No ad that a licensee places, or causes to be placed, may be fraudulent, false, deceptive, or misleading. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
Every real estate ad includes the licensed name of the brokerage firm. When your name appears, the ad uses at least your last name as registered. On the internet, the firm name is next to, or just above or below, the contact information. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
A team or group is a name or logo that one or more licensees use to present themselves to the public as a team or group. Its members do licensed work under the supervision of the same broker or brokerage. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
Each team or group files with its broker a designated licensee, who is responsible for the team's ads meeting Chapter 475 and the FREC rules. The broker keeps a written record of each team's members and updates it at least once a month. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
A team or group name may include the word "team" or "group". It must not include agency, associates, brokerage, brokers, company, corporation, corp., inc., LLC, LP, LLP, partnership, properties, property, real estate, realty, or a similar word that suggests a separate brokerage or company. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
The team rule applies to all advertising. In an ad with the team or group name, that name is not in larger print than the name of the registered brokerage, and a reasonable person must know they are dealing with a team or group. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
Brokerage relationships and the notices
Every licensee is presumed to be a transaction broker unless a single agent or no brokerage relationship is set up in writing. Dual agency is prohibited. The transaction broker relationship needs no written disclosure. (Source: Florida Statutes)
A single agent relationship needs a written, conspicuous notice before or at the listing or representation agreement, or before a showing, whichever comes first. A change from single agent to transaction broker needs the customer's prior written consent on the statutory form. (Source: Florida Statutes)
A no brokerage relationship needs a written notice before the showing. The licensee still deals honestly, discloses known facts that materially affect the value and are not readily observable, and accounts for funds. (Source: Florida Statutes)
These notices apply to a residential sale: improved property of 4 units or fewer, land for 4 or fewer units, or agricultural property of 10 acres or less. A lease without a purchase option, an open house, and a casual conversation are excluded. (Source: Florida Statutes)
The buyer agreement
From August 17, 2024, an MLS Participant "working with" a buyer must have a written agreement with the buyer before the buyer tours a home. This includes in-person tours and live virtual tours. (Source: NAR)
The agreement must state, in conspicuous language, the amount or rate of compensation the MLS Participant will get from any source, or how that amount will be set. The amount must be objectively ascertainable. It cannot be open-ended, for example "whatever the seller offers". (Source: NAR)
The agreement must say that the MLS Participant cannot get compensation from any source above the amount or rate agreed with the buyer. It must also say, in conspicuous language, that broker commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable. (Source: NAR)
NAR policy does not set the type of relationship (for example agency, non-agency, exclusive, non-exclusive, or transactional), the term (for example one day, one house, or one zip code), the services, or the type or amount of compensation. (Source: NAR)
The "AS IS" contract and the standard contract
Florida Realtors and The Florida Bar approve the "AS IS" Residential Contract For Sale And Purchase (FloridaRealtors/FloridaBar-ASIS-7x). On it, the Effective Date is the date the last of the buyer and the seller signed or initialed and delivered the offer or the final counter-offer. Unless the contract says otherwise, a counter-offer must be accepted within 2 days after the day it is delivered. (Source: Florida Realtors)
On that form, time is of the essence, and periods are counted in calendar days where the property is located. A period that ends on a Saturday, a Sunday, or a national legal public holiday extends to the next day that is not one. This does not apply to the time for acceptance or to the Effective Date. (Source: Florida Realtors)
On the "AS IS" form, the Inspection Period is the days written in, or 15 days after the Effective Date when left blank. In the buyer's sole discretion, the buyer may terminate by written notice before the period ends and get the Deposit back. The buyer pays for the inspections and repairs any damage they cause. A buyer who does not terminate accepts the property's physical condition and any code violations, and is responsible for the repairs the buyer's lender requires. (Source: Florida Realtors)
The standard Residential Contract For Sale And Purchase (FloridaRealtors/FloridaBar-7x) has the same deposit and financing terms and the same 15-day default Inspection Period. On it, the seller repairs within three limits: a General Repair Limit, a WDO Repair Limit, and a Permit Limit, each 1.5% of the purchase price when left blank. A buyer who does not deliver the written notice or report within the Inspection Period waives the seller's duty to repair those items. (Source: Florida Realtors)
On the "AS IS" form, when the property is in a Special Flood Hazard Area or a Coastal Barrier Resources Act area, and its lowest floor is below the minimum flood elevation or it cannot get National Flood Insurance Program or private flood insurance, the buyer may terminate by written notice within the days written in, or 20 days after the Effective Date when left blank. The buyer then gets the Deposit back. (Source: Florida Realtors)
On that form, when the buyer does not perform, payment of the Deposit included, the seller may keep the Deposit as agreed liquidated damages, or ask a court to enforce the contract. When the seller does not perform, for a reason other than a title defect the seller could not cure with reasonable diligent effort, the buyer may get the Deposit back and may also sue for damages or for specific performance. (Source: Florida Realtors)
The deposit and escrow
On the "AS IS" form, the initial deposit goes to the escrow agent named in the contract, either with the offer or within the days written in: 3 days after the Effective Date when left blank. When neither box is checked, the second choice applies. An additional deposit is due within the days written in: 10 days after the Effective Date when left blank. (Source: Florida Realtors)
As a sales associate, when you receive a deposit, you deliver it to your broker by the end of the next business day. Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays are not business days. Your receipt of the deposit counts as receipt by the broker. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
A broker places a deposit immediately in escrow with a title company, bank, credit union, or savings and loan association in Florida, or in the broker's own trust or escrow account at a Florida bank, credit union, or savings and loan association. The broker may keep up to $1,000 of personal or brokerage funds in a sales escrow account, and up to $5,000 in a property management escrow account. (Source: Florida Statutes)
"Immediately" means no later than the end of the third business day after the broker receives the deposit. Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays are not business days. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
When a title company or an attorney holds the deposit, the licensee who prepared or presented the contract writes its name, address, and phone number on the contract. Within 10 business days after each deposit is due, that licensee's broker asks in writing for verification of receipt. Within 10 business days of the request, the broker gives the seller's broker, or an unrepresented seller, the verification or a notice that none came. No request is needed when the seller or the seller's agent named the title company or attorney in writing. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
On the "AS IS" form, the escrow agent holds the Deposit in Florida. After conflicting demands for the Deposit, the buyer and the seller have 10 days to settle, and then go to mediation. An escrow agent in doubt may hold the Deposit until the parties agree or a court decides, or deposit it with the clerk of the circuit court. (Source: Florida Realtors)
On conflicting demands for an escrowed deposit, the broker notifies FREC in writing within 15 business days of the last demand, and starts a settlement procedure within 30 business days after it. A good-faith doubt about who is entitled to the deposit has the same limits, counted from the doubt. (Source: Florida Administrative Code)
The settlement procedures are: asking FREC for an escrow disbursement order; arbitration, with the consent of all parties; interpleader or another court action; or mediation, with the written consent of all parties. Mediation must succeed within 90 days after the last demand, or the licensee uses another procedure. A licensee who uses a procedure promptly and follows the result faces no administrative complaint over the deposit. (Source: Florida Statutes)
The licensee may return the deposit to the buyer without notice to FREC and without a settlement procedure when a condo buyer gives written notice to cancel under section 718.503, or when the buyer in good faith fails to meet the contract's financing clause. (Source: Florida Statutes)
Financing, the appraisal, and title
On the "AS IS" form, the parties check either a cash purchase with no financing contingency, or a contract that depends on Loan Approval within the Loan Approval Period: the days written in, or 30 days after the Effective Date when left blank. (Source: Florida Realtors)
On that form, before the Loan Approval Period ends, the buyer gives written notice of Loan Approval, or, without Loan Approval, written notice that the buyer is satisfied it can get Loan Approval and close. A buyer who cannot get Loan Approval within the period, or cannot meet its terms in time, after good faith and diligent effort, may terminate by written notice before the period ends and, when not in default, gets the Deposit back. When the buyer gives neither notice in time, the buyer goes forward as though the box for a cash transaction with no financing contingency had been checked as of the Effective Date. The seller may then terminate by written notice within 3 days after the period ends and, when the buyer is not in default, the buyer gets the Deposit back. (Source: Florida Realtors)
On that form, when the buyer gave either notice in time and then does not close, the Deposit is paid to the seller, unless the failure to close is due to the seller's default or the seller's inability to satisfy the contract's other contingencies, or to property-related conditions of the Loan Approval that were not met and that the contract does not waive. The appraised value is not such a condition. In those cases the buyer gets the Deposit back. (Source: Florida Realtors)
On that form, the appraisal condition is only that the lender gets an appraisal or other valuation that lets it make the loan, when the lender requires one. The form lists a separate Appraisal Contingency rider (Rider F) and an FHA/VA Financing rider (Rider E). (Source: Florida Realtors)
On that form, a title commitment from a Florida licensed title insurer is due by the Title Evidence Deadline: the days written in before the Closing Date, 15 days when left blank, or 5 days for a cash purchase. A seller who has an owner's title policy gives a copy to the buyer and the closing agent within 5 days after the Effective Date. (Source: Florida Realtors)
The Financial Services Commission adopts by rule the premium title insurers charge in Florida for each type of title insurance contract. The premium applies to each $100 of insurance, the rates apply throughout the state, and the commission reviews them at least every 3 years. (Source: Florida Statutes)
The part of the title premium that the insurer does not have to keep, an agent's charge or fee, and an attorney fee may be rebated to the person who pays it. No other person connected with the transaction, a real estate broker included, may knowingly take a rebate of the premium or a fee, and no part of them may be paid for referring title business. (Source: Florida Statutes)
On the "AS IS" form, the parties check one of three choices. (i) The seller picks the closing agent and pays for the owner's policy and the title search; the buyer pays for any lender's policy. (ii) The buyer picks the closing agent and pays for the owner's policy, the title search, and any lender's policy. (iii) The "Miami-Dade/Broward regional provision": the buyer picks the closing agent and pays the owner's and lender's policy premiums, and the seller pays for the title search or continuation (up to $200 when left blank), the tax search, and the municipal lien search. On the form, the seller pays the documentary stamp taxes and surtax on the deed, and the buyer pays the taxes on the note and mortgage. (Source: Florida Realtors)
The documentary stamp tax on a deed is 70 cents per $100 of consideration, or part of $100, in every Florida county except Miami-Dade. In Miami-Dade it is 60 cents per $100, plus a surtax of 45 cents per $100 that is not due on a document that transfers only a single-family dwelling. All parties to the document are liable for the tax, whichever party agreed to pay it. (Source: Florida Department of Revenue)
Seller disclosures
The seller gives the property tax disclosure summary at or before the buyer signs the contract, unless the contract includes it. It tells the buyer that a sale or new improvements can raise the assessment, and to contact the county property appraiser. (Source: Florida Statutes)
The statutory "RADON GAS" paragraph goes on at least one document signed at or before the sale contract or rental agreement, for any building. Stays of 45 days or less are exempt. (Source: Florida Statutes)
The seller of residential property completes the statutory flood disclosure form and gives it to the buyer at or before contract signing. It asks about flood damage during the seller's ownership, flood insurance claims, and federal flood assistance. The section took effect October 1, 2024, and its current form October 1, 2025. (Source: Florida Statutes)
Condos and HOAs
In a condo resale, the buyer gets, at the seller's expense: the declaration, articles, bylaws, and rules; the annual financial statement and budget; the milestone inspection summary when there is one; the latest structural integrity reserve study, or a statement that it is not complete; the turnover inspection report for inspections from July 1, 2023; and the FAQ document. (Source: Florida Statutes)
The condo buyer can void the contract by written notice within 7 days, not counting weekends and legal holidays, after signing the contract and receiving the documents. On written request, the buyer can extend closing up to 7 days after receipt. The right ends at closing and cannot be waived. (Source: Florida Statutes)
A milestone inspection applies to condo and co-op buildings of 3 or more habitable stories: first by December 31 of the year the building turns 30, then every 10 years. (Source: Florida Statutes)
A structural integrity reserve study is required at least every 10 years for each building of 3 or more habitable stories. Reserves for its items may come from special assessments or loans, which a majority of all voting interests approves, and they appear in the annual financial statement. (Source: Florida Statutes)
In an HOA, the seller gives the prospective buyer the HOA disclosure summary before the contract is signed. When it is not given, the buyer can void the contract by written notice within 3 days after receiving it, or before closing, whichever comes first. The right cannot be waived. (Source: Florida Statutes)
The owner, the mortgagee, or a designee of either requests the condo estoppel certificate. The association delivers it within 10 business days, and charges no fee when it is late. (Source: Florida Statutes)
The estoppel certificate is effective for 30 days when hand-delivered or sent electronically, and 35 days by mail. The association cannot collect more than it states from a person who relied on it in good faith. The payer gets a refund when the closing does not happen and the payer asks within 30 days. (Source: Florida Statutes)
The current estoppel certificate fees, as DBPR adjusted them: $299, plus $119 for delivery within 3 business days, plus $179 when the account is delinquent. The next update is due by July 1, 2027. (Source: DBPR)
A condo declaration may restrict the use, occupancy, and transfer of units, so any right to approve a buyer comes from the declaration, not from the statute. (Source: Florida Statutes)
Florida law gives no right of first refusal on a condo resale; one comes only from the declaration. The estoppel certificate form asks whether approval is required and whether a right of first refusal exists. (Source: Florida Statutes)
Property tax and the homestead exemption
A person who, on January 1, has legal title or beneficial title in equity to Florida real property, and in good faith makes it his or her permanent residence or the permanent residence of a legal or natural dependent, is exempt from all taxes, except assessments for special benefits, on up to $25,000 of assessed value. The deed or instrument must be recorded in the county before the exemption is granted. (Source: Florida Statutes)
The same person gets an additional exemption of up to $25,000 on the assessed value greater than $50,000, for all levies other than school district levies. That $25,000 is adjusted each January 1 for inflation by the Consumer Price Index change for the preceding year, when the change is positive. (Source: Florida Statutes)
An owner who applies for the exemption (a new owner, or an owner of a new homestead) files with the county property appraiser on or before March 1, on the Department of Revenue's form. Not applying by March 1 waives the exemption for that year, except under the postal error and late filing rules. (Source: Florida Statutes)
Under the Save Our Homes cap, a homestead is assessed at just value as of January 1 of the year it first gets the exemption, unless portability applies. Each later January 1, the change in its assessed value cannot exceed the lower of 3% of the prior year's assessed value or the Consumer Price Index change for the preceding calendar year. When that calculation gives more than the just value, the assessed value is lowered to the just value. (Source: Florida Statutes)
After a change of ownership, the property is assessed at just value as of January 1 of the next year. A change of ownership is any sale, foreclosure, or transfer of legal title or beneficial title in equity, except listed transfers such as one between spouses, to a surviving spouse, at a divorce, or to correct an error. (Source: Florida Statutes)
Not in this guide
A license for a person licensed in another state (mutual recognition), inactive status, reactivation, and reinstatement of a void license: DBPR.
The exam fee, exam retakes, renewal dates, and the late fee: DBPR.
Leases, security deposits, rental listings, and vacation rentals with their DBPR license and taxes.
Portability, the 10% cap on non-homestead property, late filing, renting a homestead, exemptions besides homestead, and the tax calendar: the county property appraiser or the tax collector.
Amendment 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot, and its result: the Florida Division of Elections.
An association's approval criteria and a time limit for its decision: the association's declaration.
Riders, addenda, a contract on another form, and what the blanks of a given contract say: the contract itself, your broker, or an attorney.
Who is entitled to a disputed deposit: FREC's order, an arbitrator, a mediator, or a court decides.
Closing costs for a given price, title endorsement premiums, and the intangible tax on a new mortgage: the closing agent.
Your county's rules and your MLS's rules, such as advertising another broker's listing: the local pages below, and your broker.
Go deeper: one topic per page
Each page covers one rule or one form in this state, with a source for every fact.
