Chapter 3 (License Law Administration)

Question 1

The Florida Real Estate Commission

Answer 1

The Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC) is the regulatory body charged by the Florida Legislature to protect the general public by regulating real estate brokers and brokerage firms, broker associates, sales associates, and real estate schools and instructors.

The FREC is also charged with fostering the education of real estate licensees and permit holders.

This includes the regulation of proprietary real estate schools and all noncredit, FREC-approved courses offered by colleges, universities, community colleges, and area technical centers.

The objective of such regulation is to protect the public (consumer protection) by ensuring that real estate licensees have at least a minimal degree of competence.

Question 2

Composition and Qualifications

Answer 2

The Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC) consists of the following seven members:

Five of the members are professional (licensed) members of which:

• four must be Florida real estate brokers who have held active licenses during the five years preceding appointment; and
• one must be either a Florida real estate broker or sales associate who has held an active license during the two years preceding appointment.
• Two remaining members are consumer (unlicensed) members who have never been real estate brokers or sales associates.
• The governor, subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate, appoints Commission members to *four-year staggered terms.

Commissioners may not serve more than *two consecutive terms.

*Each member of the Commission is accountable to the governor, not the DBPR, for proper performance.

All FREC members are exempt from civil liability while performing in their official capacity.

*At least one of the seven members must be 60 years of age or older.

Question 3

Compensation

Answer 3

Commission members do not receive a salary. However, in lieu of salary, they are paid $50 per day for each day they attend an official meeting and for each day they participate in other Commission business.

In addition, they receive reimbursement for expenses connected with their official activities.

Any travel outside the state as members of the Commission requires the prior approval of the DBPR secretary.

Question 4

Meetings

Answer 4

The FREC meetings are held each month.

There must be a quorum consisting of at least 51% (or four Commission members) to conduct official business.

One of the meetings is designated the annual meeting when the Commission elects from its members a chairperson and vice-chairperson.

Question 5

General Powers and Duties

Answer 5

The powers and duties of the FREC fall into the following three general areas of responsibility:

1. Executive powers to regulate and enforce the license law are delegated to the Commission by the legislature.
2. Quasi-legislative responsibilities include the power to enact and revise administrative rules and regulations and to interpret questions regarding the practice of real estate.
3. Quasi-judicial responsibilities include the power to grant or deny license applications, to determine license law violations, and to administer penalties.

The FREC’s powers and duties also include the following specific responsibilities:

1. Adopt a seal.
   The seal, when affixed to rules, regulations, or other official documents, properly signed, becomes prima facie evidence that the document is authentic.
2. Foster the education of applicants and licensees.
   The Commission fosters the education of brokers, broker associates, sales associates, and instructors in ethical, legal, and business principles. It also prescribes post-licensing education requirements and continuing education requirements for brokers and sales associates to qualify for license renewal.
3. Make determinations of violations.
   The Commission is obligated to report any criminal violation of Chapter 475, when it knows of such violations, to the state’s attorney having jurisdiction.

Furthermore, the FREC must inform the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes when any disciplinary action is taken by the FREC against any of its licensees.

4. Regulate professional practices.
   For example, when requested and deemed appropriate, the Commission may issue an escrow disbursement order (EDO) to determine the disposition of escrow (earnest money) deposits in the case of a dispute when requested by the broker holding the escrowed funds.

The Commission also establishes rules and regulations requiring that records be maintained by brokers and the manner in which deposits of money, funds, checks, or drafts are to be made in escrow, pending disbursement.

5. Create and pass rules and regulations.
   The Commission promulgates (enacts and publishes) rules and regulations that enforce the Florida statutory license law.
6. Establish fees.
   The Commission uses the DBPR estimates of required revenue to determine the amount of licensing fees needed to implement the real estate license law and other laws and regulations relating to the regulation of real estate practitioners.
7. Grant or deny applications for licensure.
   The Commission certifies an applicant as qualified before a license is issued.
8. Suspend or revoke licenses and impose administrative fines.
   The Commission adopts, by rule, guidelines for the disciplinary actions that it imposes.

The powers of the FREC are limited to administrative matters and do not extend to criminal actions.

The FREC may not impose imprisonment as a penalty.

The primary purpose of the administrative jurisdiction granted to the Commission is to enforce duties and obligations as they apply to individuals and firms actively engaged in the real estate business.

The Commission makes decisions and sets policies that are carried out by the Division of Real Estate (DRE).

The DRE provides all services required to administer the Florida Real Estate License Law.

Question 6

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation

Answer 6

*The DBPR is the agency charged with licensing and regulating businesses and professionals in Florida.

The DBPR is under the executive branch of the governor, and it is governed by Chapter 120, F.S.; the agency is structured according to the requirements of Chapter 20.165, F.S.; and the legislature, under Chapter 455, F.S., granted authority to the DBPR to investigate consumer complaints, issue subpoenas when conducting investigations, issue cease and desist orders to unlicensed individuals, and issue citations to individuals licensed by the DBPR.

• The chief administrator of the DBPR is the secretary of the DBPR, who is appointed by the governor, subject to confirmation by the state senate.
• The main DBPR office is located in Tallahassee, Florida.

Question 7

Division of Professions

Answer 7

The Division of Professions administers numerous professional boards.

Due to the magnitude of the real estate profession, it is organized as a separate division under the DBPR.

The Division of Professions regulates education courses and license examinations for each profession under the DBPR.

Question 8

Division of Service Operations

Answer 8

There are two important units under the Division of Service Operations:

1. The Customer Contact Center handles all incoming telephone, postal, and email inquiries from licensees and the general public.
2. The Central Intake Unit processes all of the license applications and license fees that come into the DBPR.

The Central Intake Unit is also responsible for the issuance of all licenses and license renewal notifications for the Department.

Question 9

Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes

Answer 9

This Division provides consumer protection for Florida residents through education, complaint resolution, mediation and arbitration, and developer disclosure.

It regulates condominiums, cooperatives, time-shares, and mobile home parks.

The Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes is also charged with providing complaint resolution for homeowner associations.

Question 10

Division of Real Estate

Answer 10

The Division of Real Estate performs all functions related to the regulation of general real estate in Florida.

The duties of the DRE are essentially administrative and ministerial.

The administrative duties include routine duties and clerical functions on behalf of the FREC.

The DRE’s ministerial duties involve recordkeeping.

Florida statute mandates that the DRE offices and the principal office of the Commission are located in Orlando. Additional facts concerning the DRE are presented below:

The director of the DRE is appointed by the secretary of the DBPR, subject to approval by majority vote of the FREC.

The director is a senior employee charged with the direct service assistance to the Commission.

The DBPR employs all DRE personnel to support FREC activities.

Members of the Commission, on the other hand, are appointed by the governor, subject to senate confirmation, and are not employees.

Question 11

Ministerial Duties

Answer 11

Recordkeeping duties by the Division of Real Estate (DRE).

Question 12

Licensing Examinations

Answer 12

The Division of Professions contracts with a professional testing service for exam services.

The DBPR, acting with its Division of Professions and the Division of Real Estate, must ensure that the license examinations adequately and reliably measure an applicant’s ability to practice real estate.

Florida law requires that an accurate record of each applicant’s examination questions, answers, papers, grades, and grading key be stored for two years.

Examinees’ grades and the state examination questions are confidential. The theft of a DBPR license examination or unauthorized copying of an examination is a third-degree felony.

Question 13

License Fees

Answer 13

New applicants for licensure are assessed an initial application fee in addition to the biennial license fee.

Applicants for initial licensure and for subsequent license renewal also pay an un-licensed activity fee and may be required to pay a Real Estate Recovery Fund fee, if applicable.

Applicants submit the license exam and fingerprint processing fees directly to the test vendor.

The initial application fee, biennial license fee, and unlicensed activity fee are waived for military veterans who apply for a real estate license within 24 months after honorable discharge from the armed forces.

The fee waiver applies to all licenses issued by the DBPR.

Question 14

Current Mailing Address

Answer 14

*The current residential address a licensee uses to receive mail through the U.S. Postal Service.

Licensees are responsible for notifying the DBPR in writing of their current mailing address, email address, and place of practice.

*A post office box is an acceptable mailing address.

The DBPR sends official communication to a licensee at the last known mailing address or email address, referred to by the DBPR as the address of record.

Licensees must notify the DBPR in writing within 10 days of a change in current mailing address.

Licensees may mail or fax the appropriate form to the DBPR, or licensees may submit a change of address online at the DBPR Online Service website.

Licensees who fail to timely notify the DBPR of a change of address are in violation of Florida Statute 455 and are subject to a citation and $500 fine.

Florida licensees who move out of state must also comply with all nonresident requirements.

Question 15

License Renewal Periods

Answer 15

The initial effective date of a real estate license is the date the applicant passed the license exam.

• All real estate licenses are issued with an expiration date of either March 31 or September 30.
• The expiration date (March 31 or September 30) that is assigned to a particular license is the date that will give the licensee as close to 24 months of licensure as possible, without exceeding 24 months.

License law mandates that the initial license period must provide the licensee at least 18 months of licensure but not more than 24 months.

*For example, assume the initial effective date of a sales associate license is July 25, 2013.

What expiration date will give the licensee at least 18 months of licensure but not more than a 24-month license period?

Hint: 24 months from the initial effective date is July 25, 2015.

To answer this question, ask yourself: which expiration date in 2015 is closest to July 25, 2015, but not after July 25, 2015?

March comes before July, so the expiration date closest to July 25, 2015, but not past July 25 must be March 31, 2015. (September 30, 2015, is after July 25, 2015.)

March is four months prior to July, so this licensee will have approximately 20 months of licensure (24 months minus 4 months).

Thereafter, this license will always expire every two years (biennially) on March 31.

If a real estate sales associate later decides to become a broker, the broker license will have a new initial effective date, and that new effective date is the date the person passed the broker license exam.

Because the broker’s license is issued with a new effective date, it is possible that the broker license will have a different expiration date.

For example, assume the sales associate’s license expired biennially on March 31.

Depending on when the sales associate passes the broker license exam, the new broker’s license may have a September 30 expiration date.

Question 16

License Renewal

Answer 16

Ninety days before the end of a license cycle, the DBPR sends a renewal notice to licensees.

The DBPR either mails the notice to the licensee’s last known address of record or it electronically sends the notice to the licensee’s email address of record.

Sales associates and brokers must complete their post-license education before the first renewal of their initial licenses.

After the post-license education is satisfied and the initial license is renewed, licensees must complete 14 hours of continuing education during each renewal period.

To renew a real estate license, the licensee submits a renewal application and the biennial license fee.

Real estate licensees must complete the applicable post-licensing or continuing education requirement before renewing a license.

By signing and returning the renewal application, the licensee is attesting to having completed the education requirement.

If licensees renew after the expiration date, a late fee is charged. If a licensee does not renew a license by the expiration date, the license reverts automatically to involuntary inactive status (involuntary inactive status is discussed later in this unit).

An active licensee who fails to renew a license following the expiration date has 24 months in which to renew the license.

A real estate licensee must not practice real estate following the expiration date of the license.

It is also unlawful for a licensee holding a current inactive license to perform the services of real estate for compensation.

A licensee in good standing who is a member of the U.S. armed forces is exempt from the renewal provisions during the licensee’s period of active duty and six months after discharge from active duty.

If the military duty is out of state, the exemption also applies to a licensed spouse.

The armed forces exemption applies, provided the licensee is not engaged in real estate brokerage activity in the private sector for profit.

The DBPR may issue a temporary real estate license to the spouse of an active duty member of the armed forces who is assigned to duty in Florida.

The spouse must hold a valid real estate license in another state or foreign jurisdiction.

A temporary license expires six months after the date of issue and is not renewable.

Question 17

Active versus Inactive Status

Answer 17

An active license is required to engage in real estate brokerage services.

Sales associates achieve active status by finding an employer and registering with the DBPR under the employing broker or owner-developer.

Licensees who choose not to engage in the real estate business may place their licenses on inactive status.

There are two types of inactive status:

(1) voluntary inactive and
(2) involuntary inactive.

Question 18

Voluntary Inactive

Answer 18

*The license status that results when a licensee has applied to the DBPR to be placed on inactive status.

A licensee who has qualified for a real estate license but who voluntarily chooses not to engage in the real estate business during a given period and requests such a change is placed on voluntary inactive status.

A licensee may change an active license to a voluntary inactive license status by submitting to the DBPR the proper form. Such licensees hold a current inactive license.

Voluntary inactive licensees who subsequently wish to activate their licenses may do so at any time simply by completing the proper form requesting an active license with an active broker or owner-developer.

As with an active license, a licensee may renew a current voluntary inactive license indefinitely.

Voluntary inactive licensees who satisfactorily complete the prescribed continuing education courses every two years must pay the appropriate fees to qualify for renewal of a voluntary inactive license.

A license that is not renewed at the end of the license period reverts automatically to involuntary inactive status, except in the case of initial licenses when post-licensing education requirements have not been completed satisfactorily.

Question 19

Involuntary Inactive

Answer 19

*The status that results when a license is not renewed at the end of the license period.

If a licensee fails to renew an active or voluntary inactive license before the expiration date (other than the first renewal), the license reverts automatically to involuntary inactive status.

The licensee must complete continuing education and renew the license to either active or voluntary inactive status within the next two years.

A license is placed in involuntary inactive status for no more than two years. After two years the license automatically expires (becomes null and void) by operation of law without further FREC or DBPR action.

Ninety days before expiration of an involuntary inactive license, the DBPR notifies licensees of this upcoming deadline. Once a license becomes void, the individual must reapply for licensure, retake the 63-hour prelicense course, and again pass the license exam.

Involuntary inactive licensees may activate their licenses during the two-year period following expiration of a valid current license only after satisfactorily completing FREC-prescribed courses of instruction.

When a licensee has been involuntary inactive for:

12 months or less, licensees may satisfy the education requirement by completing 14 hours of FREC-approved continuing education;

or

more than 12 months but less than 24 months, licensees are required to complete 28 hours of a Commission-prescribed education course.

There is another situation that causes a license to be placed in involuntary inactive status.

If a sales associate’s broker is disciplined and as a result the broker’s license is suspended or revoked, the sales associate’s license will be automatically placed in involuntary inactive status.

This is because a sales associate can only perform real estate services for compensation under the direction of the sales associate’s employer.

A sales associate’s license is returned to active status as soon as a new employer is chosen and the information is filed with the DBPR.

Question 20

Null and Void

Answer 20

When a license is null and void, it no longer exists.

A license becomes null and void when the following situations occur:

When a license has been involuntary inactive for more than two years, the license becomes null and void without any further action by the DBPR or FREC.

A license that has been revoked following a disciplinary proceeding becomes null and void.

Revocation of a license is a permanent penalty (the licensee is put out of the real estate business forever).

However, there are two exceptions to permanent revocation.

A licensee whose license has been revoked for the following two reasons may reapply for a sales associate’s license after five years have passed:

1. A licensee filed for renewal but did not comply with the continuing or post-licensing education requirements prior to the expiration date
2. An individual filed an application for a license that contained false or fraudulent information (for example, an applicant failed to disclose a prior criminal conviction)
3. A person who no longer wants to engage in the real estate business can voluntarily relinquish or cancel the license, provided there is no investigation or discipline pending against the licensee.

The licensee sends written communication to the DBPR indicating that the licensee is retiring or no longer desires to be licensed.

When a license is canceled, it becomes void. Cancellation of a license is effective on the date the Commission accepts the voluntary relinquishment.

Question 21

Ineffective

Answer 21

When a license is ineffective, the license exists but the licensee cannot use it. A license becomes ineffective when the following situations occur:

1. Inactive.

Real estate licensees may not perform real estate services with an inactive license.

A licensee who has met all the requirements for licensure but chooses not to work in the real estate industry may request a change in license status to voluntary inactive.

If a licensee fails to renew a license before the expiration date (other than the first renewal), the license is automatically placed in involuntary inactive status.

When a broker’s license is suspended or revoked, no disciplinary action is taken against the sales associates and broker associates registered under that broker.

However, the licensees registered under the disciplined broker cannot continue working because their employer’s license is either void (revoked) or ineffective (suspended).

The DBPR places the licenses of any sales associates and broker associates registered under the penalized broker on involuntary inactive status.

The sales associates and broker associates are free to seek another employer and register as active under the new employer.

Otherwise, the licensee should request a change of status to voluntary inactive status.

2. Suspended.

If the result of a disciplinary proceeding is license suspension, the licensee is prevented from working for a period of time.

The license is ineffective during the period of suspension.

Question 22

Cease to Be in Force

Answer 22

When certain events occur, a license will cease to be in force (the licensee cannot conduct business) until the DBPR is properly notified.

For example, if a sales associate leaves one brokerage firm and wants to work for another brokerage firm, the DBPR must be informed of the associate’s new employer.

Until the sales associate is registered under the new employer, the sales associate cannot work. The license ceases to be in force (also called ceases to be in effect) until the sales associate has registered with the new broker.

Otherwise, the sales associate would be acting as a broker (performing real estate services without being registered under an employing broker).

The Commission must be notified within 10 days when either of the following actions occurs:

A broker or registered school changes business address. When a broker or real estate school changes business address, the new location must be registered and a fee paid.

When a broker opens a new brokerage office, no new brokerage business may be conducted (the license ceases to be in effect) until the FREC is notified of the new business location and it is properly registered.

A sales associate or real estate instructor changes employer.

A sales associate must be registered under an employing broker.

Therefore, a sales associate (or an instructor) who changes employer may not work under the new employer until the FREC has been informed and the associate (or instructor) is registered under the new employer.

If a licensee fails to give proper notification of a change in business address or a change in employer within 10 days, a FREC administrative discipline proceeding may result.

When a broker or a real estate school changes business address, the brokerage firm or school permit holder must file with the Commission a notice of the change of address, along with the names of any sales associates or instructors who are no longer employed by the brokerage or school.

Sales associates who are no longer employed with the broker of record will be placed on involuntary inactive status.

The notification to the Commission fulfills the change of address notification requirements for sales associates who remain employed by the brokerage and instructors who remain employed by the school.

When a broker changes the business address, the licenses of the sales associates remain in force.

The same is true for instructors working for a real estate school that changes its business address.

Question 23

DBPR License Portal Online Service

Answer 23

The DBPR maintains a database of all professional licenses issued by the Department.

An individual may search the license status of anyone who possesses a license issued by the DBPR (see the web link below).

Two terms are used to describe the status of DBPR applications and real estate licenses: primary status and secondary status.

*Primary status is the first status followed by the secondary status.

Example. A search of Jane Doe, licensed sales associate, revealed the following license status: Current/Active.

Current is the primary status.
A current status indicates that the licensee is up to date with respect to the DBPR’s requirements for licensure (for example, timely renewal). Active is the secondary status. Active indicates that the licensed sales associate is allowed to operate under the associated license.

Sales associates must have a registered broker or be registered with an owner/developer (the associated license).

It is prudent for sales associates and other licensees who are required to have their license associated with another licensee to verify the association by selecting “View Related License Information” when conducting a license search.

Licensees should not assume their license is registered with the appropriate broker/brokerage. Errors do happen so when becoming initially licensed or changing employers, verify your license status and that your license is associated with your registered broker.

Example. A search of John Jones, licensed real estate sales associate, indicated the following license status: Probation/Active.

1. The primary status is probation.

This status indicates that the licensee has been placed on probation by the Department as part of a disciplinary action or as a condition of licensure.

2. The secondary status is active.

This indicates a licensee has been disciplined but is able to continue to operate under the associated license.

Note that the primary status must state either current or probation to be eligible to operate as a licensee. Any other primary status indicates that the licensee may not operate.

Example. A licensee’s status is Involuntary Inactive/Active.

The primary status is involuntary inactive, indicating that the licensee has not completed a timely renewal of the license (the license is past the expiration date). However, the secondary status is active. The secondary status does not change automatically in the database system when someone fails to renew the license. The secondary status indicated is whatever status existed prior to the license expiring until the information in the database is manually updated. Therefore, a licensee should always refer to the primary status first and then look to the secondary status. If a license is involuntary inactive in the primary status, the licensee has failed to comply with the renewal requirements and may not operate regardless of what the secondary status indicates.

Example. A licensee’s status is Null and Void.

The primary status, null and void, is used when a sales associate has failed to successfully complete post license education prior to the first renewal of the license or when a licensee has failed to renew two or more renewal cycles; the license status has been involuntary inactive for more than 24 months. To operate under the terms of the license again, the licensee would have to reapply for licensure. Typically, there is no secondary status listed when a license is null and void.

Question 24

Updating the Licensee’s Status

Answer 24

When a licensee has been inactive and wants to become active, the sales associate’s license status is changed in one of two ways:

When an inactive sales associate finds a broker (brokerage firm) to work for, the broker updates the online portal service in real time by adding the sales associate to its roster of licensees.

The system will update the licensee from current/inactive to current/active.

If the registration of an associate is being terminated from a real estate brokerage, the secondary status is automatically updated when the broker terminates the sales associate and enters the change in the online portal service.

The licensee’s status can also be updated through the DBPR’s Processing Unit when a change of status form DBPR RE-11 is received by the DBPR.

To request to become active, the appropriate sections of the form are filled out and signed by the licensee and the broker (or owner if activating with an owner/developer).

When the form is received, the Processing Unit opens a transaction to activate the sales associate’s license because the associate is being placed under a broker (the associated license).

Similarly, a transaction is opened to change an associate’s license to inactive if the licensee is being terminated from an associated license, or in the event a licensee has requested to be placed in inactive status.

The DBPR Processing Unit updates the system using its internal licensing system.

Question 25

Multiple Licenses

Answer 25

Multiple licenses are issued to a broker who qualifies as the broker for more than one business entity.

For each business that a person is a broker, a separate broker license must be obtained.

Additional (multiple) broker licenses may be issued by the DBPR when it is shown that the additional licenses are necessary and that the licenses will not be used in a manner that is prejudicial or harmful to another person.

A broker who holds more than one Florida broker license is said to hold multiple licenses.

Because sales associates and broker associates may have only one registered employer at a time, sales associates and broker associates may not hold multiple licenses.

For example, Jane Doe is the broker for both Extra-Fine Real Estate Services and Midnight Realty, two separate brokerage entities.

Jane needs multiple broker licenses to qualify both brokerage entities.

Question 26

Group License

Answer 26

A group license is sometimes issued to sales associates or broker associates who are registered under an owner-developer.

An owner-developer may own properties in the names of various entities.

If the entities are all connected so that ownership and control is with the same individual(s), sales associates and broker associates employed by the owner-developer may be issued a group license.

The owner-developer sends an affidavit to the DBPR with a list of all the legal company names used by the owner-developer.

This allows the associate to sell for all the affiliated entities owned by the owner-developer.

Owner-developers are not required to hold real estate licenses if they only sell their own properties.

The owner-developer is registered with the DBPR under a pseudo number (not a real estate license) that is entered into the DBPR records.

The pseudo number becomes a placeholder under which sales associates and broker associates register.

To activate a sales associate license under an owner-developer, the sales associate and the developer complete the appropriate section of form DBPR RE 11.

The sales associate’s name and license number are entered on the form.

The owner-developer’s name, business location address, and pseudo number are entered on the form.

In actual practice, the sales associate (or broker associate) is issued a real estate license and no distinction regarding group license is made on the associate’s license.

For example, Joseph Jones is an owner-developer.

He owns and controls two development companies, Happy Estates and Excellent Homes.

If associate Alice is employed by Jones to sell properties for both development companies, she has a group license.

Alice has one sales associate license and one registered employer (Jones).

Question 27

Registration of Proprietary Real Estate Schools

Answer 27

Each person, school, or institution in Florida that offers courses or training programs designed to aid applicants in becoming licensed real estate sales associates or brokers must be registered and receive a permit.

This requirement does not apply to accredited colleges, universities, community colleges, or area technical centers when transferable college credit courses are involved (their noncredit courses are not exempt).

However, all courses conducted by institutions exempt from obtaining a permit must meet the equivalency standards established by the FREC.

This means that the Commission is not required to recognize students from exempt institutions as qualified to take a state licensing examination until and unless those courses have been approved by the FREC as equivalent to the Course I and Course II standards.

Proprietary schools of real estate are prohibited from advertising or making representations that are known to be false, inaccurate, misleading, or exaggerated.

The content of advertisements must conform to specified guidelines.

A proprietary real estate school may not promise or guarantee employment or placement of a student or prospective student on the basis of training to be provided unless the school actually offers the student a bona fide employment contract.

A school permit may be suspended for:

guaranteeing that students will pass a state examination;
offering a refund to students who fail;
representing that a state agency endorses the school;
obtaining a list of questions that appear on any state examination;
representing that the school or an instructor has obtained questions from such an examination; or
furnishing anyone, student or otherwise, questions purported to be from a state examination.

Furthermore, real estate schools and their instructors may not recruit for employment opportunities for any real estate brokerage firm during classroom instructional time.

Each school permit holder must post in every classroom and administrative area, and read at the beginning of each course, the following statement:

“Recruiting for employment opportunities for any real estate brokerage firm must be accomplished outside the prescribed classroom instructional time. Noncompliance should be reported to the Commission.”

Question 28

Summary of Important Points

Answer 28

• The Commission consists of seven members:
• Five professional members and two consumer members.
• Four of the professional members must have held active broker licenses during the five years preceding appointment.

The fifth professional member must have been licensed as an active broker or sales associate for the two years preceding appointment.

The Commission’s powers are primarily quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative.

The FREC exercises its quasi-legislative powers when it adopts rules.

It exercises its quasi-judicial powers when it hears complaints, disciplines licensees, and grants or denies Recovery Fund claims.

Licensees must notify the DBPR within 10 days of a change in mailing address.

There are two types of inactive status:
-voluntary
and
-involuntary.

A licensee who has qualified for a real estate license but who voluntarily chooses not to engage in the real estate business may request voluntary inactive status.

Involuntary inactive status occurs when a licensee fails to renew an active or voluntary inactive license before the expiration date.

A null and void license no longer exists.

When an individual performs real estate services with a void license, that activity is considered unlicensed activity.

A license becomes null and void when an involuntary inactive status has continued more than *two years.

When the FREC revokes a real estate license, the license becomes null and void.

A license that is voluntarily relinquished by the licensee is canceled by the FREC without the involvement of disciplinary action.

Once canceled, the license is null and void.

An ineffective license exists, but the licensee cannot use it.

A licensee who has an ineffective license may not perform real estate services.

A license is ineffective during the time that it is in voluntary inactive status.

An involuntary inactive license is also ineffective; however, *after two years in involuntary inactive status, the license will become null and void.

When a real estate license is suspended, it is ineffective during the period of suspension.

If a broker’s license is suspended or revoked, the licenses of the sales associates and broker associates registered under that broker are placed in involuntary inactive status.

Once new employment is secured, the license status is changed to active.

A licensee in good standing who is a member of the U.S. armed forces is exempt from license renewal provisions during active duty and for *six months *after discharge from active duty.

The armed forces exemption is valid, assuming the service member is not actively engaging in real estate practices during the exemption period.

This is another example of an ineffective license.

“Multiple licenses” refers to those cases in which a broker holds more than one broker’s license.

A group license is issued to a sales associate or a broker associate employed by an owner-developer (real estate developer) who owns properties in the name of various entities.

A group license entitles the licensee to work for the separate sales projects owned by the owner-developer.