Florida's Real Estate Laws Flashcards
Statutory Law in the state of Florida is
an executive branch (the Governor heads the executive branch of the state), a legislative branch, and a judicial branch. The legislative branch of Florida is in charge of passing laws in the state.
The FREC (Florida Real Estate Commission) is a
quasi-judicial body that administers and enforces license law in Florida.
FREC has the power to
grant, deny, suspend, and revoke licenses. They can investigate alleged license violations and discipline license holders.
The FREC gets administrative support from the Division of Real Estate (DRE), which operates
under the aegis of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR).
DBPR
Department of Business and Professional Regulation
The DBPR is in charge of
licensing and regulating the licensure of all kinds of professions in Florida, not just real estate.
DBPR handle most of the administrative work, like recording registrations and keeping track of licensees, while the FREC makes rules and hears disciplinary actions
The DBPR handles the administrative side of licensure in Florida. What is the quasi-judicial agency that handles rule-making, administration, and discipline in the real estate field?
FREC
Florida keeps all of its statutes in one place, and that place is called the Florida Statutes.
the Florida Statutes.
The Real Estate Law in Florida is
Chapter 475, the collection of statutes that deals with real estate.
A citation looks like this: 475.001, F.S. What that is telling you is that you can find the relevant law in the Florida statutes (F.S.), chapter 475, subchapter 001
Chapter 475 is broken up into four parts:
Real estate brokers, sales associates, and schools
Appraisers
The Commercial Real Estate Sales Commission Lien Act
The Commercial Real Estate Leasing Commission Lien Act
1st Part of CH 475, Real estate brokers, sales associates, and schools: This is
where most of the stuff we’re interested in lives. It regulates brokers, sales associates, and schools.
2nd Part of CH 475, Appraisers: This section sets out
rules for appraisers, including licensing requirements.
Appraisers are overseen by the Florida Real Estate Appraisal Board (FREAB), which is essentially the appraiser version of the FREC.
3rd Part of CH 475, The Commercial Real Estate Sales Commission Lien Act: This gives
commercial brokers the right to put a lien on a property they’ve sold to collect their commission
4th Part of CH 475, The Commercial Real Estate Leasing Commission Lien Act: Same thing but for
commercial rental properties.
Chapter 475 covers stuff like:
The requirements for a real estate school
The requirements for sales associates and brokers
Definitions of sales associate and broker
Information about the real estate recovery fund
Rules about license renewal, fees, and continuing education
What constitutes an active or inactive license
You are reading your course and come across this: 475.021, F.S. What is this mysterious glyph trying to tell you?
The law being referenced can be found in Chapter 475, subchapter 021 of the Florida Statutes
61J2 of the Florida Administrative Code is a
set of rules created by the FREC to enforce Chapter 475.
The FREC enforces the law and to explain to everyone across the state how to do that, the FREC was empowered to create
the rules in 61J2.
The rules laid out in 61J2 are
simply directions based on Chapter 475.
61J2 is the how to Chapter 475’s what.
The CH 475 law says what is legal and what is not. But it doesn’t explain the mechanics of how that law will actually get carried out.
Where can 61J2 be found?
In the F.A.C (Florida Administrative Code)
61J2-3.015, F.A.C. F.A.C. stands for
Florida Administrative Code, part 61, J2 (where the real estate rules live), and 3.015 tells you to look in chapter three (Minimum Educational Requirements), part 015 (Notice of Satisfactory Course Completion).
