Florida transaction broker, single agent and contracts
Listing and selling plus contracts carry 17% of the exam. The brokerage-relationship half sits in one statute, § 475.278: a licensee works as a transaction broker unless a single agent or no brokerage relationship is set up in writing, and dual agency is not allowed at all.
Updated Oct 24, 2026 · Not affiliated with any state commission or test provider.
17%of the exam
15questions on this page
What the areas cover
DBPR outline areas III and IV, grouped:
Brokerage relationships: transaction broker, single agent, no brokerage relationship; the required disclosures and when.
Transition: moving from single agent to transaction broker, designated sales associates in nonresidential deals.
Listings: types of listing, copies to the principal, termination.
Commission: who may be paid, referral fees to brokers in other states, the commercial real estate lien law.
Sale contracts: approved forms, the unauthorized practice of law, the statute of frauds, disclosures.
Three relationships, one presumption
Transaction broker: limited representation of the buyer, the seller or both, with no fiduciary duty. Duties include honesty, accounting for funds, skill and care, timely presentation of offers, disclosure of known facts that materially affect the value of residential property and are not readily observable to the buyer, and limited confidentiality. This is the presumed relationship.
Single agent: represents one party with full fiduciary duties (loyalty, confidentiality, obedience, full disclosure, accounting, skill and care). Needs the written Single Agent Notice.
No brokerage relationship: no representation; the licensee still deals honestly, accounts for funds and discloses known material facts. Must be disclosed in writing before a showing.
The disclosure duties apply to residential sales: improved residential property of four units or fewer, unimproved residential land for up to four units, and agricultural property of 10 acres or less.
15 relationship and contract questions
0 of 15 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
Florida broker Anna closes a sale for a buyer referred by Dave, a broker licensed in Georgia who did no business in Florida. May Anna pay Dave a referral fee?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Limiting fees to Florida licensees ignores the statute's express permission for brokers licensed in other states.
Incorrect: Dave needs no Florida license because he did no business in Florida.
Incorrect: Referral fees between licensed brokers are lawful in Florida.
Correct: Section 475.25(1)(h) lets a Florida broker pay a referral fee to a broker licensed in another state, provided that broker breaks no Florida law.
Question 2 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
A seller signs an exclusive right of sale listing, and the broker agrees to act as the seller's single agent. The broker may market the home and find a buyer but has no power to sign contracts for the seller. What type of agent is the broker?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: A general agent handles a range of matters in a business, like a property manager, not one sale.
Incorrect: A universal agent is authorized to act for the principal in all matters, far beyond one listing.
Correct: A broker hired to find a buyer for one property, with no power to bind the seller, is a special agent.
Incorrect: An attorney in fact holds a power of attorney to sign for the principal, which this broker lacks.
Question 3 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
A buyer orally asks a sales associate to help her find a home. Over two weeks the associate shows her five houses, but no written disclosure or agreement is ever signed. Under Florida law, what is the brokerage relationship?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Florida law forbids dual agency, so it cannot be the result.
Incorrect: Single agency must be established in writing; conduct alone does not create it.
Incorrect: No brokerage relationship must itself be put in writing; silence leaves the statutory presumption in place.
Correct: Florida presumes transaction brokerage unless a single agent or no brokerage relationship is set up in writing.
Question 4 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
Seller John signs a single agent listing and tells broker Lisa to list his home at $500,000. Believing it will sell higher, Lisa lists it at $600,000 instead and tells John what she has done. Which duty has Lisa breached?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Loyalty is about putting the seller's interests ahead of her own; she thought she was helping him.
Incorrect: She told John what she did, so she did disclose it.
Correct: Lisa ignored the seller's lawful instruction on the list price, which breaches the duty of obedience.
Incorrect: A higher list price is a judgment call; the breach is acting against a direct instruction.
Question 5 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
A transaction broker learns that her seller will accept $20,000 below list price. A buyer asks her what the seller's lowest acceptable price is. What should she do?
Answer and explanations
Correct: A transaction broker's limited confidentiality covers the seller's willingness to take less than the list price, unless the seller waives it in writing.
Incorrect: No duty of loyalty does not cancel the separate statutory duty of limited confidentiality.
Incorrect: The duty to disclose covers known facts that affect value, not a party's bargaining position.
Incorrect: A pledge from the buyer does not waive the seller's confidentiality; only the seller can waive it.
Question 6 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
A broker lists a $3 million office building for a company with $8 million in assets. A buyer with $5 million in assets wants to buy it through the same brokerage, and both buyer and seller want an agent with full fiduciary duties. What may the broker do?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: The asset threshold is $1 million, not $5 million.
Incorrect: Referral is not required; designated sales associates exist for exactly this kind of sale.
Incorrect: Dual agency is illegal in Florida whatever the parties sign.
Correct: In a nonresidential sale where buyer and seller each have $1 million in assets, the broker may designate sales associates as single agents if both sign the request.
Question 7 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
A Florida broker will list a seller's home and wants to act as the seller's single agent. When must the Single Agent Notice be given to the seller?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Waiting until a sale contract is far later than the statute allows.
Incorrect: Twenty-four hours is the deadline for handing the seller a copy of the listing, not for the disclosure.
Incorrect: The brokerage disclosure has nothing to do with the closing documents.
Correct: The single agent notice is due before or at the listing or representation agreement, or before showing property, whichever happens first.
Question 8 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
Before listing, a seller who knows termites damaged a living-room wall covers the damage with new paneling. Two weeks after closing, the buyer removes the paneling and finds the damage. Which statement is correct under Florida law?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: An as-is clause does not protect a seller who concealed a known latent defect.
Incorrect: The chance to inspect does not excuse deliberately covering up the damage.
Correct: A seller who hides a known defect that materially affects value is liable under Johnson v. Davis, and active concealment strengthens the claim.
Incorrect: The Florida duty to disclose known latent defects applies without any question from the buyer.
Question 9 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
A buyer signs a contract to buy a resale condominium unit from an individual owner on Monday and receives the required association documents on Wednesday. Under current Florida law (F.S. 718.503), how long does the buyer have to cancel?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Three days was the resale period under the older version of the statute; the current text gives 7.
Correct: The current text of 718.503(2) lets a resale buyer cancel within 7 days, excluding weekends and holidays, after signing and receiving the documents; here that runs from Wednesday.
Incorrect: Fifteen days applies to a developer sale, not to a resale by an individual owner.
Incorrect: The period runs from the later of signing and receiving the documents, and the documents came after signing.
Question 10 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
Carla and Tom orally agree on every term of a $250,000 sale of Carla's land. Which step would make the agreement enforceable against Carla?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: A deposit does not take a land sale out of the statute of frauds.
Incorrect: Tom's signature binds Tom, not Carla.
Incorrect: Witnesses to an oral promise do not satisfy the writing requirement.
Correct: The statute of frauds requires a writing signed by the party to be charged, and here that is Carla.
Question 11 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
A Florida broker is helping the parties to a cash sale. Which document may the broker fill in for the parties without engaging in the unauthorized practice of law?
Answer and explanations
Correct: Licensees may fill in the blanks of a standard sale contract form, such as the Florida Realtors/Florida Bar contract; the Florida Supreme Court has held that this is not the practice of law.
Incorrect: Drafting new contract language to resolve a title issue is legal work for an attorney.
Incorrect: Preparing a deed for others is the practice of law, not a brokerage task.
Incorrect: Preparing a mortgage is drafting a legal instrument, which is the practice of law.
Question 12 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
Which transaction is a 'residential sale' under Florida's brokerage relationship disclosure law, F.S. 475.278?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Twelve units is above the four-unit limit, so this is a nonresidential sale under the statute.
Incorrect: Agricultural land counts only up to 10 acres, so 20 acres falls outside the definition.
Incorrect: Leases are excluded unless they include an option to buy; a plain one-year lease is not a sale.
Correct: Section 475.278(5)(a) defines a residential sale as improved property of four or fewer units, so a four-unit building qualifies.
Question 13 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
A broker obtains a seller's signature on an exclusive right of sale listing on Monday at 3:00 p.m. Under Florida license law, by when must the seller receive a copy of the signed listing?
Answer and explanations
Correct: Section 475.25(1)(r) requires a copy of the signed listing to go to the seller within 24 hours of the signature.
Incorrect: The end of Wednesday is more than 24 hours after Monday at 3:00 p.m.
Incorrect: A week is far past the 24-hour limit.
Incorrect: Closing comes weeks or months later; the statute sets a 24-hour deadline.
Question 14 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
A broker is a single agent for a seller. A buyer whom the same broker represents as a single agent wants to buy that seller's property. How can the broker lawfully continue with both?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Being single agent for both sides is dual agency by another name.
Incorrect: Dropping to an oral arrangement with the buyer does not solve the conflict, and the seller still has a single agent.
Incorrect: Dual agency is prohibited in Florida, disclosed or not.
Correct: Florida allows a change from single agent to transaction broker only with the principal's prior written consent, using the statutory transition notice.
Question 15 of 15 · Brokerage relationships and contracts · 17%
A licensee works with a buyer under a no brokerage relationship notice instead of as a transaction broker. Which duty would the licensee owe as a transaction broker but does NOT owe under no brokerage relationship?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Known facts that materially affect the value of residential property and are not readily observable must be disclosed under either relationship.
Correct: Section 475.278(2) lists skill, care, and diligence among a transaction broker's duties, but 475.278(4)(a) leaves it out of the no-brokerage-relationship duties.
Incorrect: Honest and fair dealing is owed in both relationships, including no brokerage relationship.
Incorrect: Accounting for funds entrusted to the licensee is a duty under no brokerage relationship as well.
Answer every question to see your score
Dual agency is not an option in Florida
A Florida licensee may not act as a disclosed or undisclosed dual agent. When the same firm has the buyer and the seller, the choices are a transaction broker for both, or, in a nonresidential deal where both parties have assets of $1 million or more and ask for it in writing, a designated sales associate for each side.
Changing from single agent to transaction broker
A single agent can become a transaction broker in the middle of a deal only with the principal’s written consent given before the change, using the statutory consent-to-transition wording. The listing side has its own clock: the principal gets a signed copy of a written listing within 24 hours (§ 475.25).
Contracts: the national part
The general law of contracts (offer and acceptance, the statute of frauds, assignment, void and voidable) is the same as on the national salesperson exams and is explained on contracts; agency vocabulary is on agency. For the broker exam, add the Florida limits: a licensee may fill in approved forms but may not give legal advice or draft beyond them.
A broker who gives limited representation to a buyer, a seller or both, without undivided loyalty. It is the relationship Florida law presumes when nothing else is agreed in writing.
What are the three brokerage relationship options in Florida?
Transaction broker, single agent, and no brokerage relationship. Dual agency is prohibited.
Can a Florida broker represent both buyer and seller?
Not as a dual agent. The broker can work with both as a transaction broker, and in some large nonresidential deals the firm can designate one sales associate for each side.