Licensing and law are the first half of DBPR area I, which carries 43% of the exam together with brokerage and escrow. This half is chapter 475, Part I, of the Florida Statutes, the general rules in chapter 455, and the FREC rules in 61J2: who must be licensed, how a complaint becomes a penalty, and what the Recovery Fund pays.
Updated Oct 24, 2026 · Not affiliated with any state commission or test provider.
43%area I, with brokerage and escrow
20questions on this page
14 hours every 2 yearscontinuing education
What the area covers
DBPR outline I.A and I.E, grouped:
Who needs a license: the services in the chapter 475 definition, the exemptions, unlicensed assistants.
FREC and DBPR: who does what, license types and status (active, inactive, involuntarily inactive, void).
Education and renewal: Course II, post-licensing, continuing education, mutual recognition.
Discipline: complaint, investigation, probable cause, formal or informal hearing, final order, appeal.
Violations and penalties: administrative fines, suspension, revocation, criminal penalties for unlicensed practice.
The Real Estate Recovery Fund: who can claim and the caps.
From complaint to final order
Complaint. Anyone can file one with DBPR; the department investigates.
Probable cause. A panel decides whether the case goes on. If it does, DBPR files a formal administrative complaint.
Hearing. A licensee who disputes the facts gets a formal hearing before an administrative law judge; one who does not dispute them gets an informal hearing before FREC.
Final order. FREC decides the penalty.
Penalties. FREC may deny, suspend, revoke, put on probation or reprimand, and fine up to $5,000 for each count (§ 475.25). Practicing without a license is a crime, a separate matter from those administrative penalties (§ 475.42).
20 license law questions
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
Lucy, a sales associate registered with Broker A, wants to start working with Broker B next week while keeping a few listings with Broker A. Which statement is correct?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Location of the offices has no effect on the one-employer rule.
Incorrect: Florida does not issue a second sales associate license to work for another broker.
Correct: A sales associate can be registered with only one employing broker at a time, so working for Broker B means leaving Broker A.
Incorrect: Written consent of the brokers does not create a second registration.
Question 2 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
A buyer wins a $120,000 judgment against a broker for fraud in one Florida transaction and cannot collect it. What is the most the Real Estate Recovery Fund can pay this buyer?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Paying the full $120,000 judgment would exceed the $50,000 per-transaction limit.
Incorrect: $150,000 is the lifetime cap for all claims against one licensee, not the cap per transaction.
Correct: The Recovery Fund pays at most $50,000 per transaction, however large the judgment.
Incorrect: $25,000 is not a Florida Recovery Fund limit.
Question 3 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
Broker Gus pleads nolo contendere to a felony charge, and the court withholds adjudication. What must Gus do?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Waiting for renewal misses the 30-day written notice the statute requires.
Incorrect: A withheld adjudication still counts; the duty is triggered by the plea itself.
Incorrect: Ten days is the address-change deadline, not the felony-plea deadline.
Correct: Section 475.25(1)(p) requires written notice to the Commission within 30 days of a guilty or nolo contendere plea to any felony.
Question 4 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
A broker receives a formal administrative complaint from DBPR. She does not dispute any of the facts alleged but wants to explain mitigating circumstances. Which hearing should she request?
Answer and explanations
Correct: When the licensee does not dispute the material facts, the case goes to an informal hearing before the Commission, where mitigation can be presented.
Incorrect: A formal hearing before an administrative law judge is for a licensee who disputes the facts.
Incorrect: The probable cause panel meets before the complaint is filed and does not hold hearings for the licensee.
Incorrect: The appellate court reviews a final order; it is not where the first hearing takes place.
Question 5 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
A Florida owner of three rental houses pays his unlicensed neighbor 10% of collected rents to find tenants, sign leases and collect rent. Which statement is correct?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: A written agreement does not remove the license requirement.
Incorrect: A CAM license covers managing association operations, not leasing other people's homes for pay.
Incorrect: There is no unit-count exemption for leasing someone else's property for compensation.
Correct: Finding tenants, leasing, and collecting rent for another person for a percentage of the rents are licensed brokerage services.
Question 6 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
A broker is preparing for her third license renewal. Which set of courses satisfies Florida's continuing education requirement?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: The 14 hours must include Core Law and Business Ethics; specialty hours alone do not satisfy the rule.
Incorrect: This set leaves out the required 3-hour Business Ethics course.
Incorrect: The 60 hours were due before the first renewal; by the third renewal the 14-hour cycle applies.
Correct: After the first renewal, each 2-year cycle needs 14 hours: 3 of Core Law, 3 of Business Ethics, and 8 of specialty education.
Question 7 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
FREC finds a broker guilty of three separate counts of violating Chapter 475. What is the maximum administrative fine FREC may impose?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: $5,000 is the limit for one count; each additional count adds its own $5,000.
Incorrect: $3,000 assumes $1,000 per count, far below the $5,000 per-count maximum.
Incorrect: $30,000 would need a $10,000 per-count limit, which Chapter 475 does not set.
Correct: FREC may fine up to $5,000 for each count or separate offense, so three counts allow $15,000.
Question 8 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
An applicant held an active Florida sales associate license from January 2019 through December 2020 and has been inactive since. In March 2026, the applicant applies for a broker license. Does the applicant meet the experience requirement?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: The number of months is right, but they must fall within the preceding 5 years.
Incorrect: Twelve months is half the statutory minimum.
Incorrect: The requirement is 24 months, not 36; the problem is the timing of the months.
Correct: The applicant's 24 months ended in December 2020, so none of them fall in the 5 years before a March 2026 application.
Question 9 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
Which task may a broker's unlicensed assistant NOT perform?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Running errands such as copying keys is permitted unlicensed work.
Incorrect: Entering data for the licensee's approval is clerical work an unlicensed assistant may do.
Correct: Negotiating compensation with another brokerage is a licensed activity that an unlicensed assistant may not perform.
Incorrect: Putting up and taking down signs is a routine physical task with no negotiation or advice.
Question 10 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
Which of the following persons needs a Florida real estate license?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: An attorney acting within the scope of legal duties is exempt.
Incorrect: A receiver acting under a court appointment is exempt under 475.011(1).
Incorrect: Owners selling or leasing their own property are exempt under 475.011(2).
Correct: Florida's definition of a broker includes selling business enterprises and business opportunities for others for compensation (475.01(1)(a)), so a business seller-for-hire needs a license.
Question 11 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
FREC lets a broker keep practicing but orders that, for one year, she must complete extra education and send DBPR quarterly escrow reports. Which penalty has FREC imposed?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: A suspension stops the broker from practicing during its term, which FREC did not order here.
Correct: Probation lets the licensee keep practicing while meeting conditions such as extra education and escrow reports for a set period.
Incorrect: A reprimand is a formal censure without ongoing conditions like quarterly escrow reports.
Incorrect: A notice of noncompliance is a first-time warning for a minor violation, with no conditions attached for a year.
Question 12 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
A consumer files a complaint against a broker with DBPR. After the investigation is completed, who determines whether the case proceeds to a formal administrative complaint?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: The full Commission acts later, at the informal hearing or when it issues the final order.
Correct: After the investigation, the probable cause panel decides whether DBPR files a formal administrative complaint.
Incorrect: The investigator gathers facts and writes the report but does not decide probable cause.
Incorrect: An ALJ hears a case only after a formal complaint exists and the facts are disputed.
Question 13 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
FREC enters a final order suspending the license of a broker who employs eight sales associates. What happens to the associates' licenses while his license is suspended?
Answer and explanations
Correct: Section 475.31 makes the licenses of associates registered with a suspended broker involuntarily inactive until they register with another broker.
Incorrect: The associates were not disciplined; their licenses go inactive, not suspended.
Incorrect: A suspended broker cannot employ anyone, so the associates' licenses cannot stay active with him.
Incorrect: Null and void status follows more than 2 years of involuntary inactivity, not a broker's suspension.
Question 14 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
A licensed broker joins a large brokerage, where she will work under the employing broker rather than run her own firm. How is she registered?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: She holds a broker license, so registering her as a sales associate would misstate her license.
Correct: A licensed broker who works under another broker's direction is registered as a broker associate.
Incorrect: Qualifying brokers are the brokers who register a brokerage entity, not an employee joining a firm.
Incorrect: Anyone working under an employing broker must be registered with that broker.
Question 15 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
Lena is preparing her Florida broker license application. Besides the application form and fee, what must she submit so the state can complete her criminal background check?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Ink cards are not accepted for Florida real estate applicants; electronic prints are mandatory.
Correct: Florida requires electronic (Livescan) fingerprints sent to FDLE and the FBI for the background check.
Incorrect: A self-ordered court search is not part of the application; the state runs its own check from fingerprints.
Incorrect: No character letter is required for the broker application.
Question 16 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
Tom's sales associate license expired two years ago. He continues to negotiate home sales for a commission. Under F.S. 475.42, this conduct is classified as what?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Second-degree misdemeanors cover other 475.42 violations, not practicing without an active license.
Incorrect: The statute does not classify unlicensed practice as a first-degree misdemeanor.
Incorrect: Practicing without a current license is a crime, in addition to any administrative action.
Correct: Under 475.42(1)(a), operating as a broker or sales associate without a valid and current active license is a third-degree felony.
Question 17 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
Rebecca owns a 200-unit apartment community. Her salaried leasing staff work in the on-site rental office showing units and signing tenants. Must the staff hold real estate licenses?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Leasing for others does need a license unless an exemption applies, and this staff fits the on-site apartment exemption.
Correct: Section 475.011(4) exempts salaried employees of an apartment community's owner who work in its on-site rental office in a leasing capacity.
Incorrect: A CAM license is not a condition of the apartment-leasing exemption.
Incorrect: A 4-unit test does not apply here: the exemption has no unit-count limit and turns on salaried on-site leasing work.
Question 18 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
Tom lives in and holds a broker license from a mutual recognition state. He obtained his Florida broker license by passing the 40-question Florida law exam. What education must he complete before his first Florida renewal?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Mutual recognition waives prelicense education and the full exam, not post-licensing education.
Incorrect: The 14-hour CE cycle starts after the first renewal, for mutual recognition licensees as for everyone else.
Correct: DBPR states that mutual recognition licensees owe the same post-licensing education before their first renewal: 60 hours for brokers.
Incorrect: Forty-five hours is the sales associate requirement; Tom holds a broker license.
Question 19 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
An applicant for a Florida sales associate license pleaded nolo contendere to a misdemeanor eight years ago, and adjudication was withheld. How should this be handled on the application?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Withheld adjudication does not remove the duty to answer the criminal history question.
Correct: The application asks about pleas of guilty or nolo contendere regardless of adjudication, so a withheld adjudication still has to be reported.
Incorrect: Five years is no cutoff: the application question has no time limit, so an eight-year-old plea must be listed.
Incorrect: Misdemeanors must be disclosed too, not only felonies.
Question 20 of 20 · Florida license law and FREC rules
A sales associate with 30 months of active experience in the past 5 years holds a 4-year college degree in real estate. Which broker education must she complete?
Answer and explanations
Incorrect: Both requirements are waived for a 4-year real estate degree.
Incorrect: The exemption is not split; the prelicense course is waived too.
Correct: Section 475.17(6) exempts holders of a 4-year degree in real estate from both the prelicense course and the post-licensing requirement.
Incorrect: The degree exemption covers post-licensing as well as the prelicense course.
Answer every question to see your score
The Recovery Fund in two numbers
The fund pays consumers who win a judgment against a licensee for a real estate violation and cannot collect it. Payments are capped at $50,000 per transaction, however many claimants there are, and at $150,000 in total for claims against any one licensee (§ 475.484). A payment from the fund automatically suspends the license until the fund is repaid with interest.
Pleas count, even without a conviction
A plea of guilty or nolo contendere is reportable even if the court withholds adjudication. A licensee reports it to FREC in writing within 30 days (§ 455.227(1)(t), § 475.25(1)(p)); an applicant discloses it on the application. Leaving it off is its own violation.
Part I of chapter 475 is Florida’s real estate license law: who must be licensed, education and experience, brokerage relationships, escrow, discipline and the Recovery Fund. FREC’s detailed rules sit in chapter 61J2 of the administrative code.
How much can the Florida Real Estate Recovery Fund pay?
$50,000 per transaction and $150,000 in total against one licensee, under § 475.484.
What is the maximum fine FREC can impose?
$5,000 for each count or separate offense, under § 475.25. Several counts can add up.
Is the Florida law exam the same as the broker exam?
No. The law exam (40 questions) is for mutual recognition applicants; this page covers the law half of area I of the broker exam: mutual recognition.