(Here are questions recently posed to the legal department of Florida Realtors.)
Q: What is required to be on licensees’ business cards?
A: The business card is a form of advertising. Thus, the information on the business cards must comply with 61J2-10.025(1) and (2), Florida Administrative Code. The business card must include the licensed name of the brokerage firm, and if the licensee’s personal name is used, at the very least that person’s last name must appear as it is registered with the Florida Real Estate Commission. The card may not include any fraudulent, false, deceptive or misleading information, and it must make clear to reasonable persons that they are dealing with a real estate licensee.
Q: A buyer wants to buy vacant land and develop it but it has gopher tortoises on it. Are there any special rules regarding gopher tortoises?
A: Yes. In Florida, the gopher tortoise is classified as a threatened species, and the gopher and its burrow are protected by state law. It’s illegal to harm, capture or transport gopher tortoises or damage their burrows, except as authorized by specific Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission permit. Property owners may need to capture and relocate all gopher tortoises before development-related activities can begin. Your buyer can find more information about gopher tortoises and the permit process on the FWC’s Web site: myfwc.com.
Q: An out-of-state buyer is looking for property in a 55-and-older community. The buyer has a limited amount of time to look for property. How can agent find out where all the 55-and-older communities are located in his area?
A: The Florida Commission on Human Relations has a registry of “55 and older” communities available on its Web site. Go to http://fchr.state.fl.us, select the “Directory of 55+ Housing Communities” link, then select “55+ Directory.” The agent can then search the directory by county, unit, name address, city.
Q: A broker owns a brokerage corporation which currently handles only residential transactions. She want to set up a branch office to run the commercial side of her business. May she register a trade name for the branch office and continue to use the corporate name for her primary office?
A: No. All branch offices must have the same corporate or trade name as the primary office. Also, no individual, partnership or corporation may be registered under more than one trade name.
Q: A buyer who is an amateur ham radio operator wants to erect an antenna in the back yard. Many homeowners’ associations restrict an owner’s ability to install antennas on their own property. Isn’t there a law that prohibits any restriction on the installation of antennas?
A: The telecommunications act of 1996 prohibits restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance or use of certain types of antennas. Not all antennas are covered by the act, however, and private communities are allowed to have restrictions that apply to amateur antennas such as ham or CB.
Q: An agent and a seller enter into a 12-month listing agreement with a provision that it will renew automatically for an additional six months if the seller doesn’t cancel it in writing. Does the listing agreement renew automatically?
A: No. Section 475.25(1)(r), Florida Statutes, provides that it’s a violation of real estate licensing law if a real estate licensee “has failed in any written listing agreement to include a definite expiration date, description of the property, price and terms, fee or commission, and a proper signature of the principal(s); and has failed to give the principal(s) a legible, signed, true and correct copy of the listing agreement within 24 hours of obtaining the written listing agreement.”
Q: May a salesperson who has obtained a judgment against his real estate broker for an unpaid commission recover from the Real Estate Recovery Fund?
A: No. According to Section 475.483 (2)(a), Florida Statutes, a person is not qualified to make a claim for recovery from the Real Estate Recovery Fund when the person seeking recovery is a licensed broker or sales associate who acted as a single agent or transaction broker in the transaction that is the subject of the claim. However, a Florida Real Estate Commission complaint for violation of Section 475.25 (1)(d)1, Florida Statutes, could be made when the broker has failed to pay a real estate commission if a civil judgment has been obtained against the licensee and the judgment hasn’t been satisfied in accordance with its terms within a reasonable period.