Advertising rules for brokers and sales associates

Identify the brokerage and tell the truth

Florida requires advertising that lets reasonable persons know they are dealing with a real estate licensee. Every real estate advertisement must include the brokerage firm's licensed name and must not be fraudulent, false, deceptive, or misleading. A correct brokerage name does not cure a false property claim.

An individual licensee's personal name need not appear in every advertisement. If it does appear, at least the last name must be used as registered with the Florida Real Estate Commission.

Place the name beside online contact information

For Internet advertising, place the brokerage firm name adjacent to or immediately above or below the point of contact information. That includes mailing addresses, street addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, and fax numbers. A name elsewhere on the website does not meet this placement requirement for a distant contact block. The general advertising requirements still apply.

Distinguish the team from its brokerage

A team or group can be one or more licensees using a name or logo to represent themselves as a team or group. Licensed activities must be under the same broker or brokerage. Team names may include team or group, but cannot include agency, associates, brokerage, brokers, company, corporation, Corp., Inc., LLC, LP, LLP, partnership, properties, property, real estate, realty, or similar words suggesting a separate brokerage or company. These are team-name restrictions, not a blanket ban on those words in licensed brokerage names.

The team name cannot appear in larger print than the registered brokerage name. Equal size meets the size comparison, but the advertisement must still clearly identify a team.

Three boxes describe Florida advertising checks. First, include the licensed brokerage name, use the registered surname if a personal name appears, and avoid misleading claims. Second, online brokerage identification goes beside, immediately above, or immediately below contact information. Third, a team works under the same broker, uses a permitted team name, and prints that name no larger than the brokerage name. — Check identity, online placement, and team distinction.

Each team files with its broker a designated licensee responsible for advertising compliance. At least once monthly, the registered broker must maintain a current written record of the team's members. Delegation does not relieve the broker of legal obligations.

Use earned credentials

A licensee may use an association or organization's real estate identification or designation only when entitled to do so. A real estate license by itself does not confer association membership or credentials.