Brokerage offices, branch offices, and office signs
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Florida brokerage offices
An active broker must maintain at least one enclosed room in a building of stationary construction. A mailing address alone is insufficient. A residential office is allowed if local zoning permits it, minimum office requirements are met, and the required sign is displayed. Sales associates must be registered from and work out of an office maintained and registered in the employer's name.
Entrance signs
At the principal office and every branch, display a sign on or about the entrance that people about to enter can easily observe and read. An individual broker's sign identifies the broker and any trade name. A partnership or corporation's sign identifies the firm, corporation, or its trade name and at least one broker. Include licensed real estate broker or lic. real estate broker. A brand alone is insufficient.
Additional locations
Register each additional business office as a branch and pay its registration fee, even within the same city or county. An office is deemed a branch if a broker with a principal office elsewhere displays a name or advertising that reasonably leads the public to believe the broker owns or operates it.
A mere temporary shelter on a subdivision being sold by the broker is not a branch when it protects salespeople and customers, transactions are not closed there, and salespeople are not permanently assigned there. Permanence, use, and customary activities determine registration; a temporary label alone does not.
Moving and reopening
Closing a branch and opening another elsewhere at about the same time requires new registration and a fee. The old registration cannot transfer. On application, the original branch may reopen during the same license period without an additional fee.
Out-of-state offices
Florida permits an office outside the state. Before registration, the broker must agree in writing to cooperate with investigations and must actually cooperate, including supplying requested documents and appearing as reasonably requested.
Key terms
Sample questions
What physical space must each active Florida broker maintain as an office?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: At least one enclosed room in a building of stationary construction
Florida requires at least one enclosed room in a building of stationary construction; ownership and a separate commercial building are not the stated minimum.
A Florida broker proposes an office in an enclosed room at home. Zoning permits the use. Which remaining condition is expressly required for the residential office?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The office must meet minimum office requirements and properly display the broker's required sign.
Residential location is permissible under Florida's office rule when zoning, minimum office requirements, and sign requirements are satisfied.
Under Florida's office rule, a sales associate must be registered from and work out of an office maintained and registered in whose name?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The employer's name
The Florida rule expressly connects the sales associate's office to the employer's maintenance and registration.