Business entities that may and may not register as brokerages

Two gates to brokerage eligibility

Florida permits a sole proprietorship, general partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership (LLP), limited liability company (LLC), or corporation to conduct brokerage with the required qualifications. A sole proprietorship is the individual broker's business. The other listed organizations acting as brokers must register with the Florida Real Estate Commission; formation filings do not substitute for brokerage registration.

For exam classification, a corporation sole, business trust, cooperative association, and unincorporated association may not register as brokerages. A corporation sole is not a sole proprietorship or an ordinary business corporation. Owning or administering real estate does not establish brokerage eligibility.

People and registration

Florida's partnership rule requires at least one active broker partner. Each partner expecting to deal with the public in the partnership's brokerage business must hold an active broker license or registration. In a limited partnership, the general partners must be licensed brokers or registered brokerage corporations; passive limited partners need not become brokers merely for investing.

All officers and directors of a brokerage corporation must be registered, with at least one active broker officer. Registration does not mean every officer or director is an active broker. A foreign corporation must show that its qualifying active officer is authorized to transact Florida brokerage business and bind it. Foreign status alone is no bar.

Florida also screens corporate control. Specified unreinstated licensing disqualifications, felony circumstances, and injunctions for unlicensed practice can prevent corporate registration. The rule's control test is more than 40 percent of voting stock owned or controlled directly or indirectly by the person or specified family or household members.

Keep the qualification in force

Under section 475.15, an entity's registration is automatically canceled during a period when no active broker member's license or registration remains in force. An eligible form alone is insufficient. The separate rule denying corporations an individual appraiser credential belongs to appraisal law; it does not prohibit corporate brokerage registration.