FREC, DBPR & How Real Estate Is Regulated

This small area asks who regulates Florida real estate and how. Two bodies share the job. The Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC) makes rules, certifies applicants and decides discipline. The Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), through its Division of Real Estate, provides the staff and services. Exam items like to swap their roles, so learn which body does what.

How FREC is built

• Seven members, appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, for 4-year terms.
• Four must be licensed brokers who have held an active license for the 5 years before appointment.
• One must be a broker or sales associate with an active license for the 2 years before appointment.
• Two are consumer members who are not, and have never been, brokers or sales associates.
• At least one member must be 60 or older.

The members elect a chairperson and vice chairperson. Three consecutive unexcused absences, or missing half or more of the meetings in a 12-month period, voids a membership. Members are paid $50 for each day of official meetings, including probable cause panel meetings. The Commission's principal office is in Orlando.

What FREC does

• Makes rules. FREC may enact bylaws and adopt rules to carry out Chapter 475. Those rules are Chapter 61J2, F.A.C., and the courts take judicial notice of them.
• Decides questions of practice that come up in proceedings before it.
• Educates. FREC must foster licensee education in ethical, legal and business principles. It may prescribe or approve courses.
• Certifies applicants. FREC certifies who is qualified, and the department then issues the license.
• Disciplines. FREC may deny, reprimand, fine, place on probation, suspend or revoke. A probable cause panel with at least one present Commission member screens cases first.

DBPR and the Division of Real Estate

The Division of Real Estate provides the services Chapter 475 needs: record-keeping, examinations, legal work and investigations. FREC may delegate duties to it by majority vote and may take them back the same way. The Division is funded by the Commission's fees and assessments, and that money may be used only for real estate regulation. Chapter 455 supplies rules that apply to every DBPR profession. One of them is the policy that a qualified person may enter a regulated profession as a matter of right.

Notices you owe the regulator

• Mailing and email address: notify the department in writing within 10 days of a change. Under the rule as amended in 2024, a first failure brings a citation and repeat failures bring disciplinary proceedings.
• Change of employer: a sales associate's license stops being in force when the associate changes employers. The licensee must notify the commission within 10 days.
• Renewal: licenses run on a two-year cycle. The current fee rule sets a sales associate's biennial renewal fee at $64.

FREC

The seven-member Florida Real Estate Commission, created within DBPR.

DBPR

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation; issues licenses and runs the Division of Real Estate.

Consumer member

A board member who is not and never has been a practitioner of the regulated profession.

Where this shows up on the exam

Real Estate License Law and Commission Rules is 2% of the exam in the DBPR booklet (January 2025), about two questions. The favorite targets are FREC's makeup (7 members, 4/1/2 split, the age-60 seat, 4-year terms) and the split between FREC certifying and DBPR issuing.

Sources

North Carolina law as published by the General Assembly and the Office of Administrative Hearings, checked 2026-11-05:

• s. 475.02, F.S.
• s. 475.021, F.S.
• s. 475.04, F.S.
• s. 475.05, F.S.
• s. 475.181, F.S.
• s. 475.23, F.S.
• s. 475.25, F.S.
• s. 455.01, F.S.
• s. 455.201, F.S.
• Rules 61J2-20.009, .040, .048, .049, F.A.C.
• Rule 61J2-10.038, F.A.C.
• Rule 61J2-1.011, F.A.C.
• DBPR Sales Associate Candidate Information Booklet (Jan 2025)