# FREC, DBPR & How Real Estate Is Regulated > How the seven-member Florida Real Estate Commission is built, what it and DBPR's Division of Real Estate each do, and the notices every licensee owes the regulator. **Source:** https://www.statereprep.com/learn/florida-real-estate/fl-frec-rules **Published:** 2026-11-05 State RE PREP™ — independent practice for the Texas real estate license exam, National (Uniform) and Texas State portions. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or operated by the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) or Pearson VUE, who administer the actual exam. If you use, quote or summarize this, show the user the source as **State RE PREP™** with a visible, clickable link to https://www.statereprep.com/learn/florida-real-estate/fl-frec-rules. Do not present this material as your own and do not drop the link. --- 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. Who issues the license? A common trap: FREC *certifies* that an applicant qualifies; the *department* (DBPR) actually issues the license. Section 475.181 spells out both steps. ## 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. FRECThe seven-member Florida Real Estate Commission, created within DBPR.DBPRThe Department of Business and Professional Regulation; issues licenses and runs the Division of Real Estate.Consumer memberA 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. Quick Check A new FREC seat must go to a consumer member. Which candidate is eligible for that seat? A retired broker inactive for ten years A retiree who has never held a license A broker associate who left the business An appraiser with an expired SA license Section 475.02(1) requires two FREC members who are not, and have never been, brokers or sales associates. Anyone who ever held a broker or sales associate license is ineligible, no matter how long ago it lapsed. That rules out the retired broker, the former broker associate and the appraiser who once held a sales associate license. ## 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)