posted by admin on Aug 8
I am interested in starting a Florida referral service that directs people to vacation and annual rentals charging a finder's fee to the owner of the property. I will not be managing any properties,simply referring a tenant.I know that there are several laws regarding commissions involving real estate and being licensed as a real estate agent or broker but I am neither and cannot find the answer locally so far. This state seems to be even more strict about proper licensing and commissions so I want to make sure that I handle the setup appropriately.Any advise would certainly help! I look forward to the voice of experience in the answers!!! Thanks!!
Originally posted 2009-05-09 08:11:50.
May 9th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Take Care and get professional advice. For short term rentals you would be ok I think BUT if you are offering a service that could be classified as a Rental List then the penalties for getting it wrong are huge. "Rental companies or anyone who advertises rental property information or lists in any manner is acting as a broker or broker's representative and is subject to the laws regulating licensed occupations" (Florida Real Estate Principles, Practices and Law – Crawford).
The Florida Statute 475 covers this in full and is available at http://www.myflorida.com.
Its a first degree misdemeanour and the maximum penalty for this is a fine of $1000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year! Of course if you're doing this without a license then all the penalties for that would also apply.
On a more practical side, there are hundreds of sites offering this service for very little money as well as thousands of individual sites offering vacation rentals – are you sure this is a good idea in an extremely competitive business?
Not to pour water on you fire but I'd look very carefully at your business model and wish you every success.