What brokerage relationship is a Florida licensee presumed to have?

Transaction broker. Under §475.278(1)(b), it is presumed that all licensees are operating as transaction brokers unless a single agent or no brokerage relationship is established, in writing, with a customer. A licensee who does not establish another relationship in writing is a transaction broker by operation of law, and the transaction-broker duties in §475.278(2) apply. This presumption has been the default since 2008 and reversed the earlier regime that required affirmative up-front disclosure of the relationship.

Is dual agency legal in Florida?

No. Section 475.278(1)(a) prohibits a licensee from operating as a disclosed or nondisclosed dual agent, where "dual agent" means a broker who represents both the prospective buyer and the prospective seller as a fiduciary in the same transaction. Florida replaced dual agency with the transaction-broker model, under which a licensee may provide limited representation to both sides without owing fiduciary duties to either. The only situation resembling representation of both sides by one brokerage is the designated-sales-associate arrangement under §475.2755, and even there each associate is a single agent for one party.

How does a single agent begin working with both parties?

By transitioning to transaction broker with prior written consent. Under §475.278(3)(c)2., a single-agent relationship may be changed to a transaction-broker relationship at any time, provided the agent first obtains the principal's written consent to the change, using the statute's CONSENT TO TRANSITION TO TRANSACTION BROKER language. The consent must be obtained BEFORE the change. The single agent may not simply become a dual agent, because dual agency is prohibited; the transition to transaction broker is the lawful path.

Does a licensee still have to hand every customer a disclosure notice?

The mechanics changed in 2008. Transaction brokerage is now the presumed default, so a licensee operating as a transaction broker is not establishing an exception and does not paper one. What the statute requires in writing is the EXCEPTION: to be a single agent or to have no brokerage relationship, that relationship must be established in writing, and the single-agent notice must print its first sentence in uppercase and bold. The transition from single agent to transaction broker requires the prior written consent described in §475.278(3)(c)2.

What is a designated sales associate?

Under §475.2755, it is an arrangement in which a broker appoints two sales associates to act as single agents for the buyer and the seller separately in the same transaction. It is available only in a transaction OTHER THAN a residential sale as defined in §475.278(5)(a), and only where the buyer and seller each have assets of $1 million or more and both sign the required disclosures. The designated associates owe single-agent duties to their respective customers, and a special confidentiality rule prevents the broker from using one party's confidential information against the other.

What duties does a transaction broker owe?

The transaction-broker duties in §475.278(2) include dealing honestly and fairly, accounting for all funds, using skill, care, and diligence in the transaction, disclosing all known facts that materially affect the value of residential real property and are not readily observable to the buyer, presenting all offers and counteroffers in a timely manner, and limited confidentiality. They are meaningful duties but stop short of the full fiduciary duties — loyalty, obedience, and complete confidentiality — that a single agent owes to a represented principal.

Brokerage Relationship Disclosure in Florida: §475.278

TL;DR

Florida's brokerage relationship rules live in the Brokerage Relationship Disclosure Act, §475.2701 and following, and the operative section is §475.278. The single most tested rule is the PRESUMPTION OF TRANSACTION BROKERAGE: under §475.278(1)(b), it is presumed that all licensees are operating as TRANSACTION BROKERS unless a single agent or no brokerage relationship is established, in writing, with a customer. A Florida licensee may work as a TRANSACTION BROKER (limited representation to buyer, seller, or both, but not fiduciary and not as a single agent), as a SINGLE AGENT (fiduciary representation of one party), or in a NO BROKERAGE RELATIONSHIP. Florida law PROHIBITS both disclosed and nondisclosed DUAL AGENCY, where a broker represents both parties as a fiduciary. Because transaction brokerage is the statutory default, the disclosure mechanics turn on when a licensee is doing something OTHER than that default. Since the 2008 change, transaction brokerage is the DEFAULT and no separate transaction-broker disclosure is required merely to operate in that default role. But if a licensee establishes SINGLE AGENCY or NO BROKERAGE RELATIONSHIP, the statutory written disclosure requirements for those relationships still apply, and a single agent may transition to transaction broker only with the customer's prior written CONSENT TO TRANSITION, using the specific consent language in §475.278(3)(c)2. A related but distinct tool is the DESIGNATED SALES ASSOCIATE arrangement under §475.2755, available only in NON-RESIDENTIAL transactions where both buyer and seller have assets of $1 MILLION OR MORE and both sign the required disclosures — it lets a broker appoint different sales associates to act as single agents for each party in the same transaction. This article covers the disclosure MECHANICS; for the underlying comparison of the relationship types, see the dedicated guide.

The three authorized relationships

Section 475.278 begins by defining what a Florida licensee may be. Under §475.278(1)(a), a real estate licensee may enter into a brokerage relationship as either a TRANSACTION BROKER or a SINGLE AGENT with potential buyers and sellers, and a licensee MAY NOT operate as a disclosed or nondisclosed DUAL AGENT. A third posture, NO BROKERAGE RELATIONSHIP, exists for a licensee who deals with a party without representing them.

The prohibition on dual agency is the conceptual key. As used in the section, "dual agent" means a broker who represents as a FIDUCIARY both the prospective buyer and the prospective seller in the same transaction. Florida decided that a single human cannot owe undivided fiduciary loyalty to two opposed parties at once, so it abolished that role and built the transaction-broker model to fill the gap — limited representation to both sides without fiduciary duties to either. This article addresses how a licensee discloses and changes among these relationships; for the substance of what each relationship means and the duties each carries, see our guide to transaction broker versus single agent.

The presumption of transaction brokerage

The rule that controls everything else is the statutory PRESUMPTION. Under §475.278(1)(b), it shall be presumed that all licensees are operating as transaction brokers UNLESS a single agent or no brokerage relationship is established, in writing, with a customer.

Two consequences follow directly. First, transaction brokerage is the DEFAULT — a licensee who does nothing to establish another relationship is presumed to be a transaction broker, and the transaction-broker duties apply by operation of law. Second, because the alternatives must be established IN WRITING, the writing requirement attaches to single agency and no-brokerage-relationship, not to the default. This is the opposite of the pre-2008 regime, in which a licensee generally had to affirmatively disclose transaction-broker or single-agent status up front. The presumption flipped the burden: the licensee now has to paper the EXCEPTION, not the default. One scope point for the exam: under §475.278(5), these disclosure requirements apply to RESIDENTIAL SALES, and the subsection carves out important exclusions — including nonresidential transactions and ordinary rentals or leases, unless an option to purchase covered residential property is involved. The presumption and relationship rules still frame how a licensee operates, but the specific written-disclosure duties are pegged to residential sales.

For the exam this is the crux. If a fact pattern shows a licensee who never established a single-agent or no-brokerage relationship in writing, that licensee is a transaction broker — full stop, by presumption. The transaction-broker duties in §475.278(2) then govern: dealing honestly and fairly, accounting for all funds, using skill, care, and diligence, disclosing all known facts that materially affect the value of residential real property and are not readily observable, presenting all offers and counteroffers, and limited confidentiality, among the enumerated duties.

The single-agent relationship and its notice

A SINGLE AGENT represents one party — a buyer or a seller — as a fiduciary. To occupy that role, the relationship must be established in writing, because the presumption otherwise makes the licensee a transaction broker. The single-agent duties under §475.278(3)(a) go beyond the transaction-broker set: they include the fiduciary duties of LOYALTY, CONFIDENTIALITY, OBEDIENCE, and full disclosure, together with dealing honestly and fairly, accounting for all funds, skill and care, presenting all offers and counteroffers, and disclosure of material facts.

The single-agent notice contains a statutorily specified list of these duties, and the statute requires that the FIRST SENTENCE of the disclosure information be printed in UPPERCASE AND BOLD TYPE. That formatting requirement is a recurring exam detail. The notice may stand alone or be incorporated into another document such as a listing agreement, but when incorporated it must be of the same size type or larger than surrounding provisions and conspicuous in its placement. The point is that a customer entering a fiduciary single-agent relationship should not be able to miss what duties the licensee owes.

Consent to transition: single agent to transaction broker

The most practically important mechanic is the TRANSITION. A single agent frequently ends up needing to work with both sides of a deal — for example, the listing single agent's own buyer-customer wants to make an offer on the listed property. Florida does not allow the single agent to simply become a dual agent, because dual agency is prohibited. Instead, the single agent may change to a TRANSACTION BROKER, but only with the customer's PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT.

Under §475.278(3)(c)2., a single-agent relationship may be changed to a transaction-broker relationship at any time during the relationship, provided the agent FIRST OBTAINS the principal's written consent to the change. The statute supplies the exact CONSENT TO TRANSITION TO TRANSACTION BROKER language that must be used, which explains, in the required uppercase, that Florida law allows a licensee representing a party as a single agent to change to a transaction-broker relationship in order to assist both parties, and that the change cannot occur without the customer's prior written consent. The customer must initial or sign to agree.

Sequence is the tested point: the consent must be obtained BEFORE the change, not after. A single agent who begins assisting the other side and papers the consent afterward has violated the sequence the statute requires. The whole mechanism exists so that a customer who gave up something by moving from fiduciary single-agent representation to the more limited transaction-broker representation did so knowingly and in advance.

No brokerage relationship

A licensee may also work with a buyer or seller in NO BROKERAGE RELATIONSHIP — dealing with the person without representing them. The duties in this posture are the narrowest: dealing honestly and fairly, disclosing all known facts that materially affect the value of residential real property that are not readily observable to the buyer, and accounting for all funds entrusted to the licensee.

Like single agency, a no-brokerage relationship must be ESTABLISHED IN WRITING to overcome the transaction-broker presumption, and its notice carries the same conspicuousness and type-size requirements when incorporated into another document. The existence of this category matters because it shows that the transaction-broker presumption is not the only alternative to single agency — a licensee can also expressly decline to represent a party at all, provided that too is established in writing.

Designated sales associates: the §475.2755 exception

A narrow but heavily tested exception is the DESIGNATED SALES ASSOCIATE. It is the one situation in which two licensees affiliated with the SAME broker may each act as a SINGLE AGENT for opposing parties in the same transaction, which would otherwise collide with the dual-agency prohibition at the brokerage level.

Under §475.2755, the arrangement is available only when two conditions are met: the transaction is something OTHER THAN A RESIDENTIAL SALE as defined in §475.278(5)(a), and the buyer and seller each have ASSETS OF $1 MILLION OR MORE. When those thresholds are met, the broker may — at the customers' request — designate sales associates to act as single agents for different customers in the same transaction. The buyer and seller must both sign disclosures stating that their assets meet the $1 million threshold and requesting the designated-sales-associate form of representation.

The designated sales associates then owe single-agent duties to their respective customers under §475.278(3), and the statute imposes a special confidentiality structure: a designated sales associate may not disclose confidential customer information except to the broker or persons the broker specifies, and the broker must hold that information confidential and may not use it to the detriment of the other party. The whole device is limited to sophisticated, high-asset, non-residential deals precisely because it relaxes the ordinary structural protection against a single brokerage representing both sides.

Frequently Asked Questions

What brokerage relationship is a Florida licensee presumed to have?: Transaction broker. Under §475.278(1)(b), it is presumed that all licensees are operating as transaction brokers unless a single agent or no brokerage relationship is established, in writing, with a customer. A licensee who does not establish another relationship in writing is a transaction broker by operation of law, and the transaction-broker duties in §475.278(2) apply. This presumption has been the default since 2008 and reversed the earlier regime that required affirmative up-front disclosure of the relationship.
Is dual agency legal in Florida?: No. Section 475.278(1)(a) prohibits a licensee from operating as a disclosed or nondisclosed dual agent, where "dual agent" means a broker who represents both the prospective buyer and the prospective seller as a fiduciary in the same transaction. Florida replaced dual agency with the transaction-broker model, under which a licensee may provide limited representation to both sides without owing fiduciary duties to either. The only situation resembling representation of both sides by one brokerage is the designated-sales-associate arrangement under §475.2755, and even there each associate is a single agent for one party.
How does a single agent begin working with both parties?: By transitioning to transaction broker with prior written consent. Under §475.278(3)(c)2., a single-agent relationship may be changed to a transaction-broker relationship at any time, provided the agent first obtains the principal's written consent to the change, using the statute's CONSENT TO TRANSITION TO TRANSACTION BROKER language. The consent must be obtained BEFORE the change. The single agent may not simply become a dual agent, because dual agency is prohibited; the transition to transaction broker is the lawful path.
Does a licensee still have to hand every customer a disclosure notice?: The mechanics changed in 2008. Transaction brokerage is now the presumed default, so a licensee operating as a transaction broker is not establishing an exception and does not paper one. What the statute requires in writing is the EXCEPTION: to be a single agent or to have no brokerage relationship, that relationship must be established in writing, and the single-agent notice must print its first sentence in uppercase and bold. The transition from single agent to transaction broker requires the prior written consent described in §475.278(3)(c)2.
What is a designated sales associate?: Under §475.2755, it is an arrangement in which a broker appoints two sales associates to act as single agents for the buyer and the seller separately in the same transaction. It is available only in a transaction OTHER THAN a residential sale as defined in §475.278(5)(a), and only where the buyer and seller each have assets of $1 million or more and both sign the required disclosures. The designated associates owe single-agent duties to their respective customers, and a special confidentiality rule prevents the broker from using one party's confidential information against the other.
What duties does a transaction broker owe?: The transaction-broker duties in §475.278(2) include dealing honestly and fairly, accounting for all funds, using skill, care, and diligence in the transaction, disclosing all known facts that materially affect the value of residential real property and are not readily observable to the buyer, presenting all offers and counteroffers in a timely manner, and limited confidentiality. They are meaningful duties but stop short of the full fiduciary duties — loyalty, obedience, and complete confidentiality — that a single agent owes to a represented principal.

Bottom Line

Florida's Brokerage Relationship Disclosure Act (§475.2701 et seq.) centers on §475.278 and the PRESUMPTION OF TRANSACTION BROKERAGE: under §475.278(1)(b), every licensee is presumed a TRANSACTION BROKER unless a SINGLE AGENT or NO BROKERAGE RELATIONSHIP is established IN WRITING. A licensee may be a transaction broker (limited, non-fiduciary representation of one or both sides), a single agent (fiduciary representation of one party), or in no brokerage relationship; DUAL AGENCY — fiduciary representation of both parties — is PROHIBITED, disclosed or not. Because transaction brokerage is the default, the writing requirement attaches to the exceptions, and the most tested mechanic is the CONSENT TO TRANSITION: under §475.278(3)(c)2., a single agent may change to a transaction broker only with the customer's PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT, in the statutory uppercase language, obtained BEFORE the change. The single-agent notice must print its first sentence in uppercase and bold. The DESIGNATED SALES ASSOCIATE exception under §475.2755 lets one broker appoint associates as single agents for opposing parties, but only in NON-RESIDENTIAL transactions where both parties have assets of $1 MILLION OR MORE and sign the required disclosures. This guide covers the disclosure mechanics; for the substance of each relationship type and its duties, see our guide to transaction broker versus single agent, and for the licensing framework behind these rules, see our guides to the FREC and DBPR licensing structure and license law and conduct rules.

Source: Fla. Stat. §475.278 — Authorized Brokerage Relationships; Presumption of Transaction Brokerage; Required Disclosures (full text) · Fla. Stat. §475.2755 — Designated Sales Associate (full text) · Fla. Stat. §475.278 — annotated text and disclosure forms