How to check a real estate license in Florida
To check a Florida real estate license, use the Department of Business and Professional Regulation's Verify a Licensee search at myfloridalicense.com. You can search by name, license number, city or county, or license type, and DBPR says the search shows license status and expiration date. DBPR points to this search for up-to-the-minute verification. Florida law keeps a complaint confidential until 10 days after probable cause is found, so a clean public record does not prove no complaint was filed. To complain, use DBPR's online complaint form, or fax or mail the downloadable form to the Division of Real Estate. DBPR's action is generally limited to the license, and it cannot make a licensee pay you money. Florida's Real Estate Recovery Fund can reimburse certain unpaid court judgments.
Sources checked on official Florida government pages. Next review due .
Look up the license
Open the DBPR Verify a Licensee search
What the search shows
According to the regulator’s own description, the search shows:
- License status
- Expiration date
DBPR's public records notice says that for up-to-the-minute license verification you can use this search or call its Customer Contact Center at 850.487.1395. Source
Match the license number as well as the name. Different people can share a name.
Check for disciplinary actions
The Division of Real Estate posts yearly Final Orders Reports, which summarize final orders that resulted in fines, suspensions or revocations.
Open the official pageFile a complaint
- File online through the complaint form linked from DBPR's real estate complaints page.
- Or download the complaint form and fax or mail it to the Division of Real Estate, using the fax number and Orlando address on that page.
DBPR says no definite time frame can be given for when a complaint case will be completed.
Limits on what the regulator can do
- DBPR says the action it can take is generally limited to the person's license.
- It cannot enforce or cancel contracts, impose restitution or make a licensee pay you money. DBPR says those are civil matters for a court.
Florida Real Estate Recovery Fund
Florida law created this fund to reimburse people who win a Florida court judgment for money damages against an individual broker or sales associate and cannot collect it, generally after a writ of execution has been issued on the judgment. Only certain claims qualify. The licensee must have held an active license at the time and acted only as a licensee in a Florida real estate brokerage transaction, and the act must have violated section 475.25 or 475.42 of the Florida Statutes. A judgment against a brokerage company does not qualify. The law calls for notice to the Florida Real Estate Commission by certified mail when the lawsuit is filed, though the Commission may still honor an otherwise valid claim without it. A claim must be made within 2 years of the act behind it, or of when the act was or should have been discovered, and never more than 4 years after the act. The fund pays only actual or compensatory damages, up to $50,000 per transaction, however many people claim, and $150,000 per licensee. The statute sets further conditions.
This page summarizes official state sources. It is not legal advice.
Read the official pageWhat a license check cannot tell you
- A current, active license shows that the state allows the person to practice. It does not show sales results, skill or client satisfaction.
- A lookup shows the record as of the regulator’s last update. Check again close to when you sign an agreement.
- Florida law keeps a complaint and its investigation confidential until 10 days after probable cause is found, so a record with no public discipline does not prove no complaint was filed.