Florida is not Texas: what section 475.278 actually says

Plenty of writing about buyer agreements treats Texas, California, and Florida as three versions of the same rule. They are not. Florida's statute answers a different question, and an agent who reads it as a Texas-style mandate will be looking for a requirement that is not there while missing the one that is.

What Florida regulates

Section 475.278 of the Florida Statutes governs brokerage relationships. A licensee may work as a transaction broker or as a single agent. Dual agency, disclosed or not, is not permitted.

So the writing matters, but it is doing a different job. In Texas the written agreement is a precondition for showing a house. In Florida the writing is what moves you off the default. Say nothing and you are a transaction broker by operation of law.

Single agent duties have to be disclosed

If you are a single agent, those duties have to be fully described and disclosed in writing to the buyer or seller. That can be a separate disclosure document, or it can sit inside another document such as a listing agreement or other agreement for representation.

Changing the relationship later is also a written event. Moving a client from single agent to transaction broker cannot happen without their prior written consent.

What still applies anyway

None of this displaces the written buyer agreement requirement that reached MLS participants through the NAR settlement. A Florida agent can be fully compliant with 475.278 and still owe a buyer agreement under the rules their MLS enforces. The two sit on top of each other.

That is the practical reason Florida files get messy. The paperwork is not one document with one deadline. It is a relationship disclosure, a possible representation agreement, and a consent record if anything changed partway through.

• Keep the disclosure that establishes the relationship, not just the agreement that follows it.
• Keep the written consent if a client moved from single agent to transaction broker. That is the document that gets asked for.
• Track the end date on any representation agreement your MLS rules require, because the statute will not give you one.

ExactCircle stores the signed record and watches the dates that do exist. See the Florida page.

This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. Rules change and local association forms vary. Check with your broker or attorney before you rely on any of it.