(1)(a) The department shall renew a license upon receipt of the renewal application and fee. The renewal application for an active license as broker, broker associate, or sales associate shall include proof satisfactory to the commission that the licensee has, since the issuance or renewal of her or his current license, satisfactorily completed at least 14 classroom hours of 50 minutes each of a continuing education course during each biennium of a license period, as prescribed by the commission. Approval or denial of a specialty course must be based on the extent to which the course content focuses on real estate issues relevant to the modern practice of real estate by a real estate licensee, including technology used in the real estate industry. The commission may accept as a substitute for such continuing education course, on a classroom-hour-for-classroom-hour basis, any satisfactorily completed education course that the commission finds is adequate to educate licensees within the intent of this section, including an approved distance learning course. However, the commission may not require, for the purpose of satisfactorily completing an approved correspondence or distance learning course, a written examination that is to be taken at a centralized location and is to be monitored.

(b) The commission may accept as a substitute for 3 classroom hours, one time per renewal cycle, attendance at one legal agenda session of the commission. In order to obtain credit, the licensee must notify the division at least 7 days in advance of his or her intent to attend. A licensee may not earn any continuing education credit for attending a legal agenda session of the commission as a party to a disciplinary action.

(2) The department shall adopt rules establishing a procedure for the renewal of licenses at least every 4 years.

(3) Any license that is not renewed at the end of the license period prescribed by the department shall automatically revert to involuntarily inactive status. Such license may subsequently be renewed only if the licensee meets the other qualifications specified in s. 475.183.

(4) Sixty days before the end of the license period and automatic reversion of a license to inactive status, the department shall mail a notice of renewal and possible reversion to the last known address of the licensee.

History.—ss. 14, 42, ch. 79-239; ss. 2, 5, ch. 80-307; ss. 2, 3, ch. 81-318; ss. 16, 38, ch. 82-1; ss. 32, 45, ch. 82-179; s. 93, ch. 83-218; ss. 10, 28, 30, ch. 88-20; s. 10, ch. 91-89; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 8, ch. 93-261; s. 140, ch. 94-119; s. 5, ch. 94-337; s. 368, ch. 97-103; s. 2, ch. 2002-9; s. 30, ch. 2003-164; s. 5, ch. 2007-86.