(1)(a) After a commission is earned under this part, the broker may record a lien notice in the public records maintained by the clerk of court in the county or counties in which the commercial real estate is located. The lien notice shall be recorded no later than the earlier of:

1. Ninety days after the tenant takes possession of the leased premises or, in the case of a renewal commission that requires the broker to perform additional services as provided in s. 475.803(3), 90 days after the broker performs the additional services required for the renewal commission; or
2. The date on which the owner who is obligated to pay the commission records in the public records a deed or assignment transferring the owner’s interest in the commercial real estate to a bona fide purchaser for value.

Terms Used In Florida Statutes 475.807

  • Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
  • Automatic renewal commission: means a renewal commission for which the brokerage agreement does not expressly require the broker to perform any additional services in order to receive the renewal commission. See Florida Statutes 475.801
  • Broker: means a person who, for another, and for a compensation or valuable consideration directly or indirectly paid or promised, expressly or impliedly, or with an intent to collect or receive a compensation or valuable consideration therefor, appraises, auctions, sells, exchanges, buys, rents, or offers, attempts or agrees to appraise, auction, or negotiate the sale, exchange, purchase, or rental of business enterprises or business opportunities or any real property or any interest in or concerning the same, including mineral rights or leases, or who advertises or holds out to the public by any oral or printed solicitation or representation that she or he is engaged in the business of appraising, auctioning, buying, selling, exchanging, leasing, or renting business enterprises or business opportunities or real property of others or interests therein, including mineral rights, or who takes any part in the procuring of sellers, purchasers, lessors, or lessees of business enterprises or business opportunities or the real property of another, or leases, or interest therein, including mineral rights, or who directs or assists in the procuring of prospects or in the negotiation or closing of any transaction which does, or is calculated to, result in a sale, exchange, or leasing thereof, and who receives, expects, or is promised any compensation or valuable consideration, directly or indirectly therefor; and all persons who advertise rental property information or lists. See Florida Statutes 475.01
  • Brokerage agreement: means a written contract, entered into on or after the effective date of this act, between an owner of commercial real estate and a broker that obligates the owner to pay a commission to the broker for licensed services provided by the broker relating to the leasing of the commercial real estate as specified in the contract. See Florida Statutes 475.801
  • Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
  • Commercial real estate: means a fee simple interest or other possessory estate in real property, except an interest in real property that is:
    (a) Improved with one single-family residential unit or one multifamily structure containing one to four residential units;
    (b) Unimproved and the maximum permitted development is one to four residential units under any restrictive covenants, zoning regulations, or comprehensive plan applicable to that real property; or
    (c) Improved with single-family residential units such as condominiums, townhouses, timeshares, mobile homes, or houses in a subdivision that may be legally sold, leased, or otherwise conveyed on a unit-by-unit basis, regardless of whether these units may be a part of a larger building or parcel containing more than four residential units. See Florida Statutes 475.801
  • Commission: means any fee or other compensation that an owner agrees to pay a broker for licensed services as specified in a brokerage agreement. See Florida Statutes 475.801
  • Days: means calendar days, but if a period would end on a day other than a business day, the last day of that period shall instead be the next business day. See Florida Statutes 475.801
  • Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
  • Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
  • Lease: means a written agreement creating a relationship of landlord and tenant with respect to commercial real estate, such that the tenant acquires from the landlord the right to possess the commercial real estate for a specified period of time. See Florida Statutes 475.801
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Lien notice: means the written notice of lien made by a broker claiming a commission under…. See Florida Statutes 475.801
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • Owner: means a person that is vested with fee simple title or a possessory estate, including a leasehold, in commercial real estate that is the subject of a lease. See Florida Statutes 475.801
  • real estate: means any interest or estate in land and any interest in business enterprises or business opportunities, including any assignment, leasehold, subleasehold, or mineral right; however, the term does not include any cemetery lot or right of burial in any cemetery; nor does the term include the renting of a mobile home lot or recreational vehicle lot in a mobile home park or travel park. See Florida Statutes 475.01
  • Renewal commission: means an additional commission that may become payable to a broker under a brokerage agreement if a lease subject to that brokerage agreement is later renewed or is later modified to expand the leased premises or extend the lease term. See Florida Statutes 475.801
(b) A broker who fails to record a lien notice within the time period prescribed by this section may not enforce a lien for the claimed commission under this part, and a lien notice that is recorded outside of the time period prescribed by this section is void.
(2) Within 7 days after recording the lien notice, the broker shall deliver a copy of the lien notice to the owner obligated to pay the claimed commission.
(3) The broker’s lien created by this part against the commercial real estate is perfected by such recording of the lien notice and takes priority under this part as of the date of the recording of the lien notice. The priority of the lien notice does not relate back to the date of the brokerage agreement.
(4) If the commission is to be paid in installments and any of those installments are due after the lease is executed, the lien notice is valid only to the extent that moneys remain unpaid by the owner to the broker.
(5) A recorded lien notice is effective under this part only with respect to leases made by the owner named in the lien notice, and the lien notice is ineffective with respect to any leases that are made by:

(a) A bona fide purchaser for value of the commercial real estate;
(b) A purchaser at any mortgage foreclosure sale of the commercial real estate; or
(c) Any successor owner acquiring the commercial real estate from a purchaser described in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b).
(6) Whenever a lien notice is recorded and a condition or event occurs or fails to occur that would preclude the broker from receiving the claimed commission under the terms of the brokerage agreement, including the filing of a lien notice in a manner that does not comply with this part, the broker shall, within 7 days following demand by the owner, record a written release of the lien notice in the public records of the county where the lien notice was recorded.
(7) If a broker records a lien notice pursuant to this section and the claimed commission is paid or the lien notice is otherwise discharged or satisfied pursuant to this part, the broker shall, within 7 days after the commission is paid or the lien notice is otherwise discharged or satisfied, record a written release of the lien notice in the public records of the county where the lien notice was recorded.
(8)(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), a lien notice recorded by a broker under this part for a claimed commission expires 2 years after the date of recording, unless within that time the broker commences an action to foreclose the lien under s. 475.809 and records a notice of lis pendens in the public records of the county where the lien notice was recorded.
(b) To the extent that a lien notice recorded by a broker under this part claims an automatic renewal commission that is earned but not then payable, the lien notice expires 10 years after the date of recording, unless within that time the broker commences an action to foreclose the lien under s. 475.809 and records a notice of lis pendens in the public records of the county where the lien notice was recorded. If the owner remains obligated to pay a commission to the broker, the broker may extend the expiration date of a lien notice for an automatic renewal commission by recording an extension notice in the same public records within the last 6 months before such expiration date. An extension notice shall refer to the recording information of the original lien notice, shall state that the owner remains obligated to pay a commission to the broker, and shall include the same information and be executed in the same manner as required by s. 475.805(1) for the original lien notice. A timely recorded extension notice shall extend the expiration date of the original recorded lien notice by 10 additional years. Successive extension notices may be recorded for so long as the owner remains obligated to pay a commission to the broker. Within 10 days after recording an extension notice, the broker shall deliver a copy thereof to the owner.
(c) The owner or the owner’s agent or attorney may elect to shorten the time within which the broker shall commence an action to foreclose a lien under s. 475.809, or to enforce a claim against a transfer bond or other security under s. 475.811, by recording in the clerk’s office a notice of contest in substantially the following form:

NOTICE OF CONTEST OF BROKER’S LIEN

To:   (Name and address of broker)  

You are notified that the undersigned contests the lien notice filed by you on     ,   (year)  , and recorded in Official Records Book     , Page  , of the public records of      County, Florida, and that the time within which you may file suit to enforce your lien is limited to 60 days from the date of service of this notice. This     day of     ,   (year)  .

Signed:   (Owner or Attorney)  

The lien of any broker upon whom such a notice of contest is served and who fails to institute a suit to enforce the lien within 60 days after service of such notice of contest shall be extinguished automatically. The clerk shall mail a copy of the notice of contest to the broker at the address shown in the lien notice or most recent amendment thereto and shall certify to such service on the face of the notice of contest and record the notice of contest. Service of the notice of contest by the clerk shall be deemed complete upon mailing.

(9) Neither the recording of a broker’s lien notice or any extension thereof nor the recording of any lis pendens to foreclose a broker’s lien thereunder shall constitute notice to any creditor or subsequent purchaser pursuant to s. 695.01 or chapter 712 of the existence of any lease described in the lien notice, extension notice, or lis pendens.
  Previous section
Next section  
 Part IV Contents