Florida Real Estate Exam News: July 2026
Published
July is when the spring session's laws take effect, and this year a mid-year look at DBPR's licensing file showed more people passing the exam than ever. FREC skipped its July meeting.
July 1: New laws in force
- HB 1389, Live Local Act 4.0. Expands where affordable multifamily projects can be built as of right (now including land owned by religious institutions and public bodies), tightens local height and setback limits, and requires 40 percent affordable units for 30 years.
- HB 1417, septic disclosure (Chapter 2026-2). Signed March 19, 2026. Requires a disclosure at or before closing that a property with a septic system is subject to onsite sewage regulations; Florida Realtors had the more confusing draft language removed.
- HB 7031-E, remaining tax provisions. Everything except the 689.261 disclosure rewrite, which waits until February 1, 2027.
- HB 5001-E, state budget. $50 million for Hometown Heroes down-payment assistance and $236.5 million for SHIP and SAIL affordable housing.
Sources
July 2: Mid-year licensing snapshot from the DBPR file
Casa Academy's analysis of the full DBPR licensing extract (452,154 records, 313,553 active licensees as of July 2) counted 49,677 sales associate exam passes in the first half of 2026, a pace 16 percent ahead of the first half of 2025, after 64,840 new licensees in all of 2025. The same file shows 43 percent of the 2025 cohort already holding an inactive license. This is a third-party analysis, not a DBPR publication.
Sources
July 9: Florida Realtors revises Addendum F (Condominium Association)
According to the Form Simplicity release notes, the condominium addendum used with the FR/BAR contract was revised to update the structural integrity reserve study citation from 718.103(26) to 718.103(28) and to drop a duplicated definition. The revision date on the form is now 7/2026.
July 11: Federal ROAD to Housing Act signed
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, 60 sections of federal housing policy, became law. It lets manufactured homes be built without a permanent steel chassis, frees CDBG funds for new construction, authorizes an FHA pilot for mortgages of $100,000 or less, and sets up a permanent disaster-recovery office at HUD. Florida Realtors' explainer ran on August 14.
July 22: FREC's July meeting canceled
The Commission's regular July 22 meeting was canceled; the licensing backlog was handled at a special livestream-only meeting on August 5 (see the August issue).
Sources
Also noted
- HB 399 will require local governments to permit modular and manufactured homes as of right wherever site-built single-family homes are allowed, starting January 1, 2027. Source: Holland & Knight.
- The 2026 Florida Statutes are being published; check that any study material citing Chapter 475 or 689 uses the 2026 edition. Source: Online Sunshine, Chapter 475.
Unchanged this month
Exam format, fees, in-person testing, candidate information booklet.
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Start the free test →Exam-preparation material, not legal advice. Laws and rules change; verify current text at the Florida Legislature, DBPR and FREC before relying on any of this professionally.