Real Estate Brokers Have Rights to File Liens to Protect Commission

For Florida-based real estate brokers, who find themselves deprived of their commission because the commercial property sellers refuse to do so, you should know that you actually have lien rights as given by the state legislature in 2005.

The said lien will be attached to the net sale and not on the commercial property, which means that the buyer gets the title lien-free and the lien is only applicable during the signing of the contract – the time when the commission of the real estate brokers is earned.

However, real estate brokers should be aware that the lien right is only for the specific broker indicated in the brokerage contract and can never be sold or factored. This also means that the lien right can not be assigned to another party aside from the broker and the seller.

Commercial real estate brokers should also inform the commercial owner regarding the lien rights involving commissions. Failure to give full disclosure can result to waiving of the right under the said statute.

In order to enforce the lien, real estate brokers should not forget to give the closing agent and commercial property owner a commission notice, signed and sworn in front of a notary public. The notice should also include pertinent information such as owner’s name, property description and address as well as the name, address, contact ant licence numbers of the real estate broker. Of course, the effectivity date of the brokerage contract and statement of the Florida statute that involved lien rights for broker commission. The commission notice is then recorded at the local Clerk of County after all the parties have been furnished with their copies.

The lien rights involving commission have certainly given commercial real estate brokers a powerful means to collect their commissions.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Real Estate Brokers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.