Real Estate Agent License Renewal in Florida
Florida sales associates renew every 2 years with 14 hours of CE, but the first renewal is different: 45 hours of post-licensing education instead.
| Renewal cycle | Every 2 years |
|---|---|
| CE hours required | 14 hours 14 hours per renewal from the second renewal onward: 3 hours Florida law update, 3 hours ethics and business practices, and 8 hours of specialty credit. Your FIRST renewal is different, a sales associate owes 45 hours of post-licensing education instead of the 14, and a broker owes 60. |
| Renewal fee | Not published |
| Mandatory CE topics | Florida law update (3 of the 14 hours), Ethics and business practices (3 of the 14 hours), Specialty credit (8 of the 14 hours), First renewal only: 45 hours post-licensing for sales associates, 60 for brokers |
| Licensing board | Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC), Department of Business and Professional Regulation |
Sourced from Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC), Department of Business and Professional Regulation, verified July 25, 2026. Requirements change. Confirm with your board before relying on this.
Florida is the state where reading the general CE answer will actively mislead a new agent. The number everyone quotes, 14 hours, does not apply to your first renewal at all. That one asks for 45.
Your first renewal is not a CE renewal
A newly licensed Florida sales associate owes 45 hours of post-licensing education before the first renewal, not the 14-hour CE package. A broker owes 60 hours. This is coursework with exams, not a quick online refresher, and the first renewal period runs somewhere between 18 and 24 months rather than a clean two years.
Miss it and the consequence is severe in a way ordinary CE shortfalls are not: post-licensing education is a condition of keeping the license, and a sales associate who fails to complete it does not simply go inactive. Anyone in their first cycle should confirm their exact expiration date and the hours recorded against it before assuming a 14-hour course will do.
The one exception: a licensee holding a four-year degree in real estate from an accredited institution is exempt from post-licensing.
Every renewal after that: 14 hours
From the second renewal onward, the requirement settles into 14 hours per two-year period, split three ways:
- 3 hours of Florida law update. Reissued as the law changes, so last cycle’s version doesn’t carry over.
- 3 hours of ethics and business practices.
- 8 hours of specialty credit, which is where your actual choice lives.
Continuing education is required whether your license is active or inactive. Going inactive is not a way to pause the requirement, which is the second most common Florida misunderstanding after the post-licensing one.
The cycle and the two deadlines
Florida does not renew everyone on the same day, but it does not use your license anniversary either. Licensees fall into groups expiring either March 31 or September 30, and both the fee and the education have to be in by midnight Eastern on that date. Check which group you are in rather than assuming, because the two dates are six months apart and the wrong assumption costs you a cycle.
Providers report course completion to the state electronically, and the division monitors completion at 100%, so the record the state holds is the record that counts. Keep your own certificates for audit, but verify what has actually been reported before the deadline rather than after.
The fee
DBPR collects the renewal fee through its online licensing system, and Florida has repeatedly applied temporary fee changes to real estate renewals. The renewal notice for the March 2024 cycle, for example, carried a 50% renewal fee reduction and a waiver of the $5 unlicensed activity fee. Because those adjustments come and go by cycle, this page publishes no fixed figure. Sign in to your DBPR account and read the amount shown before you pay. A $25 late fee applies once the deadline passes.
How this compares
Florida’s ongoing 14 hours is lighter than Texas’s 18 on the same two-year cycle, and much lighter per year than California’s 45 hours across four years. What Florida front-loads instead is the first renewal, where 45 post-licensing hours land on a brand-new agent inside their first two years. Judge the state by that first cycle, not by the 14-hour number that gets quoted everywhere.
Add your renewal deadline to your calendar
Enter your expiration date and download a calendar file. Your own calendar will remind you at 90, 60, 30, and 7 days out. We don't ask for your email, we store nothing, and the date never leaves your device.
Works with Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, and Outlook. This is a convenience, not a compliance service. Confirm your exact deadline with the Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC), Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
How many CE hours do you have left?
Florida requires 14 CE hours this cycle. Enter what you've completed and see what's left. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
Hours alone aren't the whole requirement. Some must be these specific topics:
- Florida law update (3 of the 14 hours)
- Ethics and business practices (3 of the 14 hours)
- Specialty credit (8 of the 14 hours)
- First renewal only: 45 hours post-licensing for sales associates, 60 for brokers
A convenience, not a compliance service. Confirm your exact requirement with the Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC), Department of Business and Professional Regulation. This is not legal advice.
Continuing education hours per renewal cycle
Florida asks for 14 hours. That is below the median of 18 across the 51 states that set a flat hour count, which run from 7 to 45. Ranked lowest to highest, Florida is 15 of 51.
Each mark is one state. The taller line is the median, the filled dot is Florida. States that set no flat hour count, or publish no fee, are left out of that comparison rather than counted as zero.