Q: I’m a single agent for a buyer and have written an offer using the Florida Realtors Contract for Residential Sale and Purchase contract form. The seller’s single agent is telling me that his brokerage prefers the Florida Realtors/Florida Bar Residential Contract For Sale And Purchase form and that they won’t present the offer to his seller. May they do that?
A: It depends. Section 475.278(3)(a), Florida Statutes, provides that a single agent must present “all offers and counteroffers in a timely manner, unless a party has previously directed the licensee otherwise in writing.” Therefore, if the seller has previously directed his or her single agent in writing that he or she shouldn’t be presented with any offers written on the Florida Realtors contract form, then it would not be a violation for the seller’s single agent to refuse to present it to the seller. If the seller hasn’t so previously directed his or her single agent in writing, then the agent must timely present the offer.