Q: I’m a broker who recently decided to open a new real estate company. My partner and I will each be 50 percent owners of the company’s voting stock. This partner is not a real estate licensee; in fact, three years ago the state issued an injunction against him for the unlicensed practice of real estate while employed as an unlicensed assistant at another real estate company. The DBPR recently rejected my corporate application package because of this violation by my partner. May they do this?
A: Rule 61J2-5.014, FAC, allows FREC or the DBPR to refuse to issue a registration for a corporation if any individual having more than 40 percent ownership of the voting stock has had an injunction issued against him or her for the unlicensed practice of real estate.