Florida Real Estate Exam Antitrust and Kickbacks (2026): Sherman Act, RESPA Section 8, and Florida Fee-Sharing Rules

What this guide covers

1. The central framework: federal antitrust + RESPA Section 8 + Florida fee-sharing rules
2. Sherman Antitrust Act: the four exam-tested antitrust danger patterns
3. Price fixing (the most-tested antitrust violation)
4. Market allocation
5. Group boycotts
6. Tying arrangements
7. Penalties for Sherman Act violations
8. RESPA Section 8: kickbacks and unearned fees
9. What RESPA Section 8 does NOT prohibit
10. RESPA penalties and enforcement
11. F.S. 475.25(1)(h) and F.A.C. 61J2-10.028: Florida fee-sharing, kickback, and rebate rules
12. The Florida Antitrust Act (F.S. Chapter 542)
13. 2024 NAR settlement context for commission negotiability
14. Federal antitrust vs RESPA vs Florida fee-sharing rules (comparison matrix)
15. Four ways the exam can ask this (with tempting wrong-answer patterns)
16. A worked-scenario walkthrough end to end
17. Common candidate mistakes
18. FAQ, methodology, and sources

The central framework: federal antitrust + RESPA Section 8 + Florida fee-sharing rules

Antitrust and kickbacks appear on the Florida real estate exam as three distinct legal frameworks. Most exam questions can be resolved by identifying which framework the stem is asking about.

Most exam questions can be resolved by identifying the framework first. A "two Realtors agree on commission rates" question is a federal antitrust question. A "title company gives broker a marketing fee for referrals" question is a RESPA Section 8 question. A "broker shares commission with unlicensed assistant" question is a F.S. 475.25(1)(h) question. Mixing the three is the most common candidate trap.

Sherman Antitrust Act: the four exam-tested antitrust danger patterns

The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 is the foundational federal competition law. Two sections apply to real estate:

• Sherman Act Section 1 (15 U.S.C. 1): "Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States...is declared to be illegal."
• Sherman Act Section 2 (15 U.S.C. 2): Prohibits monopolization and attempts to monopolize.

For real estate exam purposes, Section 1's horizontal-agreement framework is far more commonly tested.

The Sherman Act creates two broad categories of analysis:

The four antitrust danger patterns for real estate brokers and sales associates are the central exam-tested anchors:

1. Price fixing. competitors agreeing on commission rates or pricing structures
2. Market allocation. competitors dividing geographic territories, customer types, or transaction sources
3. Group boycotts. competitors collectively refusing to deal with a particular broker, vendor, or class of competitors
4. Tying arrangements. conditioning one product or service on the purchase of another (exam-tested as an antitrust risk; real legal analysis depends on separate products, coercion, market power, and facts)

Price fixing (the most-tested antitrust violation)

Price fixing is the single most-tested antitrust violation on the Florida real estate exam.

The rule: Competitors may not agree, explicitly or implicitly, on the prices they will charge. In real estate, this means brokers from different brokerages may not agree on commission rates.

What constitutes price fixing:

The key Section 1 trigger is the agreement between competitors. A single broker setting any price is legal. Two brokers from the same brokerage agreeing on the brokerage's commission policy is legal. Two brokers from different brokerages agreeing on commission rates is per se illegal.

The exam trap. A stem describes two Realtors from different brokerages meeting at a coffee shop and agreeing to charge 6%. The candidate may be tempted to think the agreement is fine because "6% is the standard in this market" or "the agreement is just a suggestion." Neither defense matters. Per se illegal means no defense is allowed once the horizontal agreement is established.

Market allocation

The rule: Competitors may not agree to divide territories, customer types, or transaction sources.

Examples of market allocation in real estate:

The key trigger is the agreement to refrain from competing. Specialization without agreement is fine; specialization by agreement between competitors is per se illegal.

Group boycotts

The rule: Competitors may not collectively agree to refuse to deal with a particular broker, vendor, or class of competitors.

The classic real estate example is the "discount broker boycott." Multiple full-service brokers agreeing to refuse to cooperate with a discount broker (such as by refusing to show the discount broker's listings) is per se illegal.

The key trigger is the agreement to refuse to deal. A single broker's unilateral refusal to cooperate is legal. Multiple competitors agreeing to refuse to deal with someone is per se illegal.

Tying arrangements

The rule: Conditioning the sale or provision of one product or service on the purchase of another can be a Sherman Act violation, especially when the seller has market power in the tying product.

This is the antitrust item that needs the most careful wording. Price fixing, market allocation, and classic horizontal group boycotts are the cleaner per se exam patterns. Tying is also taught as an antitrust danger pattern, but real-world tying analysis is more fact-specific. Do not treat every package, discount, or affiliated-service offer as automatically illegal.

Examples in real estate:

The exam trap. Tying questions can also implicate RESPA Section 8 if the tied product is a settlement service in a federally related mortgage transaction. Some fact patterns may raise both antitrust and RESPA issues, but the legal tests are not identical.

Penalties for Sherman Act violations

Sherman Act violations are among the most severe penalties in federal law applied to real estate professionals.

Treble damages is the most operationally important penalty in real estate antitrust cases. A plaintiff who proves $100,000 in damages from a price-fixing conspiracy recovers $300,000 plus attorney's fees. This makes private antitrust lawsuits a major financial risk even when criminal prosecution is unlikely.

Enforcement:

• DOJ Antitrust Division. criminal prosecution and civil enforcement
• FTC. civil enforcement, particularly for less clear-cut competitive conduct
• State Attorneys General. under both federal antitrust law (parens patriae actions) and state antitrust law
• Private plaintiffs. including class actions

RESPA Section 8: kickbacks and unearned fees

The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) is a federal consumer-protection statute. Section 8 prohibits kickbacks and unearned fees in connection with federally related mortgage loan transactions.

The verbatim rule (12 U.S.C. 2607):

• Section 8(a): No person shall give and no person shall accept any fee, kickback, or thing of value pursuant to any agreement or understanding, oral or otherwise, that business incident to or a part of a real estate settlement service involving a federally related mortgage loan shall be referred to any person.
• Section 8(b): No person shall give and no person shall accept any portion, split, or percentage of any charge made or received for the rendering of a real estate settlement service in connection with a transaction involving a federally related mortgage loan other than for services actually performed.

What this means in real estate:

• Section 8(a) prohibits referral fees for settlement services.
• Section 8(b) prohibits unearned fee splits. splitting a fee where one party did not actually perform services to earn it.

What "federally related mortgage loan" means:

Most residential mortgage loans on 1-4 unit properties are federally related (because most are insured by a federal agency, sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or made by a federally insured lender). This means RESPA Section 8 applies to nearly every residential real estate transaction.

What "settlement services" includes:

Classic Section 8 violations:

What RESPA Section 8 does NOT prohibit

Several practices that look like kickbacks are actually permitted under RESPA Section 8 because they fall outside the statute's scope.

The Affiliated Business Arrangement (ABA) framework is the most common compliance structure for brokers who have ownership interests in title companies, mortgage companies, or other settlement service providers. RESPA permits ABAs if:

1. The broker discloses the ownership interest to the consumer in writing.
2. The broker does not require the consumer to use the affiliated service.
3. The broker receives nothing of value from the affiliated service other than a return on the ownership interest.

That three-part summary is the exam version. Regulation X contains technical exceptions and definitions, so real ABAs should be reviewed by RESPA-compliance counsel before use.

RESPA penalties and enforcement

RESPA Section 8 penalties:

Enforcement:

• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). primary federal enforcement since 2011 (transferred from HUD)
• State Attorneys General. for certain consumer-protection enforcement
• Private plaintiffs. including class actions

The civil treble-damages remedy is particularly important because both the giver and receiver of the kickback face joint and several liability for three times the settlement-service charge.

F.S. 475.25(1)(h) and F.A.C. 61J2-10.028: Florida fee-sharing, kickback, and rebate rules

Florida has its own fee-sharing and rebate rules that are separate from federal antitrust law and RESPA Section 8.

F.S. 475.25(1)(h) makes it grounds for FREC discipline if a licensee:

"Has shared a commission with, or paid a fee or other compensation to, a person not properly licensed as a broker, broker associate, or sales associate under the laws of this state, for the referral of real estate business, clients, prospects, or customers, or for any one or more of the services set forth in s. 475.01(1)(a)."

Practical operation:

• A Florida licensee may pay a commission, referral fee, or compensation to another Florida-licensed real estate broker, broker associate, or sales associate (subject to the F.S. 475.42(1)(d) compensation-only-through-broker rule).
• A Florida licensee may not pay a commission, referral fee, or compensation to an unlicensed person for real estate brokerage services.
• Out-of-state licensed brokers can sometimes receive referral fees from Florida licensees under the foreign-broker language in F.S. 475.25(1)(h), but only if properly licensed or registered in the other jurisdiction and not violating Florida law.
• F.A.C. 61J2-10.028 says sharing brokerage compensation with a party to the real estate transaction is not a Chapter 475 violation when there is full disclosure to all interested parties.

Common Florida fee-sharing patterns:

The exam distinction. F.S. 475.25(1)(h) is about paying an unlicensed person, not about price fixing or settlement-services kickbacks. It is a Florida licensing rule, not an antitrust or RESPA rule. The same fact pattern may also implicate RESPA Section 8 if the payment is for referral of settlement services, but the F.S. 475.25(1)(h) analysis is separate.

The Florida Antitrust Act (F.S. Chapter 542)

Florida has a state-law mirror of the Sherman Antitrust Act. F.S. Chapter 542 is the Florida Antitrust Act of 1980.

Enforcement: Florida Office of the Attorney General + private plaintiffs.

The exam relationship. Florida exam questions are usually framed around federal antitrust law (Sherman Act) rather than F.S. Chapter 542, because federal antitrust law dominates real estate antitrust enforcement. But the Florida Antitrust Act exists as a parallel state-law remedy, and conduct that violates the Sherman Act will also typically violate F.S. 542.18 or 542.19.

2024 NAR settlement context for commission negotiability

The 2024 National Association of Realtors (NAR) settlement, resulting from the Sitzer-Burnett case and related litigation, created significant changes to commission practice but did not change the underlying antitrust law. For exam purposes, two practical changes matter:

The antitrust framing throughout the NAR settlement was that the prior MLS cooperative-compensation practice may have facilitated anticompetitive coordination on commission rates. The settlement was negotiated to address that concern while preserving lawful cooperation between brokers.

Florida-specific implementation: Florida Realtors has issued forms and guidance to implement the settlement. The Florida-specific brokerage relationship framework (transaction broker, single agent, no brokerage relationship under F.S. 475.278) was not changed by the settlement. A written buyer agreement under the NAR settlement is not automatically the same thing as a Florida single-agent relationship. See the Florida real estate brokerage relationships explained post for the Florida brokerage relationships interaction with the NAR settlement.

The exam framing. For the Florida exam, the NAR settlement context primarily matters because it reinforces a core antitrust principle: commission rates are negotiable, not standard, and explicit or implicit agreements among competing brokers on rates are per se illegal price fixing.

Federal antitrust vs RESPA vs Florida fee-sharing rules (comparison matrix)

The three frameworks often appear together in a single fact pattern, and exam questions test whether candidates can identify which framework controls.

The trap pattern. A single fact pattern can implicate two or three frameworks simultaneously. A settlement-service provider payment tied to referrals may raise RESPA Section 8 issues; a Florida licensee payment to an unlicensed person for brokerage referrals may raise F.S. 475.25(1)(h) issues. A trade association of competitors that adopts a uniform commission policy violates Sherman Act Section 1 AND F.S. 542.18.

Four ways the exam can ask this (with tempting wrong-answer patterns)

Pattern 1: The two-broker commission agreement

Stem shape. Two Realtors from different brokerages meet at a coffee shop and agree they will both charge 6% commission to avoid undercutting each other. What is the legal exposure?

Correct answer. Per se illegal price fixing under Sherman Act Section 1. Penalties include felony criminal exposure (up to 10 years in prison + $1 million individual fine) plus civil treble damages. F.S. Chapter 542 (Florida Antitrust Act) also applies under state law.

Tempting wrong-answer pattern. Any answer that says the agreement is fine because "6% is the market standard" or "the agreement is just an understanding, not a contract." Per se illegal means no defense based on market conditions is allowed, and Sherman Act Section 1 covers oral agreements and informal understandings.

Pattern 2: The title company "marketing fee"

Stem shape. A title company offers a broker $500 for each closed transaction the broker refers to the title company. The transactions involve federally related residential mortgages. What is the legal exposure?

Correct answer. RESPA Section 8(a) violation (kickback for referral of settlement services). Criminal penalties up to 1 year + $10,000, plus civil treble damages on the amount of the settlement-service charge.

Tempting wrong-answer pattern. Any answer that says the payment is fine because it is for "marketing" or "co-promotion." The CFPB and federal courts look at substance: if the payment is functionally a referral fee, it is a Section 8(a) violation regardless of how it is labeled.

Pattern 3: The unlicensed assistant referral fee

Stem shape. A broker pays an unlicensed assistant $200 for each new buyer the assistant introduces to the brokerage. What is the legal exposure?

Correct answer. F.S. 475.25(1)(h) violation (sharing commission/fee with unlicensed person for referral of real estate brokerage business). The broker faces FREC discipline up to license revocation. If the transactions also involve federally related mortgage settlement services, RESPA Section 8 may also apply.

Tempting wrong-answer pattern. Any answer that says the payment is fine because the assistant is an employee. F.S. 475.25(1)(h) prohibits sharing commission with an unlicensed person regardless of employment relationship. The assistant must be licensed (sales associate or broker associate) to receive a commission share.

Pattern 4: The cooperative listing arrangement

Stem shape. Broker A (Listing Brokerage) cooperates with Broker B (Buyer Brokerage) on a sale. Both brokers actually performed services. Broker A pays Broker B a cooperative commission split. Is this a Sherman Act or RESPA violation?

Correct answer. Neither. Cooperative broker-to-broker commission splits where both brokers performed services are legal under Sherman Act Section 1 (no horizontal price agreement) and under RESPA Section 8(b) (the split is for services actually performed). Both brokers' compensation must flow through their respective registered brokers per F.S. 475.42(1)(d).

Tempting wrong-answer pattern. Any answer that says broker-to-broker commission splits are automatically kickbacks. Cooperative splits for services actually performed are explicitly permitted under all three frameworks.

Worked-scenario walkthrough: the trade association lunch

The stem. Three Florida brokers from competing brokerages (ABC Realty, XYZ Realty, and Smith Real Estate) attend a local Board of Realtors lunch meeting. During lunch, they discuss the recent trend of discount brokers entering their market. The three brokers verbally agree to (1) charge a minimum 6% commission on all listings, (2) not show any discount broker's listings to their buyers, and (3) split future referrals so ABC handles the East side, XYZ handles the West side, and Smith handles commercial. They shake hands and agree to "watch each other's backs." No written agreement exists. What is the legal exposure?

Step 1: Identify the central framework. This is a Sherman Antitrust Act question. All three agreements are horizontal restraints between competitors.

Step 2: Apply the Sherman Act Section 1 per se framework.

Three per se illegal practices in a single conversation. Each agreement is independently sufficient for Sherman Act Section 1 liability.

Step 3: Address the "oral agreement" defense. The brokers may believe the verbal nature of the agreement provides protection. It does not. Sherman Act Section 1 reaches contracts, combinations, and conspiracies, so a written contract is not required. Evidence of an oral agreement or a conscious commitment to a common anticompetitive plan can be enough.

Step 4: Identify all applicable laws.

Step 5: Identify the penalty exposure.

The realistic decision tree for the brokers.

The expensive mistake. The brokers' belief that "verbal agreements don't count" or "we're just helping each other" is the most dangerous misconception in this scenario. Sherman Act per se violations form at the moment of the agreement, regardless of whether the agreements are ever performed.

What the worked scenario shows. A single conversation among competing brokers can create three independent felony-level antitrust violations under Sherman Act Section 1. The Florida exam tests whether candidates can recognize per se illegal practices in fact patterns that may appear to be ordinary trade-association discussion. The combination of price fixing + market allocation + group boycott in one conversation is the kind of pattern that drives both criminal prosecutions and major treble-damages civil cases.

Common candidate mistakes

FAQ

What is price fixing on the Florida real estate exam?

Price fixing is an agreement between competitors (brokers from different brokerages) on commission rates, prices, or pricing structures. It is per se illegal under Sherman Antitrust Act Section 1, regardless of whether the rate agreed on is reasonable, customary, or "suggested." Penalties include felony criminal exposure (up to 10 years + $1 million individual fine), civil treble damages, and Florida Antitrust Act (F.S. Chapter 542) enforcement.

What is market allocation in real estate?

Market allocation is an agreement between competitors to divide territories, customer types, or transaction sources rather than competing for them. Like price fixing, it is per se illegal under Sherman Act Section 1. Examples include agreeing that Broker A will handle the East side and Broker B will handle the West side, or that Brokerage X will pursue first-time buyers and Brokerage Y will pursue luxury buyers.

Are group boycotts of discount brokers illegal?

Yes, when the boycott is the product of an agreement among competitors. Multiple competing brokers agreeing to refuse to cooperate with a discount broker (such as by refusing to show that broker's listings) is per se illegal under Sherman Act Section 1. A single broker's unilateral refusal to cooperate is generally legal.

What is RESPA Section 8?

RESPA Section 8 (12 U.S.C. 2607) prohibits giving or receiving fees, kickbacks, or things of value in exchange for referrals of business involving federally related mortgage settlement services. It also prohibits splitting fees for services not actually performed (unearned fees). The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) enforces RESPA Section 8.

What does RESPA Section 8 NOT prohibit?

RESPA Section 8 does not prohibit bona fide payments for services actually performed at fair market value, broker-to-broker cooperative commission splits where both brokers performed services, discounts or rebates given to the consumer, promotional or educational activity that is not conditioned on referrals and does not defray the recipient's ordinary expenses, or affiliated business arrangements (ABAs) that meet Regulation X's disclosure, no-required-use, and ownership-return conditions.

What does F.S. 475.25(1)(h) prohibit?

F.S. 475.25(1)(h) prohibits a Florida real estate licensee from sharing a commission with, or paying a fee or other compensation to, a person not properly licensed as a Florida broker, broker associate, or sales associate for the referral of real estate business or for licensed brokerage services. It is grounds for FREC discipline up to license revocation.

Can a Florida broker pay a referral fee to an out-of-state licensee?

Generally yes, if the out-of-state person is properly licensed or registered as a real estate broker in the other jurisdiction and the referral is handled without violating Florida law. F.S. 475.25(1)(h) prohibits payment to unlicensed persons; its foreign-broker language permits certain referral payments to brokers licensed or registered elsewhere. Verify Florida law and the other jurisdiction's rules before structuring any out-of-state referral arrangement.

Can a Florida broker give a buyer a rebate at closing?

Generally yes, when handled correctly. Florida F.S. 475.25(1)(h) prohibits sharing commission with an unlicensed third party; F.A.C. 61J2-10.028 says sharing brokerage compensation with a party to the transaction is not a Chapter 475 violation when there is full disclosure to all interested parties. The rebate should also be disclosed to the lender when required and reflected in the closing documents under applicable mortgage and settlement rules.

Does the 2024 NAR settlement change Sherman Act or RESPA?

No. The 2024 NAR settlement addressed prior MLS practices around cooperative commission display and buyer-broker agreement disclosure but did not change underlying federal antitrust law or RESPA Section 8. The settlement reinforces the core antitrust principle that commission rates must be independently set and clearly disclosed as negotiable, and that explicit or implicit agreements among competing brokers on rates remain per se illegal price fixing.

Is sharing commission with an unlicensed assistant a Sherman Act violation?

No. Sharing commission with an unlicensed assistant is primarily a F.S. 475.25(1)(h) violation (Florida licensing rule). Sherman Act applies to agreements between competitors that restrain competition, not to the broker-assistant relationship. If the transactions involve federally related mortgage settlement services and the assistant's payment is functionally a referral fee, RESPA Section 8 may also apply.

What is the Florida Antitrust Act?

The Florida Antitrust Act of 1980 (F.S. Chapter 542) is the state-law mirror of the federal Sherman Antitrust Act. F.S. 542.18 prohibits contracts or conspiracies in restraint of trade. F.S. 542.19 prohibits monopolization and attempted monopolization. The Florida Attorney General enforces the Act, and private plaintiffs can sue for treble damages plus attorney's fees.

What enforcement agencies handle real estate antitrust and kickbacks?

Ready to drill antitrust and kickbacks in scenario form?

Antitrust and kickbacks appear on the Florida exam as a three-framework question: federal antitrust (competition restraint) vs RESPA Section 8 (settlement-services referral) vs Florida fee-sharing and rebate rules (unlicensed-person fee split, kickback, or rebate disclosure). The candidates who consistently answer correctly identify which framework the stem tests, recognize the classic per se Sherman Act patterns, spot the RESPA "federally related mortgage settlement services" trigger, and distinguish the Florida licensing rule from antitrust and RESPA.

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Methodology

This guide was built from the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 (15 U.S.C. 1-2: Section 1 horizontal-agreement framework + Section 2 monopolization framework; classic per se patterns in real estate: price fixing, market allocation, and horizontal group boycotts; tying treated as an exam-tested antitrust risk with more fact-specific real-world analysis; criminal penalties up to 10 years in prison and $1 million individual / $100 million corporate fines; civil treble damages), the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Section 8 (12 U.S.C. 2607: Section 8(a) referral-fee prohibition + Section 8(b) unearned-fee-split prohibition for federally related mortgage settlement services; criminal penalties up to 1 year and $10,000; civil treble damages; CFPB primary enforcement; affiliated business arrangement framework with Regulation X disclosure, no-required-use, and ownership-return conditions), the Florida Antitrust Act of 1980 (F.S. Chapter 542: F.S. 542.18 mirror of Sherman Section 1 + F.S. 542.19 mirror of Sherman Section 2; F.S. 542.21 penalties; F.S. 542.22 private and parens patriae damages actions), F.S. 475.25(1)(h) (Florida-specific prohibition on sharing commission or fee with an unlicensed person for referral of real estate business; FREC discipline ground), F.S. 475.42 (Florida violations and penalties framework), F.A.C. 61J2-10.028 (kickbacks and rebates; sharing brokerage compensation with a transaction party with full disclosure to interested parties), the 2024 National Association of Realtors settlement (Sitzer-Burnett and related litigation: MLS cooperative-compensation-display changes + written buyer-agreement requirements for MLS participants working with buyers + commission-negotiability disclosure), the DBPR Real Estate Sales Associate Candidate Information Booklet structure for the Florida-specific licensing and federal-and-state-laws topic areas, CFPB Regulation X, and the CFPB RESPA Section 8 FAQs.

The three-framework central pedagogy (federal antitrust vs RESPA vs Florida fee-sharing / rebate rules), the four antitrust danger patterns, the comparison matrix vs Florida unlicensed-activity rules, the four exam patterns, the worked-scenario walkthrough, and the common-candidate-mistakes table are practical study patterns derived from common candidate mistakes, not DOJ, FTC, CFPB, DBPR, FREC, NAR, or Florida Realtors rules.

This article does not promise a passing result on the Florida sales associate examination, does not provide antitrust counsel, does not provide RESPA-compliance counsel, and does not replace official statutory text, qualified Florida real estate counsel, antitrust counsel, RESPA-compliance counsel, DOJ Antitrust Division Corporate Leniency Program guidance, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Florida Attorney General, DBPR, FREC, or any other professional guidance. Antitrust law evolves through enforcement actions and federal court decisions; RESPA Section 8 implementation evolves through CFPB rulemaking and guidance; verify current rules before any compensation arrangement, referral structure, or affiliated business arrangement. The guide was last reviewed on May 28, 2026.

Product note. Pass Florida is our Florida-specific exam prep app, which costs $39.99 once with no subscription and includes 1,002 Florida-specific practice questions, a 19-topic diagnostic, six modes, Math Coach across the 14 Florida math calculation types, Trap Library, Confidence Calibration, offline access, optional sync, and lifetime updates. We do not claim to use copied exam questions, guarantee passage, or replace official DBPR, Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC), Pearson VUE, pre-license provider, broker, qualified Florida real estate counsel, antitrust counsel, RESPA-compliance counsel, CFPB, DOJ Antitrust Division, FTC, Florida Office of the Attorney General, NAR, Florida Realtors, or other professional guidance.

Sources

• Florida Statutes Chapter 475, Real Estate Brokers and Sales Associates
• F.S. 475.25, Discipline (including 475.25(1)(h) sharing-with-unlicensed rule)
• F.S. 475.42, Violations and penalties
• F.A.C. 61J2-10.028, Kickbacks or Rebates
• Florida Statutes Chapter 542, Florida Antitrust Act of 1980
• F.S. 542.21, Florida Antitrust Act penalties
• F.S. 542.22, Florida Antitrust Act suits for damages
• 12 U.S.C. 2607, RESPA kickbacks and unearned fees
• CFPB Regulation X 1024.15, Affiliated business arrangements
• U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Laws and You
• CFPB RESPA Section 8 FAQs
• NAR Settlement FAQs
• DBPR Real Estate Sales Associate Candidate Information Booklet

This post is exam preparation content for Florida real estate sales associate candidates. It summarizes the Sherman Antitrust Act classic per se patterns (price fixing, market allocation, and horizontal group boycotts), tying as an exam-tested antitrust risk, the RESPA Section 8 kickback and unearned-fee prohibitions, the Florida Antitrust Act (F.S. Chapter 542), the Florida-specific F.S. 475.25(1)(h) prohibition on sharing commission with an unlicensed person, F.A.C. 61J2-10.028 kickback and rebate disclosure framing, the 2024 NAR settlement commission-negotiability context, and the comparison framework, and is not a guarantee of passing the exam, not legal advice, not antitrust advice, not RESPA-compliance advice, not Florida licensing-discipline advice, and not a substitute for the Florida Statutes, federal antitrust statutes, RESPA implementation regulations, qualified Florida real estate counsel, antitrust counsel, RESPA-compliance counsel, DOJ Antitrust Division, FTC, CFPB, Florida Office of the Attorney General, DBPR, FREC, or any other professional guidance. Verify any statute, per se illegal practice, RESPA implementation, or Florida licensing rule against the primary source and current case law before applying it to any actual compensation arrangement, referral structure, or affiliated business relationship. Pass Florida is an educational study tool sold for one $39.99 purchase with no subscription.