In Florida, there is a committee made up of 10 Realtors and 10 attorneys that get together every few years to review the standard form contract in use by most residential real estate agents in Florida. The contract is called the FAR/BAR (Florida Association of Realtors / Florida Bar). The intent of the contract is to provide a fill-in-the-blank form for Realtors to use to avoid an allegation of the unlicensed practice of law.

In this week's episode, we discuss some of the major changes that just went into effect on April 4, 2017, including:

• What are the duties of Buyer and Seller with respect to expired or unpermitted work;
• The location of the closing;
• Changes to the financing contingency, including a definition of the phrase "diligent effort;" and
• Approval to obtain notice if the Buyer does, or does not, obtain financing.

This is not an exhaustive list of all the changes. If you have questions about interpretation of the revised FAR/BAR, or any real estate contract, commercial or residential, please reach out to us at [email protected] or www.yesnerlaw.com.