Licensing requirements; suspension or revocation of license; exceptions to applicability; collection of advance fees for listings unlawful.

(1) Any seller of a timeshare plan must be a licensed real estate broker, broker associate, or sales associate as defined in s. 475.01, except as provided in s. 475.011.

(2) Solicitors who engage only in the solicitation of prospective purchasers and any purchaser who refers no more than 20 people to a developer or managing entity per year or who otherwise provides testimonials on behalf of a developer or managing entity are exempt from the provisions of chapter 475.

(3) A solicitor who has violated the provisions of chapter 468, chapter 718, chapter 719, this chapter, or the rules of the division governing timesharing shall be subject to the provisions of s. 721.26. Any developer or other person who supervises, directs, or engages the services of a solicitor shall be liable for any violation of the provisions of chapter 468, chapter 718, chapter 719, this chapter, or the rules of the division governing timesharing committed by such solicitor.

(4) County and municipal governments shall have the authority to adopt codes of conduct and regulations to govern solicitor activity conducted on public property, including providing for the imposition of penalties prescribed by a schedule of fines adopted by ordinance for violations of any such code of conduct or regulation. Any violation of any such adopted code of conduct or regulation shall not constitute a separate violation of this chapter. This subsection is not intended to restrict or invalidate any local code of conduct or regulation.

(5) This section does not apply to those individuals who offer for sale only timeshare interests in timeshare property located outside this state and who do not engage in any sales activity within this state or to timeshare plans which are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For the purposes of this section, both timeshare licenses and timeshare estates are considered to be interests in real property.

(6) It is unlawful for any real estate broker, broker associate, or sales associate to collect any advance fee for the listing of any timeshare estate or timeshare license.

(7) It is unlawful for any broker, salesperson, or broker-salesperson to collect any advance fee for the listing of a personal property timeshare interest.

(8) Subsections (1), (2), and (3) do not apply to persons who offer personal property timeshare plans.

(9) A person who meets the definition of a commercial telephone seller or salesperson as defined in s. 501.603 must be licensed under part IV of chapter 501 before doing business in this state under this chapter.