How does a listing agent verify a buyer escrow deposit in Florida?

Through a written request for verification of the deposit made by the broker. The FREC rules then oblige the other side to provide the seller’s broker, or the seller if not represented, with either a copy of the written verification or written notice that no verification was received, within ten business days of the date the request was made.

What if the other broker cannot verify the deposit?

They still have to answer. The rules provide for written notice that the broker did not receive verification of the deposit as an acceptable response. That is arguably the more useful outcome, because you now hold a dated document recording that the deposit could not be verified, rather than an informal reassurance.

Does the contract have to say where the deposit is held?

The FREC rules require the name, address and telephone number of the title company or attorney to be indicated on the contract, and failing to do so is a listed violation in the citation schedule. Without that information the listing side has no starting point for verification, so it is worth correcting at the beginning rather than discovering later.

Is it aggressive to request verification?

Not if it is routine. A brokerage that requests verification on every transaction is following a process; an agent who requests it on one transaction is making a statement about that transaction. Route it through your broker, ask immediately after the deposit deadline rather than weeks later, and file the response either way.

Why is this framed as a second offense violation?

Both the contract information requirement and the ten business day response obligation appear in the FREC citation schedule as second offense entries, which indicates the state treats a first lapse differently, consistent with a notice of noncompliance sitting below a citation. It does not make the obligation optional. It means enforcement is aimed at a pattern rather than a single busy week.

How a Listing Agent Verifies the Buyer Deposit Actually Exists

Updated August 2026 · Reviewed by Adams, Cameron & Co.

Quick answer

By asking in writing, through your broker, and Florida gives the other side a deadline to answer. The FREC rules contemplate a written request for verification of the deposit made by the licensee’s broker. Once that request goes out, the other side owes the seller’s broker, or the seller directly if no broker is involved, a response within ten business days: either a copy of the written verification, or written notice that no verification was received. That second option is the useful one, because a written statement that nobody could verify the deposit tells a listing agent exactly what they are dealing with while there is still time to act.

Key takeaways

The mechanism is a written request for verification of the deposit, made by the broker rather than informally between agents.
The response window is ten business days from the date the request was made, and the response goes to the seller broker or to the seller if not represented by one.
There are two acceptable responses: a copy of the written verification, or written notice that no verification was received. The second is still an answer, and it is the informative one.
The contract is also required to carry the name, address and telephone number of the title company or attorney, which is the starting point for any verification.
Both obligations appear in the FREC citation schedule as second offense entries, which tells you they are enforced as a pattern rather than punished on a first slip.

A contract is signed, the deposit is supposedly with somebody, and a listing agent has no direct way to see it. Most handle this by messaging the other agent and taking a reassuring reply at face value.

There is a formal route, it produces a dated written answer, and hardly anyone uses it.

Start with what the contract has to tell you

Before verifying anything you need to know who is holding it. The FREC rules require the name, address and telephone number of the title company or attorney to be indicated on the contract. Failure to do so appears in the citation schedule as a listed violation.

That requirement exists for exactly this reason. A contract that does not name the escrow holder is not merely untidy; it removes the listing side ability to check anything, and it should be corrected before the transaction proceeds rather than noticed later.

The mechanism itself

The rules contemplate a written request for verification of the deposit, made by the licensee’s broker. Once that request has been made, the obligation on the other side is specific.

Within ten business days of the date the request was made, the other side must provide the seller’s broker, or the seller directly if the seller is not represented by a broker, with one of two things:

A copy of the written verification of the deposit, or
Written notice that the broker did not receive verification of the deposit.

Read the second option again, because that is the whole value of the procedure. The answer is not optional. If nobody can verify the money, the other side has to say so in writing, and now you have a dated document saying the deposit could not be verified rather than a text message saying it is all fine.

Why this is worth doing on real transactions

Four reasons, in descending order of how often they matter:

It converts a feeling into a record. A seller asking whether the buyer is real deserves better than your impression of the other agent’s tone.
It surfaces the problem early. Ten business days into a contract is a recoverable position. Discovering it at the closing table is not.
It disciplines the other side. A written request through brokers is treated differently from an agent-to-agent text, because it is now a file obligation rather than a favor.
It protects you from your seller. If the deal collapses over a deposit that never existed, the question will be what you did about it and when.

The enforcement angle, which tells you something

Both of these obligations appear in the FREC citation schedule, and both appear as second offense entries: failing to indicate the title company or attorney on the contract, and failing to provide the verification or the written notice within the ten business days.

That framing is informative. A first slip is handled another way, which is consistent with the tiered structure described in what a FREC citation is and how it differs from a complaint, where a notice of noncompliance sits below a citation. The state is not looking to fine somebody for one busy week. It is looking at agents who do this repeatedly.

For a listing agent the practical consequence is simply that the obligation is real, and a polite written request lands on somebody who has a rule behind them rather than a courtesy.

How this fits with the rest of the deposit rules

Three separate obligations often get mixed up, and they run in order:

Getting it in. The buyer’s broker has a deadline to deposit trust funds, covered in how long a broker has to deposit earnest money.
Proving it is in. This page.
Deciding who gets it. If the deal dies and both sides claim the money, a different set of clocks starts, set out in what happens when buyer and seller both claim the escrow deposit.

The general mechanics sit in what escrow is in a Florida transaction. What this page adds is the middle step, which is the one with no folklore attached because so few agents use it.

Doing it without starting a fight

The tone matters, because the other agent will read a formal request as an accusation unless you frame it otherwise.

Route it through your broker. The rule contemplates a broker request. It is also easier interpersonally, because it stops being about you.
Make it routine rather than pointed. A firm that requests verification on every transaction is not accusing anyone. A firm that requests it on one is.
Ask early. Immediately after the deposit deadline, not three weeks later when you have started to worry.
File the answer. Whatever comes back goes in the transaction file, which is the record contemplated by brokerage record retention.

The other thing worth doing in the same week is confirming that the money is going where it is supposed to go, because a verified deposit sent to a criminal is still a lost deposit. That is a different failure and it is covered in wire fraud in a real estate closing.

The short version

Get the escrow holder named on the contract. Have your broker make a written request for verification. Expect either the verification or a written statement that none was received, within ten business days. Then file whichever one arrives, because both of them are useful and only one of them is good news.

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