REGULATIONS FOR THE NEW JERSEY REAL ESTATE COMMISSION Page 76

11:5-5.1 INSURANCE
salesperson or salesperson may be additional signatories on escrow or trust accounts.
(i) Brokers may accept payments to be held in trust or in escrow, or as the temporary custodian of the funds of others in any real estate transaction, in the following forms: cash; a negotiable instrument payable to the broker’s firm; a charge against a check debit card resulting in a credit to the broker’s trust or escrow account; or a wire transfer of funds directly from an account of the payor to the trust or escrow account of the broker. As provided in this subsection, brokers may also accept deposit and rent payments to be held by them in trust or in escrow or as a temporary custodian in the form of charges made upon the credit cards of tenants in short term rental transactions.
1. All payments to be held by a broker in trust or in escrow, or as the temporary custodian of monies in a real estate transaction, made in the form of cash, negotiable instruments, wire transfers or by charges made upon credit cards or check debit cards shall be recorded in the broker’s trust or escrow account ledger and as otherwise required by N.J.A.C. 11:5-5.4.
2. Brokers shall not accept payments made through credit card charges in any real estate transaction other than a short term rental. For the purposes of this subsection, a “short term rental” is a rental of a residential property for not more than 125 consecutive days with a specific termination date.
3. Brokers who accept payments in the form of credit card charges in short term rentals shall cause those payments to be credited to a special trust or escrow account, distinct from the escrow or trust account(s) maintained by the broker for other purposes. Brokers who accept such payments shall also maintain a business account, separate and apart from all trust or escrow accounts including the account to which the credit card charges shall be credited. The said business account may be the same business account maintained by the broker for general purposes.
4. Before accepting any payment in the form of a credit card charge on a short term rental, a broker shall inform the owner in writing of the potential for such payments to be “charged-back” by the tenant and obtain written authorization signed by the owner for the broker to accept such payments.
i. For the purposes of this subsection, “charged-back” means the recrediting of a previously charged payment to the account of a cardholder through the electronic debiting of an account of the broker.
ii. Where an owner’s written authorization is secured by the listing broker, it shall be made a part of or an addendum to a listing agreement.
iii. In all cases, the owner’s written authorization shall be retained by the broker to whom it was given as a business record in accordance with N.J.A.C. 11:5-5.4.
5. In the event that a dispute concerning a charged-back payment arises between a broker and a consumer, under no circumstances may the broker apply or set-off against the disputed amount any monies paid to the broker on another transaction in which the same consumer is a party.
6. Brokers who accept credit card charges in payment of deposits or rent on short term rentals shall formulate a written statement of their policy on credit card payment cancellations. All such cancellation policies shall include:
i. An indication of the time period during which the cardholder may cancel the charged payment made to the broker; and
ii. A statement that, in the event a cancellation request is not received by the broker within the specified cancellation time period, the request will not be honored and the disposition of the monies credited to the broker will be governed by the terms of the lease or rental agreement between the landlord and the cardholder.
7. In no event shall the cancellation period terminate prior to the delivery to the cardholder of a fully executed written lease containing the final terms of the rental agreement, or the full acceptance by the parties of the final terms of a verbal rental agreement.
8. Brokers shall provide copies of the written cancellation policy in the following manner:
i. To property owners upon the earlier of the broker obtaining a listing on the rental property or presenting an offer to rent the property; and
ii. To prospective tenants at the time of first accepting a payment in the form of a credit card charge. In the event that the same tenant makes subsequent payments on the same rental transaction through charges against a credit card, the broker accepting such payments shall not be required to provide additional copies of the written cancellation policy.
9. Except as otherwise provided in (j) below, brokers who accept payments in the form of credit card charges shall comply with all restrictions and requirements imposed by N.J.S.A. 45:15-17(o) and this section with regard to the deposit and maintenance of such funds.
(j) In all cases, the amount credited to a broker’s special escrow or trust account as a result of a charged payment on a short term rental transaction shall be the full amount of the payment made by the tenant to the broker. All transaction fees payable by the broker to the company which issued the credit card shall not be paid before the full amount of the charged payment is credited to the broker’s special escrow or trust account. Brokers who accept payments through charges on credit cards shall also comply with one of the procedures specified in (j)1 and 2 below.
1. A business account of the broker shall be designated in the contract between the broker and any company whose credit card
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