Article 3.
Handling and Accounting of Funds.
§ 42A‑15.  Trust account uses.
A landlord or real estate broker may require a tenant to pay all or part of any required rent, security deposit, or other fees permitted by law in advance of the commencement of a tenancy under this Chapter if these payments are expressly authorized in the vacation rental agreement. If the tenant is required to make any advance payments, other than a security deposit, whether the payment is denominated as rent or otherwise, the landlord or real estate broker shall deposit these payments in a trust account in a federally insured depository institution or a trust institution authorized to do business in this State no later than three banking days after the receipt of these payments. These payments deposited in a trust account shall not earn interest unless the landlord and tenant agree in the vacation rental agreement that the payments may be deposited in an interest‑bearing account. The landlord and tenant shall also provide in the agreement to whom the accrued interest shall be disbursed.  (1999‑420, s. 1; 2014‑115, s. 3; 2015‑93, s. 3; 2017‑25, s. 2(b).)