What fees must an Epcon Communities franchisee pay if they want to develop additional projects?
Epcon_Communities Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
vement of a certain sales volume, market penetration or other contingency, and your Initial Market Area and Market Area may not be altered without your written agreement.
If you decide that you would like to develop additional Epcon Communities projects either within your existing Market Area or at a site within another Market Area, and we agree, you must sign a new Franchise Agreement and Market Area Agreement and pay the applicable fees to us, as provided in the Franchise Agreement. The form of Franchise Agreement you sign at that time may have materially different terms than the Franchise Agreement you previously signed with us.
If you become a franchisee and desire to obtain a reservation or "hold" on an additional Market Area or Areas, and we approve that request, you must sign a Market Hold Agreement (see Exhibit G to this disclosure document) and pay us a Market Hold Fee for each Market Area that you reserve. The Market Hold Fee is $5,000 for a 12-month hold period. These fees are nonrefundable. However, if you enter into a Franchise Agreement and Market Area Agreement with us for the reserved Market Area prior to expiration of any market hold term, the Market Hold Fee for that term will be applied toward payment of the applicable Initial Franchise Fee for the project.
Sublicense Agreement
We acknowledge that real estate developers often form a separate business entity for each of their projects to isolate each of their business endeavors. On the condition that the individual ownership of the entities remains the same or substantially similar, and as an accommodation to you to simplify the paperwork involved with forming a separate business entity for each project, we use the Sublicense Agreement (see Exhibit H to this disclosure document) as a legal mechanism to evidence the contractual relationship between your initial business entity, your new business entity, and us. Also, when the Sublicense Agreement is signed, your new business entity does not pay an initial franchise fee to us (or any other consideration) for the grant of the rights to your new entity to develop your project. We do not grant to you the right to sell or negotiate the sale of franchises in our name or receive any consideration from your new entity with respect to the grant of these rights.
Source: Item 12 — TERRITORY (FDD pages 48–50)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Epcon Communities' 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, if a franchisee wishes to develop additional projects, they must sign a new Franchise Agreement and Market Area Agreement with Epcon Communities. The franchisee must also pay the applicable fees as outlined in the Franchise Agreement. The document also states that the terms of the new Franchise Agreement may differ materially from the original agreement.
Additionally, a franchisee can obtain a reservation on an additional Market Area by signing a Market Hold Agreement and paying a Market Hold Fee. This fee is $5,000 for a 12-month hold period and is nonrefundable. However, if the franchisee enters into a Franchise Agreement and Market Area Agreement for the reserved area before the hold period expires, the Market Hold Fee will be applied toward the Initial Franchise Fee for the project.
Epcon Communities uses a Sublicense Agreement as a legal mechanism to evidence the contractual relationship between the franchisee's initial business entity, their new business entity, and Epcon Communities. This agreement is used when real estate developers form a separate business entity for each of their projects, provided the individual ownership of the entities remains the same or substantially similar. When the Sublicense Agreement is signed, the new business entity does not pay an initial franchise fee to Epcon Communities for the grant of rights to develop the new project.