NAR Policy Changes Effective Jan 1, 2022

Watch this video for a summary of these NAR Policy Changes and an explanation of what they mean for our subscribers:



At the 2021 REALTORS® Conference and Expo held in November, the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Board of Directors approved six recommendations from the Multiple Listing Issues and Policies Committee for MLS adoption and implementation.

According to NAR, the changes create greater transparency for consumers and “more explicitly state the spirit and intent of the NAR Code of Ethics and policies regarding information about commissions and broker participation in the marketplace.”

To support these changes, NAR, C.A.R. and other industry leadership will be providing additional guidance to ensure MLSs and brokers both understand and stay in compliance with the new policies.

In December, the MLSListings Board of Directors voted to adopt these changes.

The C.A.R. model rules were amended to include these changes for January and MLSListings rules were updated with those changes.

The complete set of rules can be found here.

These changes are effective Jan 1, 2022. MLSs must implement the changes by March 1, 2022.

The following is a summary of the changes in MLS Policy:
 
  1. Policy Statement 8.6: One Data Source. Requires MLSs to offer their participants a single data feed in accordance with the participants’ licensed authorized uses. The rationale is to create efficiencies for brokers who participate in an MLS and who use MLS data for multiple purposes. The data feed must be in compliance with RESO standards.
What this means for MLSListings subscribers: No change. This has been the MLSListings policy for years and is fully compliant today.
 
  1. Policy Statement 8.7: Brokerage Back Office Feed. Entitles MLS participants to use, and requires MLSs to provide to participants, a brokerage back-office data feed. The policy defines the data, use, and terms of the feed. There’s no option for participants to opt out of having their listings included. The back-office feed will enable brokerage to better serve their clients and customers by empowering them to use productivity tools and proprietary reports and resources that call for enhanced access to and use of MLS data.
What this means for MLSListings subscribers: No change. This has been our policy for years and is fully compliant today.
 
  1. Internet Data Exchange (IDX) Policy Statement 7.58 IDX and VOW Broker Attribution. Requires that participants’ IDX displays must identify the listing firm and an email or phone number provided by listing participant in a reasonably prominent location and in a readily visible color and typeface not smaller than the median used in the display of listing data. The same standard would also apply to VOWs.
What this means for MLSListings subscribers: MLSListings will provide this contact information in the data feeds. It will first default to the listing agent phone number and then, in subsequent releases, brokers will be given more choices and control via the Broker Control Center.
 
  1. Policy Statement 8.8: Display of listing broker offer of compensation. Requires MLSs to include the listing broker’s offer of compensation for each active listing displayed on its consumer-facing websites and in MLS data feeds provided to participants and subscribers; also requires MLSs to permit participants or subscribers, at their discretion, to share offers of compensation though IDX and VOW displays or through any other form or format provided to clients and consumers. Information about offers of compensation must be accompanied by a disclaimer stating that the offer is made only to participants of the MLS where the listing is filed.
What this means for MLSListings subscribers: Brokers and agents have the option to display the offer of compensation which will be added to IDX data feeds. Only MLS operated websites must display the offer. MLSListings will display the offer of compensation on our public website (www.mlslistings.com) in an upcoming release.
 
  1. MLS Policy Statement 8.4: Services advertised as “free.” Prohibits MLS participants and subscribers from representing that their brokerage services to a buyer client or customer are free or available at no cost to their clients, unless the participant or subscriber will receive no financial compensation from any source for those services.
What this means for MLSListings subscribers: The prohibition will be in the REALTOR® Code of Ethics and added to MLSListings rules to be applied to MLSListings subscribers who are not REALTORS®.
 
  1. MLS Policy Statement 8.5: Non-filtering listings based on offers or compensation or name of the brokerage or agent. Prohibits MLS participants and subscribers from filtering out or restricting listings, in listing information that’s searchable and displayed to consumers, based on the level of compensation offered to the cooperating broker or the name of a brokerage or agent; also prohibits MLSs from enabling the ability to filter out listings on the basis of compensation or name of brokerage or agent. Policy Statements 7.58 and 7.91 are amended, too, to bring IDX and VOW policy in line with this rule. The rule doesn’t prohibit participants, on their IDX displays and virtual office websites, from sorting listings to show their own listings first.
What this means for MLSListings subscribers: MLSListings will ensure that listings cannot be excluded from search results based on the amount of compensation offered to buyer agents or by agent or office name.

More information on the timing for changes (which require system software updates) will be announced in the coming weeks by MLSListings, along with any future guidance or FAQs.

For immediate questions, email MLSListings Compliance (compliance@mlslistings.com) or call (408) 874-0200 option #2.


 
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