NAR and DOJ Reach Anti-trust Settlement

NAR and DOJ Reach Anti-trust Settlement

The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) announced it has reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on anti-trust allegations against MLS rules. As part of the settlement, NAR and the DOJ will agree on the exact rules within 45 days, after which NAR’s Board of Directors must meet to review and approve the rules. However, NAR did provide changes in a general sense, highlighted below.

  • Compensation: 
    1. The amount of compensation offered to buyers' agents for an MLS listing will be included on publicly accessible MLS data feeds.
    2. Buyers' agents will have an affirmative duty to give the compensation information to their clients.
    3. Buyers' agents will not be able to advertise their services as free to clients.
  • Properties Provided to Consumers and Clients:
    1. MLSs and brokerages must provide consumers and clients all properties that fall within their criteria regardless of the compensation offered or the name of the listing brokers.
  • Access to Lockboxes:
    1. Licensed real estate agents who are not MLS subscribers can have access to MLS lockboxes with the seller’s prior approval. 

You can find more information in NAR’s announcement and FAQs. You can view the DOJ’s announcement here; a copy of the DOJ complaint here and the proposed DOJ consent decree here.