The real estate industry is currently divided over the National Association of Realtors’ Clear Cooperation Policy, but one local Realtor association and MLS has decided to move beyond just voicing an opinion.
In an email sent to members on Oct. 3, Utah-based Park City Board of Realtors (PCBR) announced that it would no longer be enforcing the clear cooperation rule, as first reported by Inman News.
The Utah MLS had 1,789 subscribers at the end of 2023.
In her email, CEO Jamie Johnson told members that the MLS and PCBR board had written a letter to NAR in August that notified the national trade group of their decision.
NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy was established in 2020. Under the policy, listing brokers must submit listings to their local MLS within one business day of publicly marketing a home.
“We informed NAR that until their Policy Committee met and decided on potential changes to the policy that we would not be adhering to the policy requirements,” Johnson’s email to members read. “However, due to Core Standard requirements from NAR we told them we would wait until their policy committee had discussions before we would make any formal announcements to our membership at large. At this time we are not enforcing the policy but honestly we have not had any fees for agents breaking this policy in the past either.”
According to Johnson’s email, historically, if a member contacted PCBR about a possible violation, the association would ask the agent to get the listing on the MLS — a request Johnson said was always complied with.
“Our normal MLS policy still requires an agent with a listing agreement to put the listing in the MLS unless they have a signed right to withhold form from the seller,” she wrote.
In addition to pushback from industry leaders, NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy is also under scrutiny from the Department of Justice and is at the center of NAR’s current legal battle with the DOJ.
NAR did not return HousingWire’s request for comment and PCBR did not wish to comment.
