New Listing Abuse/Manipulation Policy

Wednesday 20 June 2007

Stiffer fines for violations of this very important rule

In the midst of this tough market, we have noticed a sharp rise in the number of reports of listing abuse and manipulation. Some selling agents take advantage of the system by withdrawing a property and then re-listing it to make it appear new. Not only does this practice misrepresent the property to buyers and their agents, it also reduces the reliability of the statistics we count on to measure the health of the entire Central Florida Real Estate market.

Such abuse is absolutely unacceptable, and the MFRLS Board has moved to implement stiffer penalties for listing abuse and manipulation.

The Rules and Regulations regarding listing abuse are as follows:

Section 32. Listing Abuse: MLS listings may not be changed to make a listing appear to be new. The only valid reason for changing a listing number is a new listing agreement executed by a new agent/new company or a new listing agreement, dated 30 days after the expiration or withdrawal of the prior agreement.

The new fine schedule for Listing Abuse and Manipulation is as follows:

1st offense: $50.00 fine

2nd offense: $1000.00 fine

3rd offense: $2000.00 fine

4th offense: 30 day suspension of MLS services (effective at the end of an appeal process)

Providing accurate data on our MLS is a top priority, and it is essential to providing you the best most reliable tools possible. While we do not enjoy fining subscribers, it has proven an important tool in maintaining the accuracy of the MLS. This new policy and fine schedule has been put in place only after extensive deliberation, and it was based upon successful implementations of similar policies in other multiple listing services elsewhere in the country.