Professional Standards and MLS Policy Changes From NAR Legislative Meetings

A number of important Professional Standards and MLS policy changes were approved at the recent NAR Legislative Meetings in Washington, D.C. This article provides a brief summary of those changes, all of which are effective immediately, with additional details provided as resources are made available from NAR.

Anti-discrimination: Standards of Practice 10-1 &10-5; Policy Statement 29

Article 10 of the Code of Ethics says that Realtors® cannot deny equal professional services or employment opportunities based on protected characteristics. In 2020, a new Standard of Practice 10-5 extended this concept by prohibiting certain types of “hate speech, epithets and slurs” against protected classes. But over time there has been some concern, confusion and inconsistency about the specific intent and proper implementation of this language.

The NAR Board of Directors approved a revision to SoP 10-5 to now say that it prohibits “harassment” based on protected classes and aligns with how that term is currently used in other NAR policies. Additional changes to SoP 10-5 and Policy Statement 29 focus enforcement on scenarios in which Realtors® are operating in their professional capacity, consistent with other sections of the Code and similar ethical requirements applied by other trade associations. The overall intent is to enhance the clarity of the language and enforcement rules to reduce the risks to the state and local associations and their volunteer leadership who are charged with actively enforcing the Code.

An additional change to Standard of Practice 10-1 clarifies that actions resulting in “steering” are prohibited by the Article 10.

Agency, Fees and Settlement Terms

A whole bunch of changes (that’s a technical, legal term) were made throughout the Code of Ethics and Arbitration Manual to reflect the new MLS rules and practice changes that have been implemented as a result of the NAR legal settlement in 2024. The bulk of these changes are technical – for example, removing references to offers of compensation in the MLS (which are no longer permitted), using the word “compensation” in place of “commission,” and updating the list of mandatory terms in agency contracts to reflect the new rules. In addition, a number of case interpretations were either deleted or substantially modified to reflect these changes. [Updated documents were not available on the NAR website at publication, but will be found at the links above later in 2025.]

But changes to Standards of Practice 3-1, 3-2 and 16-16 might have a more direct impact on your daily practice, depending on your business practices.

Under the old rules, Realtors® working with buyers as a cooperating broker were told that “terms of compensation, if any, shall be ascertained” before submitting a purchase offer on behalf of their client (SoP 3-1), that listing brokers “must” communicate any change to the offer of cooperating compensation prior to a cooperating broker submitting a purchase offer from their buyer and could not unilaterally change that compensation after an offer was submitted (SoP 3-2), and that a buyer broker was prohibited from using the terms of a purchase offer to “modify” the listing broker’s offer of compensation (SoP 16-16). These rules were reflected in a combination of prior MLS policies and PAR Standards Forms language.

Under the new rules, which are now in effect, there is no longer a specified timeline for a cooperating broker to ascertain whether there is an offer of cooperating compensation (revised SoP 3-1), changes in any cooperating compensation must be communicated “as soon as practical” – but still cannot be unilaterally modified after a purchase offer is submitted (revised SoP 3-2), and the rule against negotiating broker compensation in the purchase offer has been removed (deleted SoP 16-16). In addition, Realtors® are now prohibited from delaying the presentation of a buyer’s offer while negotiating any cooperating compensation (revised SoP 3-2).

To summarize, the old rules encouraged/required brokers to settle on the amount of cooperating compensation (if any) prior to submitting an offer on behalf of the buyer so the buyer had certainty on how that compensation might affect the terms of their offer. The new rules encourage/require brokers to move at the speed of the buyer in submitting the purchase offer, while providing more options for where and how cooperating compensation can be negotiated.

All PAR Standard Forms should still be usable as currently drafted, but PAR is recalling the forms task force that worked on the current versions to discuss whether/how the new Standards of Practice might affect forms language moving forward. This task force will start its work immediately, and more information will be provided over the summer of 2025.

Seller’s Property, Seller’s Rules: Standards of Practice 1-16 & 3-9

Standards of Practice 1-16 and 3-9 both indicate that it’s an ethics violation for a Realtor® to give access to a seller’s property in a way that violates the seller’s instructions. There are no substantive changes, but the approved amendments now make it clearer that SoP 1-16 applies to Realtors® who are acting as a listing broker, while SoP 3-9 applies to Realtors® who are working with a buyer as a cooperating broker.

MLS Policy: Commingling rule and Multiple Listing Options for Sellers

The NAR Board of Directors approved the removal of an optional rule that allowed MLSs to tell those who received listing data feeds that they could not display MLS listing information in the same location as non-MLS listing information. This policy has been the subject of lawsuits and inquiries from the Department of Justice, so many MLSs had either not adopted the rule or repealed it. This change removes the option to even have that rule, so any MLS that previously enforced it will be rescinding the rule.

And although it was not adopted at these meetings, there was plenty of discussion about the Multiple Listing Options for Sellers policy that was announced earlier in the year. Local MLSs are required to adopt a version of this rule no later than September 30, 2025. Realtors® with questions about local adoption should contact their MLS directly, as these decisions are handled by each MLS individually and not tracked by PAR.