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Effective January 1, 2008 Rule Changes Proposed

Changes are proposed for certain Commission rules relating to agency agreements, advertising, firm licenses, brokers-in-charge, property disclosure, license reinstatement, website advertising, and “shopping offers”.

If approved by the Commission, the rules would become effective January 1, 2008.

A summary of the most significant proposed changes follows:

 

Agency Agreements and Disclosure

• Clarify that brokers may not unlawfully discriminate against anyone in a real estate transaction, including persons not parties to the transaction.

• Require that written agency agreements be signed.

 

Business Entities

• Provide that the Commission will not issue a license to a firm when another firm is licensed under the same name or using the name as a trade name.

 

Broker-in-Charge

• Clarify that LLCs and other eligible entities organized solely for receipt of compensation which are treated as “Subchapter S Corporations” by the Internal Revenue Service are eligible for the same exemption from the broker-in-charge requirement as corporations.

• Provide that brokers-in-charge who fail to take the BIC Course within the deadline are required to take the course before being re-designated as a broker-in-charge.

• Permit former brokers-in-charge to remain eligible to serve as broker-in-charge if they continue taking the Broker-in-Charge Annual Review (BICAR) course every year and remain on active status.

• Clarify continuing education requirements for nonresident brokers and nonresident BICs.

 

Residential Property Disclosure Statement

• Revise the Statement to require sellers to disclose whether a fuel tank is owned or leased, whether the road that serves the property is maintained publicly or privately, building permitting and clarify when certain disclosures are limited to problems or require disclosure of more general information.

 

License Date Reinstatement

• Provide that the license date for licensees who are expired for longer than six months and then reinstated is the date of reinstatement.

 

Website Advertising

• Require brokers’ websites to identify the broker and/his or her firm in a clear and conspicuous manner.

 

“Shopping Offers”

• Prohibit brokers from disclosing the price and material terms of an offer to a competing buyer.

This article came from the June 2007-Vol38-1 edition of the bulletin.