DON’T MAKE THESE ADVERTISING AND PROPERTY ACCESS MISTAKES By Rebecca Carraher, Director of Ethics and Professional Standards In 2016, there were 37 citations issued by the Illinois REALTORS® Ethics Citation Panel. The majority alleged violations of Article 12 of the Code of Ethics. Article 12 states, “REALTORS® shall be honest and truthful in their real estate communications and shall present a true picture in their advertising, marketing, and other representations. REALTORS® shall ensure that their status as real estate professionals is readily apparent in their advertising, marketing, and other representations, and that the recipients of all real estate communications are, or have been, notified that those communications are from a real estate professional.” As a REALTOR®, review all of your advertising to ensure you are presenting a “true picture” and that the advertising is not misleading in any way. The Ethics Citation Panel, when reviewing a complaint that is filed, does consider how a member of the public would reasonably interpret the claims made in the advertising.
IN VIOLATION
CORRECT Many brokers assume that displaying a picture of their brokerage on the backdrop of their Facebook business page takes care of Code and license law compliance. However, that alone is not sufficient to meet the standard: Backdrop images do not show up in Facebook newsfeeds, so individual postings must include the brokerage name.
Standard of Practice 12-5 states, “REALTORS® shall not advertise nor permit any person employed by or affiliated with them to advertise real estate services or listed property in any medium (e.g., electronically, print, radio, television, etc.) without disclosing the name of that REALTOR’S® firm in a reasonable and readily apparent manner either in the advertisement or in electronic advertising via a link to a display with all required disclosures.” Make sure the complete name of your firm is included in a reasonable and readily apparent manner in all advertising. Standard of Practice 12-7 states, “Only REALTORS® who participated in the transaction as the listing broker or cooperating broker (selling broker) may claim to have “sold” the property. Prior to closing, a cooperating broker may post a “sold” sign only with the consent of the listing broker.” Complaints were filed through the Illinois REALTORS® Ethics Citation Program regarding postcards that were mailed, citing properties that had “sold” in a particular area or subdivision. Case Study #12-13 in the NAR Code of Ethics and Arbitration Manual includes footnote disclosures to use when advertising properties that have sold when the REALTOR® advertising these sold properties did not participate in any or all of the displayed transactions. Some disclosures that might be included in the footnote are: the properties displayed were listed and sold by various participants in the MLS, the period of time during which the transactions closed, and the source of the information, i.e. the MLS compilation of closed transactions. Article 1, Standard of Practice 1-16 and Article 3, Standard of Practice 3-9 were also cited in several Ethics Citation Complaints. Standard of Practice 1-16 states, “REALTORS® shall not access or use, or permit or enable others to access or use, listed or managed property on terms or conditions other than those authorized by the owner or seller.” Standard of Practice 3-9 states, “REALTORS® shall not provide access to listed property on terms other than those established by the owner or the listing broker.” To comply with the Code of Ethics, never enter, or allow a client or customer to enter, listed property without the consent of the listing broker and/or the owner of the property. As a best practice, try to obtain the required permission in writing. Additional information on the Illinois REALTORS® Ethics Citation Program is available at www.IllinoisRealtors. org/Disputes.
ILLINOIS REALTOR® April 2017
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