Welcome to the Legal Section of C.A.R. Online, where REALTORS® legal needs are met with the latest information and legal updates. Our goal is to give our members a competitive edge and minimize legal exposure. All this information is available through a variety of resources such as our Legal Q&As including our Disclosure Charts, the Legal Blog, Strategic Defense Program and Defense Referral Panel, Legal Action Fund, Realegals®, Board/Association Arbitration Procedures and Forms, Private Mediation and Arbitration information (for your clients), MLS rules and guidelines, and summaries detailing all our Standard Forms. Be sure to check out the Real Estate Resources and Real Estate Regulatory Updates sections for additional real estate law information. You'll also find summaries of the new laws affecting REALTORS® with links to the actual statutes.
Look below for "What's New" during the last month. You'll see "Regulatory News," new Legal Q&As, and "What's Hot" announcements.
NAR recently adopted a new MLS policy option giving MLSs discretionary authority to revise their rules to alter how they allow the offer of compensation to be expressed. It is important to note that while the REO crisis was the impetus for the optional rule change, the change itself is not limited to REO listings.
This new NAR option enables participants, in effect, to offer compensation through the MLS based on the net sales price in the following form: “a percentage of the gross sales price minus buyer upgrades (new construction) and seller concessions (as defined by the MLS unless defined by state law or regulation).” No definition of “seller concessions” was provided by NAR (and it is not defined by law or regulation in California), and, to reiterate, this new pay-on-the-net option would not be limited just to REO properties but would be in place across the board.