The Rules Roundup provides a monthly accounting of RMLS rules violations and courtesy notifications. Our Data Accuracy team manages all reports of property listing errors, tracking 34 specific issues outlined in the RMLS Rules and Regulations, and is responsible for addressing subscriber questions and concerns regarding listing accuracy.
HIGHLIGHTS
We have seen a dramatic decrease in the number of photo violations since adopting the recommended changes passed by the rules committee. Tax ID violations are also once again seeing lower numbers now that the programming is set to ignore Proposed, New Construction, and Under Construction listings.
The recently updated version of the RMLS Rules and Regulations is now available.
FORMAL VIOLATIONS
The RMLS Rules and Regulations Committee reviews all formal complaints which allege a violation of the RMLS Rules and Regulations. The committee has the power to impose sanctions.
The committee did not review any cases in February of 2023.
INFORMAL VIOLATIONS
Listings missing Tax ID information are typically the top informal violation within RMLSweb. Recently this rule has been edited to exclude Proposed and Under Construction property types. Because of this, there was a drop in the number of violations and now we are seeing Personal Promotion as the top violation for February 2023.
The chart below shows the next three most frequent informal violations from February 2023. This month we saw a spike for Incomplete or Inaccurate Data, making it the second-most violated category.
This pie chart shows the remainder of the informal violations last month.
Data Accuracy Department Statistics
- Listings Reviewed: 15,946 (-5,804)
- Notices Sent: 1,554 (-253)
- Violation Notices Received: 310 (-23)
- Courtesy Notices Sent: 711 (-118)
- Phone Calls Received: 327 (-32)
How to Report Violations
Subscribers have multiple options to report violations, including a Report Issue button on every RMLSweb listing. Subscribers can email our Data Accuracy team at dataaccuracy@rmls.com or call them at 503.395.1916. When there are increases in specific violation types, we sometimes place notifications on RMLSweb.
I do not understand how people can omit the above items- when we fill out our MLS listings it will not let us publish unless certain items are filled in. They give you a list in red at the end and you must complete it in order to launch. How is this happening? Thanks for the input.
Hello Denise,
Thanks for your question. Not every field that will create a possible violation is a required field. The Tax ID, School, and City fields have allowances for “unknown” or “other” to accommodate some special cases (sometimes involving county tax records).
The listing checker flags these instances for staff to check and then if we discover that “unknown” or “other” was used incorrectly and the correct information is in fact available, a violation is sent out.
Most violations occur either by accident or oversight when it comes to entering data. That’s where the data accuracy part of the department comes in. The listing checker is programmed to look for inconsistencies in the listings that would point to the data possibly being inaccurate. These violations are primarily for safety checks to help ensure that all the data being entered is accurate.
What is personal promotion?
Hello Patricia. Thank you for your question.
When a listing is input into RMLS it is important to remember that personal promotion is not allowed in the public remarks, on the photos, or in the virtual/video tours. Rule 3.25 of the RMLS Rules and Regulations states:
Listings submitted to RMLS may be used to provide information pertinent to the listed property only and may not be used to provide broker, seller or lessor contact information, or to advertise a Subscriber’s services to the public by way of direct or indirect advertising or “branding” of the listing data (through linking or otherwise.)
This rule is why we don’t allow links in the public remarks as well as why video tours must not lead to a site that contains contact information. We do review video tours to ensure that they are unbranded. In addition, we review the site where the video is hosted to make sure that it is also free from personal promotion.
Some personal promotion examples to avoid are using your name, your firm’s name, or having an email or phone number on the host site. One example of a hosting site would be YouTube. If the hosting site requires a name to be displayed our recommendation would be to use the property address, a generic phrase like “property for sale,” or a description from the public remarks.
Here’s link to a infographic with some helpful tips about personal promotion: https://www.rmlsweb.com/v2/public2/loadfile.asp?id=12955
You have flagged my listings for using URL’s in photos that lead to the EXACT same Virtual Tour or Matterport links that are also uploaded in RMLS listing load. There’s no personal promotion violation because it’s literally the same tour. There is zero personal branding. The next time I post a listing I’ll be calling RMLS to walk through the links, they are being unnecessarily removed.
Hi Temara,
Thanks for your comment. Even though links on the photos may be the same as in Listing Load, RMLS Rules and Regulations do not allow any website links in photos or public remarks (not just ones that have personal promotion). Please feel free to reach out to our Data Accuracy department to discuss if you have any questions about this policy.
Best regards,
RMLS Communications