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 27 specific issues outlined in the RMLS Rules and Regulations, and is responsible for addressing subscriber questions and concerns regarding listing accuracy.
HIGHLIGHTS
Given our recent policy change regarding refreshing listings, it would be advantageous to review the distinctions between the Canceled and Withdrawn statuses, as well as when to employ each.
According to the RMLS rules and regulations, these statuses are defined as follows:
Cancelled (CAN): Listings may also be canceled prior to their expiration date. The Canceled status signifies that the listing contract has been cancelled and terminated. Obviously, if the CONTRACT with the seller has been canceled then you would not want to actively market or advertise the property. The date that you change the listing to Canceled gets recorded in the Expiration Date field and the listing will always appear as CAN from that point on.
Withdrawn (WTH): If the owner requests it, and has signed the proper paperwork, you can withdraw a listing in the RMLS database. The contract between you and the seller is still in force, but the property will no longer be actively marketed or advertised. This could be a temporary condition and the listing can be returned to Active status later. Special note: A listing marked WTH will still expire once it hits midnight on the date specified in the Expiration Date field.
There are some possible circumstances under which you would use these statuses and the situations that would guide you in choosing one status over the other:
Withdrawn: The withdrawn status should be utilized in situations where the listing will not be actively marketed for a period (typically short-term) but will be reactivated, and marketing will resume. Examples of such circumstances include when the seller is out of town for the weekend; the seller is conducting minor repairs or yard work; or the seller will be unavailable for showings for a brief period. During these instances, you would designate the property as Withdrawn temporarily and then reactivate the listing as “back on the market.” Listings under the WTH status are still actively under contract and will accumulate Days on Market (DOM).
Canceled: The canceled status is appropriate for situations where your current listing contract will be terminated. However, this does not necessarily mean that the seller is not interested in working with you in the future; rather, it indicates that the seller is not currently interested in marketing the home, often for a longer or indefinite period. This could be due to reasons such as needing to take a break, approaching holidays, or planning extensive repairs/upgrades.
Whenever you are off the market and intend to relist with a new MLS number, the listing must be Canceled or Expired for at least 31 days. Withdrawn listings cannot be relisted with a new MLS number.
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 casees in January 2024.
INFORMAL VIOLATIONS
The chart below shows violations that generated at least 15 instances in the past month. This month we saw some significant changes for certain categories.
- Missing School rose from 4 to 35
- HUD dropped from 28 to 9
- Missing Condo Unit Number dropped from 118 to 64
- Duplicate Listing fell from 150 to 105
- Missing Tax ID rose from 47 to 153
Data Accuracy Department Statistics
The gain or loss comparison displayed in the parenthesis is versus the previous month.
- Listings Reviewed: 15,127 (+3,839)
- Notices Sent: 2,423 (-815)
- Violation Notices Received: 270 (+43)
- Courtesy Notices Sent: 1,730 (-933)
- Phone Calls Received: 520 (+153)
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.