RMLS™ Rules Roundup for December 2019
The RMLS™ Rules and Regulations Committee has requested that periodic reports are given to subscribers about the number and types of formal rules violations, along with information about informal violations and courtesy notifications by type. Read “If a RMLS™ Rule is Broken, What Happens?” for a deeper explanation.
Have you ever spotted something wrong in a property listing on RMLSweb? The Data Accuracy team is responsible for sorting things out whenever a RMLS™ subscriber contacts us—whether that is via the “Report Issue” button on a listing, by email, or contacting us directly by phone. In December 2019 our team handled 195 phone calls.
We track 32 specific issues in Listing Data Checker (LDC), the software that helps us spot and correct issues proactively. Six of these are courtesy notifications, but the other 24 are informal violations of the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations. In addition to our focus on education we also process formal violations throughout the year.
HOT TOPICS
As winter moves into spring and the volume of new listings starts to increase remember that personal promotion on video and virtual tours are a violation of the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations. Any video or virtual tour that is linked on your listing must be devoid of any identifying personal and brokerage information. This means that the tour(s) themselves cannot have any identifying personal promotion information. If you have a video or virtual tour that is branded with personal promotion, you can post it on your own personal website.
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 reviewed three formal violations in December for a total of $1,750.00 in fines.
- 5.1.l – Unauthorized use of lockbox system: A buyer’s agent did not follow showing instructions.
- 5.1.l – Unauthorized use of lockbox system: A buyer’s agent gave a lockbox access code to their buyer.
- 5.1.l – Unauthorized use of lockbox system: A buyer’s agent did not follow showing instructions.
INFORMAL VIOLATIONS
In December 2019, RMLS™ Data Accuracy staff reviewed 24,823 listings in addition to the 384 notices sent through “Report Issue” button on RMLSweb. Of the items reviewed, 810 violation notices and 1,459 courtesy notices were sent out.
| Category | December |
| Missing Tax ID | 316 |
| Personal Promotion | 92 |
| Incorrect or Missing Information | 86 |
| Missing Owner Name | 46 |
| Missing School | 43 |
| No Showings | 29 |
| Duplicate Listing | 26 |
| Year Built Description | 25 |
| Conditions to Compensation | 24 |
| Missing or Incorrect 1st Photo | 18 |
| Duplicate Listing in Different Categories | 13 |
| Is Property a Condo | 12 |
| Inaccurate Lot Size | 5 |
| City Unknown | 5 |
| Partial Bathrooms 5+ | 3 |
| Missing Condo Unit Number | 2 |
| Listing Input in Incorrect MLS area | 2 |
Following are the courtesy notifications sent to RMLS™ subscribers in December 2019:
| Category | December |
| Listing is Set to Expire | 695 |
| Listing Still Pending | 410 |
| Multiple Owner Names in First Field | 240 |
| New Listing Input Over 24 Hours | 114 |
When we notice an uptick in a specific type of violation (perhaps a rule recently changed or market conditions lead to an increase in a certain type of issue) we may also put a notification up on RMLSweb, educating subscribers before one of their listings gets flagged and we need to contact them.
RMLS™ Data Accuracy can be reached via email or by phone at (503) 236-7657 if you ever have questions about the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations, if you wonder whether a specific listing has inaccurate data, or if you want to chat with us more about the above information.