In filing a property into the Service
of an association of REALTORS®, the participant of the service is making
blanket unilateral offers of compensation to the other MLS participants, and
shall therefore specify on each listing entered with the service, the
compensation being offered to the other MLS participants. Specifying the
compensation on each listing is necessary, because the cooperating broker has
the right to know what his compensation shall be prior to his endeavor to sell.*(M)
The listing broker retains the right to
determine the amount of compensation offered to other participants (acting as
subagents, buyer agents, or in other agency or nonagency capacities defined by
law) which may be the same or different. (M)
This shall not preclude the listing broker from
offering any MLS participant compensation other than the compensation indicated
on any listing published by the MLS, provided the listing broker informs the
other broker, in writing, in advance of submitting an offer to purchase, and
provided that the modification in the specified compensation is not the result
of any agreement among all or any other participants in the service. Any
superseding offer of compensation must be expressed as either a percentage of
the gross sales price or as a flat dollar amount. [1](M)
[1] Note
1: The multiple listing service shall not have a rule requiring the listing broker
to disclose the amount of total negotiated commission in his listing contract,
and the association multiple listing service shall not publish the total
negotiated commission on a listing which has been submitted to the MLS by a
participant. The association multiple listing service shall not disclose in any
way the total commission negotiated between the seller and the listing broker. (M)
Note 2: The listing broker may, from
time to time, adjust the compensation offered to other multiple listing service
participants for their services with respect to any listing by advance
published notice to the service so that all participants will be advised. (M)
Note 3: The multiple listing service
shall make no rule on the division of commissions between participants and
nonparticipants. This should remain solely the responsibility of the listing
broker. (M)
Note 4: Multiple listing services, at
their discretion, may adopt rules and procedures enabling listing brokers to
communicate to potential cooperating brokers that gross commissions established
in listing contracts are subject to court approval, and that compensation
payable to cooperating brokers may be reduced if the gross commission
established in the listing contract is reduced by a court. In such instances,
the fact that the gross commission is subject to court approval and either the
potential reduction in compensation payable to cooperating brokers or the
method by which the potential
reduction in compensation will be calculated must be clearly communicated to
potential cooperating brokers prior to the time they submit an offer that
ultimately results in a successful transaction. (M)
Note 5: Nothing in these MLS rules
precludes a listing participant and a cooperating participant, as a matter of
mutual agreement, from modifying the cooperative compensation to be paid in the
event of a successful transaction. (M)
Note 6: Multiple listing services
must give participants the ability to disclose to other participants any
potential for a short sale. As used in these rules, short sales are defined as
a transaction where title transfers, where the sale price is insufficient to
pay the total of all liens and costs of sale, and where the seller does not
bring sufficient liquid assets to the closing to cure all deficiencies.
Multiple listing services may, as a matter of local discretion, require
participants to disclose potential short sales when participants know a
transaction is a potential short sale. In any instance where a participant
discloses a potential short sale, they may, as a matter of local discretion,
also be permitted to communicate to other participants how any reduction in the
gross commission established in the listing contract required by the lender as
a condition of approving the sale will be apportioned between listing and
cooperating participants. All confidential disclosures and confidential
information related to short sales, if allowed by local rules, must be
communicated through dedicated fields or confidential “remarks” available only
to participants and subscribers. (M)