Standard of Practice 1-13 was amended to say, when REALTORS are working with buyers or tenants, they should tell their clients that “sellers or sellers’ representatives may not treat the existence, terms, or conditions of offers as confidential unless confidentiality is required by law, regulation, agreement between the parties.”

Standard of Practice 1-15 was amended to say, in response to inquiries from buyers or cooperating brokers, REALTORS shall, with the sellers’ approval, disclose the existence of other offers and also, when disclosure is authorized, whether the offer came from the listing licensee, another licensee in that company, or a cooperating broker.

Clarification was made to Article 10 regarding the ethical issues when providing demographic data in a residential or commercial transaction. However, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) controls more strictly the dissemination of certain demographic information than does federal law and the Code of Ethics. The PHRA makes it illegal for any person to keep and use demographic data that includes entries pertaining to race, color, religious creed, ancestry, sex, national origin, handicap, disability, and the use/training of guide or support animals in connection with the sale or lease of housing and commercial property.

• In addition to the team name, all licensed individuals associated with the team must be listed in the advertisement.
• Unlicensed individuals, including assistants may not be listed as members of the team.
• Licensees on a team must be within the same real estate company.
• The requirements of Section 35.305 of the licensing act, “Business name on advertisements” must be met.

The only exception to the above is business cards. An individual team member may have a business card that does not include the names of all licensed individuals on the team.

For more information on other licensing rules and regulations that affect your business, the Association of Realtors School offers “RELRA Update: License Law Applications to Everyday Practice”. The next offering is December 15, 2005, 1:30 – 5:00. To register or for a full listing of dates and times for this course, visit the school at www.realtors-school.com.

Free Education for REALTORS—All REALTOR Members of the Suburban West REALTORS Association have received an education voucher included with their 2006 dues invoice packet mailed this week. This voucher allows the member to attend a complimentary $35 MCE class between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2006 (NOTE that designation and certificate courses are excluded). Due to the success of the Association’s merger, we are pleased to leverage our resources to make this free registration available to our 4,700 REALTORS. To utilize the voucher, members simply need to notify the staff at the time of registration of their intent to redeem your free registration. Note that this can be accomplished via phone or paper registration—you cannot use the voucher if you are registering on-line. Each member is only eligible to receive one free class and must pay their 2006 dues prior to use of the voucher. A comprehensive list of school courses can be accessed here.