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Notes From the Legal Hotline: January 2024
December 21, 2023
Q: An unrepresented buyer attended my open house and scheduled a follow up showing with me. I answered all their questions about the property and now they want to submit an offer using a buyer’s agent. Can I tell the buyer they can’t use their own agent at this point? A: No. A buyer may choose who they want to represent their interests in a real estate transaction, and a… -
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2023 Year in Advocacy Review
December 13, 2023
2023 was a banner year by any metric for MAR advocacy success. Here’s the rundown: Fighting Rent Control and Transfer Taxes 2023 saw the rise in two significant threats to housing in Massachusetts – rent control and transfer taxes. The former was proposed as part of a sweeping ballot question to be included on the 2024 election ballot. Fortunately, supporters fell significantly short of the required signatures to reach the… -
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Notes From the Legal Hotline: December 2023
December 4, 2023
Q: Who may receive a referral fee? A: Referral fees may only be paid to individuals who hold a real estate license; unlicensed individuals may never be given anything of value in exchange for a referral. Within the broad category of “licensee,” however, there are several nuances that are important to take note of when paying a referral fee. An individual holding an active salesperson’s license may only receive real… -
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Forms Updates – November 2023
November 28, 2023
Below are some important updates to the MassForms™ Library. Be sure to confirm that you are using the latest versions of these forms. You can access these forms here. UPDATED: Listing Agreements (Forms 692, 693, 707, 708, 709, 715, 721) All versions of the Listing Agreement in the Library have been updated to allow for the fee due to the broker to be entered as either a dollar amount or… -
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Rent Control Ballot Question Ended, Opposition Continues
November 13, 2023
Proponents of the 2024 ballot question that proposed to lift the statewide prohibition on rent control and give municipalities control over everything from evictions to real estate broker’s fees to removal of properties from the rental market have suspended their efforts. Supporters fell significantly short of the roughly 75,000 voter signatures required to move the ballot question onto the next step in the approval process. Read more about the process… -
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Notes From the Legal Hotline: November 2023
November 7, 2023
Q: May a buyer’s agent advertise a listed property of another brokerage? A: Permission should always be obtained prior to advertising the listing of another brokerage, even if you are a cooperating buyer’s agent. Advertising a listing that is not yours, regardless of your participation in the transaction, could result in a Code of Ethics, MLS, copyright, and/or licensing complaint being filed against you. Once a transaction closes, however, Article… -
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What does the Burnett v. NAR et al. Verdict mean for Massachusetts REALTORS®?
November 2, 2023
On October 31 the jury in the Burnett v. NAR et al, class action lawsuit reached its verdict, finding that NAR and the co-defendants participated in a conspiracy to enforce the cooperative compensation rule ultimately leading sellers to pay more than they would have otherwise. The jury awarded $1.785 billion in damages to the Plaintiff class, which by law will be automatically trebled to roughly $5.4 billion. NAR President Kasper… -
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Notes From the Legal Hotline: October 2023
October 5, 2023
Q: Must a REALTOR® affirmatively disclose whether a listed property is haunted? A: No, psychological impacts on a property, such as hauntings, are not required to be affirmatively disclosed to a prospective buyer and are, in fact, specifically exempted from affirmative disclosure under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 93, Section 114, commonly referred to as the Stigmatized Property Law. In 1998, the Stigmatized Property Law was enacted, which specifically states that… -
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Protecting REALTOR® Liability
September 25, 2023
On August 16th, the highest court in Massachusetts issued its ruling in Hill-Junious vs. UTP Realty LLC. In the case, a patron was murdered outside of a nightclub shortly after a new owner purchased the property and there had been several incidents at the club under the prior owner. The plaintiff argued that a commercial landlord’s duty to prevent reasonably foreseeable criminal acts encompassed a duty to learn of criminal… -
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FY24 Budget Supports Housing
September 25, 2023
We’re pleased to share that the Legislature has passed, and the Governor has signed, a budget for fiscal year 2024. Here are some items for which we successfully advocated: Crumbling concrete foundation prevention – Helping homeowners afflicted with crumbling concrete foundations was one of MAR’s priority issues for last month’s REALTOR® Day on Beacon Hill. The budget does that in two ways, by increasing funding for the state’s foundation testing…
