Notes From the Legal Hotline: June 2022
June 2, 2022
Q: What do REALTORS® need to know to avoid antitrust liability? A: The best way to avoid antitrust liability is to ensure that all business decisions are made independently within the brokerage. The potential for antitrust liability arises any time two or more competitors discuss their business practices. REALTORS® must always be alert to discussions that focus on commission rates, pricing structures, listing policies, or marketing practices of other brokerages. If a discussion becomes troubling, immediately suggest a change of topic, or remove oneself from the conversation. Within the real estate arena, we most often hear of antitrust issues arising from price fixing and group boycotts. Price fixing may be as obvious as two or more competitors blatantly agreeing to charge consumers the same commission on real estate transactions or agreeing to the same cooperating commission splits. Price fixing…