At the November 2022 meeting of of the National Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors, changes to Professional Standards were presented and approved. The following summary highlights substantive issues and changes. 

Also, review the shaded portions of the 2023 Code of Ethics and Arbitration Manual which highlights all the changes.

You may view annual summaries of professional standards changes for 2022 and prior years here.

Overview

• Revisions to Article 10 and Standards of Practice 10-3, 10-5, and 3-11, deleting “handicap” and instead inserting “disability”.  Same change made to Appendix III to Part Four, Responsibility of Member Boards with Respect to Article 10 of the Code of Ethics; Appendix VII to Part Four, Sanctioning Guidelines (Example C of Progressive Discipline); Appendix XII to Part Four, Appropriate Interpretation of Standard of Practice 10-5 and Statement of Professional Standards Policy 29

• Revision to Standard of Practice 3-9

• Revision to Section 1, Definitions Relating to Ethics, to define the phrase "Real Estate Professional" for purposes of Article 15 as those engaged in the disciplines of real estate specified in Article 11 of the Code of Ethics

• Amendments to Manual under “Definitions” (Section 1 and Section 26); Appendix XI to Part Four - Ethics Mediation; Appendix VI to Part Ten – Mediation as a Service of Member Boards; and other relevant online resources for ombuds to clarify that the prohibition of serving in more than one capacity in an ethics or arbitration matter also applies to ombuds and mediators

• Amendments to Part Four, Section 20, Initiating an Ethics Hearing, and Appendix V to Part Four, Ethics Hearing Checklist, to ensure consistent understanding of the Grievance Committee’s role as referenced in Section 17 – 19 of the Manual

• Amendment to Section 20 (a), Initiating an Ethics Complaint, to clarify that hearings cannot be heard anonymously; any complaint referred for hearing must include a complainant (e.g., member of the grievance committee) to shoulder the burden of proof

• Amendment to Section 20 (j), Initiating an Ethics Complaint, as it relates to the expedited hearing process; grievance committees now have the latitude to determine if the conduct alleged in the complaint is sufficiently egregious (e.g., public trust issue) to warrant a hearing rather than a waiver to a right to a hearing 

• Amendments to Section 21 (b), Ethics Hearing, and Section 23 (j), Action of the Board of Directors, of the Manual to remove the Board President from the process of receiving a copy of an ethics complaint upon referral for hearing and disseminating the ethics complaint, response, and the appeal decision, instead having that action carried out by the Professional Standards Administrator. Same changes made to Appendix V to Part Four, Ethics Hearing Checklist (38); Chairperson’s Procedural Guide Conduct of an Ethics Hearing; Chairperson’s Procedural Guide Conduct of an Appeal Hearing (Ethics); Chairperson’s Procedural Guide Conduct of a Procedural Review Hearing (Arbitration); Chairperson’s Procedural Guide Conduct of a Procedural Review Hearing (Interboard Arbitration)

• Enhancements to Sections 44 (a)(1) and 44 (a)(2), Duty and Privilege to Arbitrate, of the Manual, and Professional Standards Policy Statement #2, Circumstances Under Which REALTORS® Must Submit to Arbitration, and all corresponding references in NAR policy and resources to clarify that only REALTOR® principals can invoke arbitration with other REALTOR® principals.  REALTOR® non-principals are not considered parties in a mandatory arbitration between REALTOR® principals of different firms.

• Amendment to Professional Standards Policy Statement #45, Publishing the Name of Code of Ethics Violators, and the Model Citation Policy to clearly state that citations may be considered in any publication of violations should such rules be adopted by an association

• Standard of Practice 1-8 added to the Model Citation Policy, Schedule of Fines

• Minor amendments to modernize 24 case interpretations found on-line; search for the Interpretations of the Code of Ethics

• Deleted Case Interpretation #2-9, REALTOR®’s Responsibility for REALTOR®‘s Statement

• Three new Case Interpretations adopted (#17-14, #17-15, #17-16) all titled Arbitration in Non-Contractual Disputes, related to Standard of Practice 17-4

See Change Detail