US agent trade body to pay $418m to settle commission disputes
The American equivalent of Propertymark faced multiple legal claims over fees paid to property buyers' agents.
American real estate trade association the National Associatoin of Realtors (NAR) is to pay $418 million to settle legal cases relating to agent commission agreements.
Homeowners claimed they had been forced to pay artificially inflated agent fees when they sold.
The NAR says that its agents who use the country’s ‘Multiple Listing Service’, or MLS, to market a property will no longer be allowed to pay a commission to agents representing home buyers.
And the trade body also agreed to require MLS agents to sign an agreement, in a move designed to ensure that buyers know in advance what their agent will charge them.
Major shift
The changes represent a major shift in the way real estate agents in the United States operate, MSN reports.
NAR faced multiple lawsuits over agent commissions. In one case, a federal jury in Missouri found that NAR and several large real estate brokerages conspired so that home sellers were paying buyers’ agent commission.
Over one million of its members are affected by the rulings, NAR said.
UK firms supported
The venture capital arm of the NAR invests in REACH UK, which supports UK proptech firms in a co-investment agreement with Propertymark and TDS Group.
This year’s cohort featured eight proptech companies including Just Move In and Propalt.
And earlier this year, the Property Redress Scheme revealed an increase in estate agents in the UK charging buyers reservation fees of up to £2,000. Fees usually starting at £500 have become a big source of income for agents who benefit if a sale falls through, the PRS claimed.
