Grievance

Tim Cocanour, Chair
Grievance Committee

Do you feel you have a complaint, or do you just want to find out more about the ethics process? The first step is to contact Board staff, or to check the board’s website to see materials that will guide you through the complaint process.

Our board staff will provide anyone who asks with information about our complaint process, and with the forms needed for filing a complaint. The first step for any complaint is get it filed at the board in writing. The board will then forward a copy to the member named, and request a written response to the complaint.

Please know that whenever any inquiry or complaint is received, whether it is for Ethics or a Request for Arbitration, it is considered strictly confidential.

Review by the Grievance Committee

The Grievance Committee, in their confidential session, will review all materials received related to the complaint. Their role during this session is similar to that of a grand jury, in that they are a screening committee. They review all complaints that are received, and make sure the parties have filed their complaint properly.

In the case of an ethics complaint, the Grievance Committee does not determine if ethics have been violated, they only determine if there is sufficient claim or allegations to warrant a hearing.

To forward an Ethics complaint to a hearing panel, the Grievance Committee must evaluate several things: Was the ethics complaint filed on the proper form? Was it filed within 180 days of the time the facts leading to the complaint could have been known through reasonable diligence? Is the person named in the complaint a member of the Board? Has the complaint also been filed with the Division of Real Estate? And finally, assuming the facts as stated in the complaint to be true, do the allegations state actions by the member that could constitute violation of the NAR Code of Ethics?

In the case of an arbitration request, the Grievance Committee does not determine if one party or the other can win their case, they only determine if an arbitrable matter exists. To forward the Arbitration to a hearing panel, the Grievance Committee must evaluate the following. Was the request for arbitration filed on the proper form? Was it filed within 180 days of the time the facts leading to the complaint could have been known through reasonable diligence? Are the parties members of the Board, or otherwise entitled to ask for arbitration through the Board? Is there litigation pending? Is the arbitration of the mandatory type or is it voluntary? Is the amount of the dispute too small to warrant assembling a hearing panel? And finally, is there some basis or rationale offered in the complaint upon which to base a claim of procuring cause?

It is a cross section of members who are appointed to staggered three-year terms on our Grievance Committee. Three-year terms help assure that there are members with experience in Professional Standards on the committee to consider the complaints. Also, there is a balance between members who are brokers, managers and agents representing different companies and different segments of membership that helps to ensure fair and unbiased consideration of complaints. Members of the Grievance Committee are also required to attend an annual training workshop, where they are kept up-to-date on changes in the Code of Ethics and related procedures.

It is a good idea to review your REALTOR’S® Code of Ethics on a regular basis, particularly since it is amended nearly every year during the annual NAR Convention. Our Code of Ethics provides us with a pathway to professionalism that will really help us through the changing and complex environment in which we work.

Our CBR website contains complete information about the complaint process. Here you will find the NAR Code of Ethics, complaint forms you can print out, and the NAR Case Interpretations.

Case Interpretations provide us with some very interesting reading about how our Code of Ethics is applied to the things that happen to us in our daily life in real estate.