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Leadership from the National Association of Realtors on Wednesday voted to scrap a controversial policy that separated listings depending on whether they came from multiple listing services or from non-MLS sources.
The policy was known as the “no-commingling” rule. It was an optional policy allowing MLSs to prohibit brokers from displaying listings from MLSs together with those from non-MLS sources. On Tuesday at NAR’s Legislative Meetings gathering, the trade organization’s Multiple Listing Issues and Policies Committee voted to rescind the policy.
The decision to ditch the policy or not then moved on to NAR’s Executive Committee, which voted Wednesday to abandon the rule, according to a statement from NAR.
“The National Association of Realtors Executive Committee repealed the optional non-commingling rule from the MLS Policy Handbook,” the statement noted. “This decision was based on feedback about the rule’s declining usage and relevance in local marketplaces.”
The no-commingling policy has in recent years become a source of controversy for NAR. That controversy sprang in part from an antitrust lawsuit that now-defunct brokerage REX filed against both Zillow and NAR. REX eventually lost that legal battle, and legal filings in the case show that 29 percent of Realtor-affiliated MLSs have chosen not to adopt the rule.
The policy has also attracted scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice.
In the case of Zillow, the mega portal began complying with the no-commingling policy years ago, but earlier this spring quietly reversed course and started allowing the display of non-MLS listings alongside other properties on the platform. Non-MLS listings had previously been obscured with a filter that many users never knew existed
Prior to Wednesday’s Executive Committee vote, some members of NAR indicated they were not fans of the policy. Among them, Matt Consalvo — CEO of Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS) and a member of the Multiple Listing Service Issues and Policies Committee — told Inman he doesn’t like NAR’s optional rules. He also said he believes removing the no-commingling rule provides brokers with greater clarity. ARMLS never adopted the rule.
“When brokers operate in multiple MLSs and there are the optional rules, it confuses them because one MLS may adopt something and another MLS may not,” Consalvo said.
NAR’s Executive Committee was able to make the final decision on rescinding the no-commingling policy due to governance changes that meant the move didn’t need to go before the trade organization’s board of directors.
Correction: Matt Consalvo is part of the Multiple Listing Service Issues and Policies Committee. An earlier version of this story implied that he was part of the Executive Committee.
