Responsibility for Subordinates

The Complaint:

REALTOR® A exclusively listed a suburban house and subsequently convinced the seller to accept $20,000 less than the listed price. Several weeks after the transfer of title, the seller filed a written complaint with the Board, charging REALTOR® A with a violation of Article 4 in that REALTOR® A had sold the property to his mother without disclosing this relationship to his client, the seller, and that REALTOR® A got the price reduced for his mother’s benefit.

The Hearing:

At the hearing, REALTOR® A stated that he saw nothing wrong in selling the property to his mother and that the seller would have accepted the contract at the reduced price, even if the buyer had not been REALTOR® A’s mother.

The Conclusion:

The panel found that REALTOR® A should have made his relationship to the buyer, his mother, unmistakably clear to the seller. He should have disclosed in writing that the buyer was his mother so there would have been no misunderstanding.