RAHB staff have reported receiving a significant number of requests to change listing data after a listing status has changed from “active” to “sold”, “expired” or “cancelled”. The MLS® Committee is currently reviewing this practice and will continue to examine in 2020.
Additionally it was recently reported to RAHB, that REALTORS® from the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) have been removing photos, room sizes, and data in both the REALTOR® and Client remarks. The reason provided was the public’s concerns with privacy, which has lead to an increase in photo and data-stripping.
As this practice may affect the integrity of the listing data their members rely on, the Toronto Real Estate Board released the following communication to their members on September 27, 2019:
January 2020, TREB posted an updated communication surrounding photos and data striping from TREB’s MLS® system listings advising the following:
“The Board of Directors have further decided that Listing Brokerages who remove listing information shall be required to restore the listing content at the Board’s discretion and that a $250.00 listing restoration administrative fee will be issued to the Listing Brokerage, per MLS® System number, alongside notice of a Professional Standards complaint.”
Ensuring the integrity of the listing data you reply on is important to RAHB. Currently RAHB has the following MLS® Rules & Regulations and MLS® policies that deal with copying photos, and the display of listing data as follows:
RAHB’s Rules and Regulations, Section 7 – MLS® Data and Other Board Publications, sub-section 7.03, (a), (b) and (c):
7.03 The Members shall advise and obtain their Client’s authorization that:
(a) all information concerning this Client’s Listing and the Listing Agreement, the properties affected thereby and the transactions there under shall be made available not only to all other Members and their respective Clients, but also third party users authorized by the Association;
(b) the Association may, at its option, advertise in any medium, including the Internet, any properties listed on the Association’s MLS® System; and
(c) the Association may compile, retain and distribute the Listing information indefinitely and may compile, retain and publish any statistical analyses including historical MLS® Data based on such information.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the MLS® Help Desk at 905.667.4650 or e-mail support@rahb.ca.