At the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings (RLM) in Washington, NAR made multiple revisions to the Code of Ethics and Arbitration Manual (Manual) that became effective June 5, 2025, including changes to 11 Standards of Practice (SOP). This article aims to explain the ‘why’ behind the SOP changes and describes NAR’s rationale.

While sharing negative information about another real estate brokerage firm or licensee may not violate NAR’s Code of Ethics or law if it’s honest and accurate, it can quickly become a violation of the Code of Ethics or law if any information is false or misleading.

A Realtor appraised an apartment building for a seller. The Realtor did not disclose to the seller that they were already the property manager for several other buildings owned by the buyer. However, the Realtor took care not to discuss managing the appraised property with the buyer. According to the Code of Ethics, is this a violation?

A Realtor should have affirmatively recommended that a party to the transaction consult their own attorney to definitively establish the legal rights in question. The Realtor was found in violation of the Code of Ethics, but took this as an opportunity to improve their business ethics and share their story about learning something new.

A Realtor turned down a listing because a home had a latent defect and the seller’s preferred remedy was “Don’t tell anyone.” Now someone else listed the home. Does the first Realtor honor the “do not tell” or call the listing broker with his insider info?