HOUSTON—The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) wrapped up its annual conference Monday with the Board of Directors (BOD) approving sweeping policy changes, many explicitly as part of an “antitrust risk assessment” effort.
Most notably, the association, today, announced the approval of 18 comprehensive updates to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Handbook, constituting the most extensive update in two decades, according to NAR.
At the top, NAR said that it is “reinforcing” its decision that Realtor® association membership as a prerequisite to MLS participation is a matter of local discretion. It also made a handful of other changes focusing on giving more control back to MLS.
“These updates to the MLS Handbook strengthen and modernize NAR’s policies and reflect our efforts to align MLS policies with how real estate professionals do business today,” said Kevin Sears, now past president of NAR. “I want to thank each of our MLS Presidential Advisory Group members, who represent a broad cross-section of our industry, for their time, ideas and passion. Their recommendations will help our organization and our industry move forward.”
These changes will be reflected in the 2026 MLS Handbook, scheduled to be published January 2026.
NAR has faced a handful of lawsuits from brokers claiming that Realtor® requirements for MLS access are illegal (winning dismissal of at least two in recent months). Back in 1994, NAR made predicating MLS access on Realtor® membership a local decision after losing a major federal court case, which forced NAR to allow non-Realtors® access to the MLS in three states.
In a post on its website that was deleted shortly after the first recent broker lawsuit in 2024, NAR had written that it “believes that limiting MLS access to REALTORS® is legitimate and lawful, and that litigation challenging the MLS membership access rule can be successfully defended.”
NAR appears to be backing down from that, with one of the repealed policies reading in part that “(t)o the extent permitted by law, the National Association remains firmly and unequivocally committed to the principle that association membership is a reasonable condition of participation in the association’s multiple listing service.”
That language was removed, according to NAR, because “Requiring Association membership is a matter of local discretion.”
“MLSs will seek assurance that they can still require association membership locally and deem it a reasonable requirement,” NAR continued, in a document explaining the changes.
All 18 MLS recommendations were officially approved by the MLS Committee and Executive Committee before being shared with the NAR Board of Directors during today’s meeting, following an earlier review from the MLS Technology and Emerging Issues Advisory Board.
The recommendations focus on:
- Reinforcing matters of local discretion, such as non-member access to MLS
- Modernizing administrative, operations, and enforcement rules
- Removing outdated MLS enforcement practices.
Among other repealed rules is one that stated when MLSs are “confronted with a request or demand by an individual for access to the association’s multiple listing service without membership in the association,” the MLS is “advised” to contact NAR which would provide “recommended procedures.”
Other areas where NAR is repealing or modifying policies to let MLSs make their own decisions are around open listings and cooperation with independent listing services.
Beyond the landmark MLS changes, the board approved four additional policy updates reflecting the industry’s evolution following recent settlement agreements. Professional Standards Committee Chair Todd Beckstrom presented recommendations that passed with strong support, including:
- To amend Article 6 to expand transparency by ensuring that real estate referral fees are disclosed to clients and consumers: 716 in favor, 141 opposed
- To delete Standard of Practice 3-4 (related to “variable rate” commission, with NAR saying the original rule was “predicated” on the now-disallowed mandatory offers of compensation on the MLS): 860 in favor, 20 opposed
- To amend Standard of Practice 17-4 to update the language to ensure compliance with the tenets of the settlement agreement: 876 in favor, 20 opposed
The Board of Directors meeting concluded with CEO Nykia Wright offering a heartfelt tribute to outgoing President Sears, describing her journey at NAR as “the most challenging professional opportunity imaginable.”
“Kevin made the load easier to carry, and I will forever be grateful for his leadership and partnership,” Wright said.
