Wisconsin REALTORS® Association - Legal Hotline Hottips
Legal Hottips - March 17,
2008 1.) Disclosure - Disclosure of Other Offers Wis. Admin. Code § RL 24.12(1) states, in part, "A
licensee may, but is not required to, disclose information known by the
licensee regarding the existence of other offers on the property, the
fact that a seller has accepted an other offer, that the offer is
subject to contingencies and that the offer is subject to a clause
requiring removal of certain contingencies upon the occurrence of an
event such as receipt, acceptance or conditional acceptance of another
offer." Therefore, unless the seller has required the broker to keep
confidential information about offers on the property, Wisconsin law
allows an agent to disclose the existence of other offers. READ MORE ABOUT IT: 2.) Listing Contracts - Listing Extensions QUESTION: A broker is trying to clean up files after an agent left. There was a listing with an original date of May 4, 2007. On November 4, 2007, that listing expired. On December 3, 2007, an amendment to the listing contract was received from the seller via fax to extend the listing. When the listing originally expired on November 4, 2007, the agent did not submit a list of protected buyers to the seller. Would the buyers who looked at the property prior to November 5, 2007 continue to be protected under the listing that is now set to expire November 30, 2008? Is an amendment considered a new listing? ANSWER: Based on the information and dates provided, the original listing expired on November 4, 2007. The subsequent amendment served to create a new listing from December 3, 2007 to November 30, 2008. The amendment did not cover the period from November 4, 2007 to December 3, 2007. Because the original listing contract expired, prospective buyers who are not automatically protected per the terms of the Extension of Listing section of the WB-1 Residential Offer to Purchase, would have to be protected in accordance with the terms therein - in other words, the names of the buyers eligible for protection would have to be delivered to the seller within 3 days of the expiration of the listing contract. The fact that the seller and broker executed a new listing does not automatically "bring forward" those protected buyers who would have been required to be identified to the seller in writing within 3 days of the expiration of the original contract. The buyer who did obtain an accepted offer with the seller during the term of the first listing contract is automatically protected under that listing contract. That offer to purchase has been recently terminated. The protection period under the first contract for this buyer is for one year beginning November 5, 2007 -- the protection period does not begin at the termination of the offer but rather the expiration of the listing contract. READ MORE ABOUT IT: 3.) Agency - Disclosure QUESTION: The broker is regularly getting offers from other agents and brokers all too often lately where they do not check off anything on line one of the offer, they do not check off who they are representing in the Broker Disclosure to Customers, and they are not always even providing a Broker Disclosure to Customers. Can the broker start just giving the offers back and tell them that these are incomplete offers? Or should the broker present the offers and try to get those items via a counter-offer or amendment? This is just getting a little ridiculous lately in that it seems to be more the norm that not. ANSWER: The listing agent should continue to present all offers to the seller, despite their shortcomings. If the offer is being otherwise countered, the broker may ask for clarification of the other agent's relationship in the counter. If there is no counter, the broker amends the offer to specify exactly what sort of agency representation the buyer has. The broker may consider speaking to the brokers of these agents, and if this carelessness does not stop, filing a complaint with the DRL. It is important that licensees confirm the type of representation being provided for the sake of the buyer, and it is important that the listing broker and his clients have this information as well. Failure to provide a Broker Disclosure to Customers to a customer before negotiating an offer violates Wis. Stat. § 452.135(1), and failure to indicate the sort of agency relationship both verbally and in the offer violates Wis. Admin. Code § RL 24.07(8). READ MORE ABOUT IT: 4.) Trust Accounts - Earnest Money QUESTION: How long does a broker have to disburse earnest money once the Cancellation Agreement and Mutual Release (CAMR) is signed and delivered by all parties? The listing broker is holding the buyer's earnest money. ANSWER: Unlike the specific time frame to deposit funds, Wis. Admin. Code § RL 18.09 regarding the disbursement of earnest money from trust accounts does not set a specific time for disbursement. Once the CAMR has been signed and delivered, the listing broker should disburse the funds in a prompt and timely manner. This will basically be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. READ MORE ABOUT IT:
April is Fair Housing Month! WRA Fair Housing Declaration Celebrate Fair Housing Month by printing, reading and
signing the Wisconsin REALTORS® Association Fair Housing
Declaration. Hang it on your wall or include it in your listing or
buyer agency presentation materials to show prospects that you are
committed to fair housing.
Office Policy Manual Guide Available This Wisconsin REALTORS® Association Best of the Legal Hotline service is provided for you by the WRA's Legal Affairs Department. The service should be considered a general statement of applicable legal principles. Given this format, it is impossible to fully address all potential legal issues which might apply in any particular situation. A determination of any individual's legal rights in a transaction can only be obtained after complete analysis of the law and its applicability to the particular fact situation. Please contact the WRA Legal Hotline if additional information is needed, or private counsel, if legal advice is needed. Thank you for using the Wisconsin REALTORS® Association Best of the Legal Hotline service. Debbi Conrad |