NEWS
COE complaints, arbitration disputes drop 29% in 2019
Most COE violations involved Article 1 followed by 16; arbitration disputes involved just $17,000 in commissions
The Orlando Regional REALTOR® Association in 2019 received a combined total of 35 new
REALTOR® Code of Ethics complaint case filings and arbitration dispute filings, a number
that represents a 29% decrease compared to the 49 new filings introduced in 2018.
Twenty-two of the 35 new filings were REALTOR® COE cases (which can be initiated by
either a REALTOR® or a member of the public), while 13 were broker-to-broker arbitration
disputes (which exclusively involve commission issues).
There are currently six ethics complaints that were initiated in 2019 still working their
way through the formal resolution processes overseen by the association’s Grievance and
Professional Standards committees .
2019 COMPLETIONS
A total of 22 ethics cases were completed in 2019. Of those, 11 were resolved aft er a
hearing while four cases were dismissed and seven were withdrawn or closed. A total of 41
ethics violations were identified within those cases that completed the hearing process,
and they resulted in $3,000 in fines. In 2018, those numbers were 80 violations and $2,000 in
fines, respectively.
The majority of ethics violations (10) involved Article 1 of the REALTOR® Code of Ethics,
while eight violations involved Article 16. Articles 3 and 12 each garnered 5 violations in 2019.
Six of 2019’s completed 13 arbitration disputes were resolved aft er a hearing, while two
were withdrawn and one was resolved via mediation (four disputes have been carried into
2020). The disputes involved commissions worth a total $17,105, which a significant decline
from the $45,124 involved in 2018 and a huge drop compared to 2017’s $212,413.
OMBUDSMAN PROGRAM
The ORRA Ombudsman Program
works to resolve disputes in progress
between both consumers and
REALTORS® and between association
members. Since the program’s inception
in 2015, ombudsmen have responded to
96 requests for help.
A primary objective of the
ombudsman program is to prevent
disputes from escalating into a formal
REALTOR® Code of Ethics grievance.
Each ombudsman assignment that is
successfully resolved is one less potential
ethics case. Out of the 12 ombudsman
assignments in 2019, one resulted in the
filing of formal ethics complaints.
Ombudsman
Assignments
COE
Cases
2019 12 22
2018 21 41
2017 22 35
2016 18 31
New! “Your Key To Orlando Real Estate”
Consumer-outreach podcast off ers buyer and seller education while spreading “use-a-REALTOR®” messages
Listen up, because ORRA has launched
a brand-new consumer outreach program!
“Your Key to Orlando Real Estate” takes
advantage of the popularity of podcasts to
position REALTORS® as the experts who are
essential to the real estate transaction.
In the first episode of “Your Key To
Orlando Real Estate,” host and REALTOR®
Gary Balanoff tackled the financial
issues that many first-time homebuyers
experience, with the help of his special
guests from Housing and Neighborhood
Services of Florida. Future topics covered in
the podcast will range from staging-to-sell
strategies to new-construction options.
A fresh edition of “Your Key to
Orlando Real Estate” drops on the second
Tuesday of every month, and features
a new REALTOR® host with a new topic.
The podcasts will be available on favorite
platforms such as iTunes and Spotify;
be sure to subscribe so you can receive
notifications each time a new episode
is posted. They will also be archived on
orlandorealtors.com, ORRA's consumer
website, orlandorealtors.com.
HOW TO LISTEN AND SHARE WITH YOUR
CUSTOMERS
1. Visit orlandorealtors.com, and in the top
menu at the right, select "Podcast."
2. Search "Your Key to Orlando Real
Estate" in iTunes, Spotify, TuneIn, iHeart
Radio or Deezer.
The podcast is a project of the ORRA
Communications Committee and its
Podcast Task Force.
8 Orlando REALTOR® Spring 2020
/orlandorealtors.com
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