Members sometimes ask whether they can alter the fine print in the Multiple Listing Contract. The answer is “no,” unless the alteration is to delete the wording related to the placement of a for sale sign. 

The rationale behind this is that certainty comes with the use of standard form contracts. Certainty is even more certain when 15,000 members are subject to the same set of rules—the Rules of Cooperation, which tell everyone where they stand. For example, all sellers have agreed to the same contractual terms, including agreeing to pay the stated real estate commission if a buyer makes a full-price offer to the seller, and, under Rule 7.04, all members know where they stand in relation to earning a commission: 

Sellers sometimes balk at this, saying, “What if I decide I don’t want to sell at that price?” 

Remember, the listing price is an “invitation to treat.” It isn’t an offer to buyers that the seller will definitely sell if they receive a full-price offer. 

Understandably, sellers asking this question may object to the listing contract’s commission-triggering language and ask that a line be drawn through it. Sellers cutting side deals with members could create a lot of uncertainty, which is why the Board doesn’t accept altered listing contracts.

However, there’s a difference between having a contractual right and exercising that right. If the seller doesn’t accept a full-price offer, the listing contract says your commission has been earned. But you don’t have to demand payment. 

If you’ve said to your seller, “Don’t worry, I won’t look for my commission until you’ve signed an offer,” how do you reconcile this promise with a listing contract’s commission payment obligation?

The beauty of a comfort letter is that the standard form’s language hasn’t been altered, but the seller has written assurance that you won’t expect to be paid a commission until they accept a buyer’s offer by way of a Contract of Purchase and Sale. 

Since listing contracts are between the seller and your brokerage, please talk to your managing broker. The discussion and any agreement made is a matter between the contracting parties and the member. The Board doesn’t need to see or have a copy of any comfort letter you choose to provide to your clients.

Rules of Cooperation, Rule 8.06 is definitive: you mustn’t publicly advertise the price at which a property has sold until the deal completes and has been registered at the Land Title and Survey Authority. “Publicly advertising” is displaying or sending sold information to those who haven’t asked for it; for example, posting the sold price on your website or social media. If someone contacts you directly, a prospective seller or buyer, for example, you can disclose the sale price if the buyer-seller contract is unconditional. And you can disclose the property data in the MLS® system (including sold prices) to clients with whom you have a current or prospective business relationship. 

Complicating matters a bit is that anyone who has access to a member’s virtual office website (VOW) can (and has been able to for some time) see what a property sold for. Remember, accessing sold information through a VOW isn’t considered “public” because the person with VOW access has virtually identified themselves to you in the same way they would have done if they’d walked into your bricks and mortar brokerage office. 

Clear as mud? There’s more. If you have the written consent of both buyer and seller, you may publicly advertise the price at which the place sold even before completion of sale: