ANSWERLINE

Q. I am a licensed real estate broker. About a month ago, I employed a salesman and became her supervising broker. Although she agreed to work for me for one year, she has now informed me that she is leaving me to work for a competitor, and she asked me to send her license to the Commission for transfer. I believe that the salesman has breached her agreement with me. Must I return her license to the Commission?

A. Yes. The License Law requires a salesman to be supervised by a broker and, as a part of his supervisory role, the broker is given custody of the salesman's license certificate. However, custody is not ownership. When asked to do so by a salesman, the supervising broker must return the salesman's license certificate to the Commission according to the procedure outlined in Commission Rule A .0506(a). Under no circumstances may a broker attempt to enforce an employment contract by refusing to return a salesman's license to the Commission.

Q. I am a licensed real estate agent. Recently, I listed a house which I measured to be 1450 heated square feet in area. I placed the property in the local multiple listing service, and it was soon sold by another firm. After closing, I discovered that the MLS book had incorrectly reported the square footage as 1650 square feet, and that the selling agent had passed the erroneous measurement on to the buyer. The buyer is now also aware of the mistake. Am I guilty of a misrepresentation?

A. Yes. According to Section 93A-6(a)(1)) of the License Law, the Commission may discipline a licensee for making negligent misrepresentations. In this case, your lack of care (negligence) in reviewing your listing in the MLS book resulted in a misrepresentation. Furthermore, statements in the MLS book to the effect that, "information on the multiple listing sheet is subject to buyer verification" will not relieve a listing agent of his duty to carefully prepare and review his MLS listings and other advertisements.