BROKERS MUST VERIFY

ACCURACY OF INFORMATION

Both the Licensing Board and the Consumer Protection Section of the Attorney General's Office have observed a noticeable increase in complaints resulting from inaccurate information on Multiple Listing Service property description sheets. Consequently, the Licensing Board is taking a closer look at these complaints to determine whether the listing broker's negligence is responsible for these errors.

It seems that when listing his property for sale, an owner-seller is prone to make many oral representations and statements to the listing broker regarding the condition of his home, the boundary lines of his lot, easements, encumbrances, and other features of his property which cannot be readily or easily verified by the broker. The listing broker, content to simply accept such representations as being true, then proceeds to disseminate this information to the Multiple Listing Service without qualification or reservation. Eventually another broker or salesman (an MLS member) communicates this information to a prospective purchaser who accepts its accuracy and who relys and acts upon it-often to his detriment.

It is, therefore, essential that the listing broker, whenever possible, confirm all information given to him by the property owner, and this entails more than a 30 minute question and answer session with the owner, Furthermore, the listing broker must clearly specify to the Multiple Listing Service that information which he has not personally verified. (Listing brokers are also encouraged to proofread the MLS property description sheet before it is distributed to other brokers to insure that the data which he has furnished to the MLS has been properly recorded.) By doing so, other brokers can properly advise prospective buyers that the information was supplied by the seller, that it has not been verified and that its accuracy cannot, therefore, be guaranteed.

This will at least place the buyer on notice as to the reliability of the broker's information and enable him to verify this information to his personal satisfaction before he commits himself to a purchase which both he and the broker may regret.