Definition of MLS Participant:

The term “Participant” in a Board Multiple Listing Service is defined, as follows:

Any REALTOR® of this or any other Board who is a principal, partner, corporate officer, or branch office manager acting on behalf of a principal, without further qualification, except as otherwise stipulated in these bylaws, shall be eligible to participate in Multiple Listing upon agreeing in writing to conform to the rules and regulations thereof and to pay the costs incidental there to. However, under no circumstances is any individual or firm, regardless of membership status, entitled to MLS ‘Membership’ or ‘Participation’ unless they hold a current, valid real estate broker’s license and cooperate or are licensed or certified by an appropriate state regulatory agency to engage in the appraisal of real property. Cooperation is the obligation to share information on listed property and to make property available to other brokers for showing to prospective purchasers and tenants when it is in the best interests of their clients. Use of information developed by or published by a Board Multiple Listing Service is strictly limited to the activities authorized under a Participant’s licensure(s) or certification and unauthorized uses are prohibited. Further, none of the foregoing is intended to convey ‘Participation’ or ‘Membership’ or any right of access to information developed by or published by a Board Multiple Listing Service where access to such information is prohibited by law.

Additionally, the foregoing does not prohibit Board Multiple Listing Services, at their discretion, from categorizing non-principal brokers, sales licensees, licensed and certified appraisers and others affiliated with the MLS ‘Members” or ‘Participants’ as ‘users’ or ‘subscribers’ and, holding such individuals personally subject to the rules and regulations and any other governing provisions of the MLS and to discipline for violations thereof. MLS's may, as a matter of local determination, limit participatory rights to individual principal brokers, or to their firms and to licensed or certified appraisers, who maintain an office or Internet presence from which they are available to represent real estate sellers, buyers, lessors, or lessees or from which they provide appraisal services.

Mere possession of a broker's license is not sufficient to qualify for MLS participation. Rather, the requirement that an individual or firm cooperates means that the participant actively endeavors during the operation of its real estate business to list real property of the type listed on the MLS, shares information on listed property, and makes property available to other brokers for showing to prospective purchasers and tenants when it is in the best interests of their clients, and to cooperate. “Actively” means on a continual and ongoing basis during the operation of the participant's real estate business. The ‘'actively” requirement is not intended to preclude MLS participation by a participant or potential participant that operates a real estate business on a part-time, seasonal, or similarly time-limited basis or that has its business interrupted by periods of relative inactivity occasioned by market conditions. Similarly, the requirement is not intended to deny MLS participation to a participant or potential participant who has not achieved a minimum number of transactions despite good faith efforts. Nor is it intended to permit an MLS to deny participation based on the level of service provided by the participant or potential participant as long as the level of service satisfies state law.

The key is that the participant or potential participant cooperates with respect to properties of the type that are listed on the MLS in which participation is sought. Cooperation is the obligation to share information on listed property and to make property available to other brokers for showing to prospective purchasers and tenants when it is in the best interests of their client(s). This requirement does not permit an MLS to deny participation to a participant or potential participant that operates a “Virtual Office Website” (VOW) (including a VOW that the participant uses to refer customers to other participants) if the participant or potential participant actively endeavors to cooperate. An MLS may evaluate whether a participant or potential participant actively endeavors during the operation of its real estate business to cooperate only if the MLS has a reasonable basis to believe that the participant or potential participant is in fact not doing so. The membership requirement shall be applied in a nondiscriminatory manner to all participants and potential participants.

When the term ‘subscriber’ or ‘user’ are used in connection with a Multiple Service owned and operated by a Board of REALTORS®, they refer to non-principal brokers, sales licensees, and licensed and certified real estate appraisers affiliated with an MLS Participant and may, as a matter of local option, also include a Participant’s affiliated unlicensed administrative and clerical staff, personal assistants, and individuals seeking licensure or certification as real estate appraisers provided that any such individual, is employed by or contracted for and is under the direct supervision of an MLS Participant or the Participants licensed designee. If such access is available to unlicensed or uncertified individuals, their access is subject to the rules and regulations, the payment of applicable fees and charges (if any), and the limitations and restrictions of state law. None of the foregoing shall diminish the Participant’s ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with the rules and regulations of the MLS by all individuals affiliated with the Participant. The Board of Directors shall be the final authority in determining access to the Multiple Listing Service.

Under the ‘Board of Choice’ MLS participatory rights shall be available to any REALTOR® (principal) or any firm comprised of REALTORS® (principals) irrespective of where they hold primary membership subject only to their agreement to abide by any MLS rules and regulations; agreement to arbitrate disputes with other Participants; and payment of any MLS dues, fees, and charges. Participatory rights granted under Board of Choice do not confer voting privileges or eligibility for office as an MLS committee member, officer, or director, except as granted at the discretion of the local MLS.

The universal access to services component of Board of Choice is to be interpreted as requiring that MLS Participatory rights be available to REALTOR® principals, or to firms comprised of REALTOR® principals, irrespective of where primary or secondary membership is held. The MLS may charge participants and subscribers not holding primary or secondary membership in a REALTOR® association that owns the MLS a different amount than charged to members of the association, provided that such charge is reasonable related to the actual costs of serving those members.

None of the foregoing shall be construed as requiring a Board to grant MLS participatory rights, under Board of Choice, where such rights have been previously terminated by action of that of the Board’s Board of Directors.