HousingWire is reporting (reposted on RealTrends) that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) is giving insight into the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into their recent ban on Pocket Listings. According to the report, the Biden Justice Department unilaterally withdrew from their consent decree with the NAR in July, 2021. In mid-September, the NAR sent out a 44-page legal briefing stating that they want to set aside or modify a civil investigative demand made by the Justice Department. HousingWire says that a “civil investigative demand” is a tool used by federal government agencies to gather information, usually prior to the filing of any legal action. However, they also report that a copy of the civil investigative demand was not provided by the NAR or DOJ upon request.
“The National Association Realtors stated Monday that they will resist a demand from information by the Biden administration, which they say illegally ended a consent decree.”
According to NAR’s petition, DOJ wants a record of all documents relating to any broker withdrawal from an MLS within the last 15 years, and to catalogue any potential broker withdrawals….NAR slammed the request as “untenable” because there are “hundreds of Realtor-associations owned multiple listings services across spread throughout the country,” and, “Some have tens of thousands of members.”
Click here to read the full story at RealTrends.com.
Click here to read the full story at HousingWIre.
