Committing these violations in 2017 will incur costly fines and cause definite embarrassment. Please report violations on the MLS if you see these things.           
  1. Entering the Listing Agent instead of the Selling Agent when closing a listing.
    Changing a Pending Listing to Closed (Sold), the Listing Agent is incorrectly entered as the “Selling Member.”  Sometimes, the Listing Agent is entered as the “Selling Member” and the Selling Agent is entered as the “Co-Selling Member.”  Both of these are incorrect.  The Listing Agent does not get entered on this page.  Only the Selling Agent(s) (ie: the buyer's agent) get entered here.

  2. Entering a listing as new after it has gone Pending or Sold.  The purpose of the MLS is to offer Cooperation and Compensation of properties that are Active listings.  Pending and Sold statuses are both “Off Market” and, therefore, aren’t being offered for Cooperation and Compensation.  FlexMLS does not accept any listings for statistical purposes only.  Pending or Sold listings that were never offered for Cooperation and Compensation will be deleted.

  3. Agent or Brokerage name and/or contact information in Marketing Remarks or in Directions – If there are special instructions, this information should go in Agent Remarks only.

  4. Brokerage sign in MLS Photo – Signs are not allowed in MLS Photos.

  5. Incorrect area or subdivisions – know which area and subdivision the property resides.  Consult the legal description or property detail from the county or from Realist.  Also, consult the Subdivisions list.

  6. Status Violations --  All status changes must be entered within 24 hours or a $50 fine can be assessed.  Property owners or banks cannot override this rule (or any other rule for that matter).

  7. Gate codes, bank lockbox codes, and/or other access/security codes are not allowed anywhere in an MLS listing, not even in tour comments. These should go in ShowingTime only.

  8. Deleting MLS Listing Photos -- deleting the MLS Photos is not permitted even when the property goes off market for any reason (closed, expired, canceled, etc.). As per MLS Rules and Regulations, listing photos are licensed by the MLS and therefore cannot be deleted from the MLS.

    SECTION 11.  By the act of submitting of any property listing content to the MLS, the Participant represents that he has been authorized to license and also thereby does license authority for the MLS to include the property listing content in its copyrighted MLS compilation and also in any statistical report on comparables. Listing content includes, but is not limited to, photographs, images, graphics, audio and video recordings, virtual tours, drawings, descriptions, remarks, narratives, pricing information, and other details or information related to the listed property. 

    Listing photos are crucial for use in comps and appraisals. Once photos are posted in the MLS, they are on the Internet forever. Contrary to popular rumors, deleting them from the MLS does not “protect” the photos. Doing so only makes the MLS less accurate and have less information than the Internet does. You will find all of the deleted photos on sites like Trulia, Zillow and realtor.com.

    Copying any MLS Listing photos from another agent without signed written consent from that agent and broker, is also a violation, although it didn't quite make the Top 10 list.

  9. Incorrect Zoning.  “Res,” “Residential,” “RS,” “VL,” etc, are not correct entries for Zoning.  Enter the correct county or city zoning codes from the county websites.

  10. Equal Housing Opportunity Violations – Remember to describe the property, not the potential buyer.