Connecticut governor signs bill restricting private listings
Agents working with sellers must make listings “available to the general public” concurrent with any public marketing, such as lawn signs or social media posts.
More states are taking steps to curb the practice of marketing real estate listings to a select group.
On May 27, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Senate Bill 340, a multipart real estate bill that included new requirements for how residential listings can be marketed, and in New York, the state legislature passed similar legislation that will now head to the governor's desk.
Connecticut listings must be publicly accessible: The new law stipulates that any agent or broker representing a homeseller or landlord in the sale of a residential property must make that property listing "available to the general public" either prior to or at the same time that the property is first marketed publicly to anyone.
That first instance of public marketing could include displaying the listing on the internet or social media; sending it via email to "more than one recipient at a time"; placing lawn signs, flyers or digital ads with the broker's information; or "inclusion on a private network established among not less than two real estate brokerage agencies or franchisees," the bill states.
To fulfill the requirement of making the listing "available to the general public," agents can put listings on a "fair, nondiscriminatory, and publicly accessible" listing platform, which could be a multiple listing service, home search portal or any other "electronic listing platform that provides unrestricted public access to listing information."
'Invitations' don't count: If the platform requires any kind of invitation or password to access the listing, or if it's designed for internal use by one brokerage or affiliated group, it does not fulfill the legal requirement.
The law also allows sellers to sign a public marketing opt-out form, should they choose to forgo broad exposure, and includes the specific language required for the form.
NY Senate passes public marketing bill: In neighboring New York state, Senate Bill S10274 was passed today by the state legislature. That bill requires listings to be publicly marketed on platforms accessible to the general public at the same time that they are promoted on any "private or limited access channels."
On June 1, the bill — which had already been passed by the state Assembly — advanced to the Senate and was approved. It will now be delivered to the governor.
Growing wave of legislation: The moves follow the passage of a similar bill in Washington state, which the governor signed into law in March and will take effect on June 11. That bill, SB 6091, prohibits "marketing residential properties to an exclusive group of prospective buyers or real estate brokers" unless also marketed widely to consumers and other agents concurrently. It allows for exceptions when "necessary to protect the health or safety of the owner."
A number of industry groups in Washington advocated for the legislation, including Northwest MLS, Washington Realtors and Zillow.
Wisconsin also passed a law in December requiring listings to be publicly marketed within one business day of being marketed to anyone, and Illinois and Hawaii are currently considering bills to curb the selective marketing of listings.