Compass plans to sue after Unlock defies demand letter 

Last week, Compass gave MLSs an ultimatum: Stop fining agents for publicly marketing office exclusive listings or face litigation. On Oct. 6, the deadline for MLSs to comply, Unlock MLS became the second major MLS to reject the brokerage giant's demand.

Compass now says it plans to sue both MLSs in the weeks ahead.

Unlock MLS takes a stand

"Let's be clear about what this demand really is," Unlock MLS CEO Emily Girard wrote in a post on LinkedIn. "It isn't a debate over one rule, and it isn't only about the NAR Clear Cooperation Policy. It's a demand that we ignore a rule altogether, leaving it on the books while acting as if it isn't there."

This "strikes at the very structure of the MLS," Girard said. "The rules exist for one reason: to keep this marketplace complete, accurate and equitable for every agent, every buyer and every seller. A rule that can't be enforced isn't a rule. And an MLS whose rules can be switched off under threat of a lawsuit isn't one anyone can depend on."

'Model of seller choice' in March, litigation threats 6 months later

In the Central Texas MLS's response to a Sept. 8 demand letter from Compass, Unlock's outside counsel Ellen B. Sessions, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, essentially accused Compass of talking out of both sides of its mouth. 

"Compass helped shape" Unlock MLS's Flex program, which launched in mid-2025, Sessions noted. The program allows the private marketing of a listing within the MLS without public internet display and without accruing days on market or price-change history. Compass subsequently praised the program publicly and privately, listing Unlock MLS among the MLSs "where seller choice lives" and urging "every MLS to follow their lead," according to Sessions. 

"Unlock MLS's [Clear Cooperation Policy] and its enforcement procedures are the same today as they were when Compass wrote those words," Sessions wrote. "Compass cannot hold Unlock MLS up as a model of seller choice in March and threaten it with an antitrust lawsuit for denying seller choice in September."

Unlock MLS, which has more than 17,000 agent and broker subscribers, is owned by the Austin Board of Realtors. As a Realtor-affiliated MLS, it must adopt mandatory NAR rules such as the CCP — a policy Compass has openly rejected — which requires listing brokers to submit listings to the MLS within one business day of publicly marketing them. 

"Within that obligation, Unlock MLS intentionally adopted a flat, modest fine that allows it to uphold this mandatory rule without making compliance prohibitive for agents whose sellers request off-MLS marketing of their property," Sessions wrote, adding, "A seller may exclude a listing from mass dissemination through the MLS by signed certification and timely payment of the $100 fine."

Compass to sue Unlock

Asked whether Compass planned to file suit against Unlock MLS, a Compass International Holdings spokesperson responded "Yes" on Oct. 7.

"Unlock MLS seems to agree that agents can and should be able to publicly market a property as the homeowner instructs without negatively impacting the MLS, but only if the agent pays Unlock MLS a $100 fine," the spokesperson said. "The seller and the agent don't work for Unlock MLS. There should be no obligation to pay $100 to publicly market as the homeowner wants."

In response, Girard told Real Estate News that it is "unfortunate that Compass has chosen to continue to threaten litigation, particularly given that just this March, Compass publicly named Unlock MLS among the MLSs that have built seller choice into their rules."

"Our Clear Cooperation policy and how we enforce it haven't changed since, but it seems Compass' willingness to cooperate with other participants and subscribers has," Girard said. "We would far rather invest our subscribers' dollars in serving them than in a courtroom but it seems Compass, Inc. doesn't feel the same way." 

Willing to talk — but not to 'disregard an NAR mandatory rule'

"Compass is one of Unlock MLS's largest customers and a valued part of the market, and many talented Compass agents serve Central Texas buyers and sellers every day," Sessions wrote. "Unlock MLS remains willing to meet with Compass to discuss its concerns, as it has before. What Unlock MLS will not do is agree to disregard an NAR mandatory rule for one participant at the expense of every other."

Unlock's response to Compass' demand surfaced one day after California Regional MLS (CRMLS) issued its own response to the brokerage giant by filing a lawsuit asking a federal court to declare that its listing rules do not violate antitrust laws and to bar Compass from suing over them.

When asked for further details on the MLSs Compass sent demand letters to, what their responses have been and whether Compass will file suit against all who said they would not comply, Compass said it will file suit against CRMLS in the next few weeks and has not yet announced other lawsuits.

"Litigation doesn't solve problems. It creates them," Girard wrote in her LinkedIn post and in a letter to Unlock subscribers, both posted Oct. 6. Unlock MLS declined to comment on CRMLS' lawsuit against Compass and on whether Girard's statement was made in part in reference to that suit.

CRMLS declined to comment on Compass' intent to sue, citing its own pending litigation.