When joining an Association, all members agree to abide by the Code of Ethics of the National Association of REALTORS® as a continuing condition of membership. It is because of a REALTOR®'s obligation to abide by the Code of Ethics that you can file a complaint at a REALTORS® Association.

You should determine whether your complaint concerns an ethics matter or an arbitration of a dispute.

An Ethics Complaint charges that a REALTOR® violated an Article(s) of the Code of Ethics. Arbitration provides a means for resolving a monetary dispute arising out of a real estate transaction that parties have been unable to resolve themselves.

An arbitration request often involves one member in disagreement with another member, usually over a commission dispute. Sometimes arbitration concerns a dispute between a customer or client and an Association member.

If your situation concerns both ethics and arbitration, the Association will handle the arbitration portion separately. The Association will consider the ethics complaint only after it has completed the arbitration. The Association always holds the arbitration first.

Ethics complaints must be filed within 180 days after the facts constituting the matters complained of could have been known in the exercise of reasonable diligence or within 180 days after the conclusion of the transaction, whichever is later. Requests for arbitration must be filed within 180 days after the closing of the transaction, if any, or within 180 days after the facts constituting the arbitratable matter could have been known in the execise of reasonable diligence, whichever is later.

The Association's Professional Standards Committee is responsible for handling ethics complaints and arbitration requests. The committee is made up of REALTOR® members who have been appointed to serve on this committee based on their experience, temperament and objectivity.