From NAR Legal Counsel: Late last night, on April 19, 2024, Plaintiffs’ counsel filed a Motion for Preliminary Approval of this agreement with the federal court in the Western District of Missouri. Importantly, this filing initiates the 60-day time period during which all REALTOR® MLSs, brokerages with 2022 total transaction volume for residential home sales in excess of $2 billion, and non-REALTOR® MLSs who want to be covered by the settlement must take action. The deadline for these actions is June 18, 2024.

• REALTOR® MLSs: In order to be released under the settlement agreement, all MLSs wholly owned by REALTOR® associations must agree to and execute Appendix B – within 60 days.
• Brokerages with 2022 total transaction volume for residential home sales in excess of $2 billion: In order to be released under the settlement, eligible brokerages must agree to and execute Appendix C – Brokerage “Opt In” Agreement and return it — along with the required documentation and indication noted in paragraph 20 of Appendix C — within 60 days.
• Non-REALTOR® MLSs: In order to be released under the settlement, MLSs not wholly owned by REALTOR® associations must agree to and execute Appendix D – Non-REALTOR® MLS “Opt In” Agreement and return it — along with the required indication noted in paragraph 20 of Appendix D — within 60 days.
• For questions about completing an opt-in agreement, please contact Mike Rohde at mrohde@nar.realtor.
• Scrivener’s errors were corrected in the filed version of the settlement agreement, but no substantive changes were made. The corrected version is available on facts.realtor. Also available on facts.realtor, are fillable versions of the appendices with instructions for those entities that desire to opt-in.
• We expect that the Court will rule on the motion for preliminary approval soon. The practice changes set forth in the settlement agreement are slated to take effect in late July of this year, and class notice will take place no earlier than August 17, 2024. The settlement is subject to final Court approval, and plaintiffs have requested a hearing on final approval of the settlement to be held on November 22, 2024. We will let you know when that date is confirmed. For a more comprehensive view of what’s ahead, please see an estimated timeline here.

We will continue to keep you informed as the settlement process progresses and the time for implementation of the practice changes approaches.