Article 15 of the Realtor® Code of Ethics says, "Realtors® shall not knowingly or recklessly make false or misleading statements about competitors, their businesses, or their business practices." Anyone who is a Realtor® -- that is a real estate agent or broker who is a member of the local, state, and national Associations of Realtors® -- has a duty to comply with this article.

Article 15 is easily and widely misunderstood to mean that Realtors® ought not to disparage other real estate agents or to criticize their business practices. But that is not what the article says. The Code doesn't prohibit criticizing the business practices of a competitor; rather, it prohibits saying false or misleading things about them. A Realtor® might criticize a competitor, and if what is being said is true and not misleading, then it's perfectly ok as far as the Code of Ethics is concerned.

Of course it may be, in general, bad manners or undesirable behavior to speak critically of other persons. "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all," was the advice of Thumper's father in Bambi, and it's not a bad rule to follow; but it probably falls short of an ethical obligation. Especially if some third party needs to be warned about the actual bad behavior of another.

Suppose a friend, relative, or neighbor is about to get into a questionable real estate deal with an agent whom you know has a history and a reputation -- not just rumors –--for being one of the bad guys, someone who has been known to cross over ethical and legal lines. Wouldn't you have an obligation to warn them?

Moreover, the obligations of the Code cover any false or misleading statements about a competitor. A statement could be false, yet not be disparaging. It would still be prohibited. (Thanks to Cliff Niersbach of the National Association of Realtors® for pointing this out.) You might even be saying something that made a competitor look good, "He sells more property in the Happy Homes tract than anyone else," but, if it were not true, it would be a violation of the Code of Ethics. (Of course it might be unlikely that anyone would falsely praise a competitor.)

Recently, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) adopted a new Standard of Practice -- essentially an explanatory supplement -- that goes along with Article 15. This new Standard of Practice (15-2) says:

The obligation to refrain from making false or misleading statements about competitors' businesses and competitors' business practices includes the duty to not knowingly or recklessly repeat, transmit, or republish false or misleading statements made by others. This duty applies whether false or misleading statements are repeated in person, in writing, by technological means (e.g. the Internet), or by any other means. [my emphasis]

The general principle here is pretty clear and indisputable from an ethical point of view. Recklessly or knowingly passing on false information about someone is just as objectionable as originating the falsehood. But what about this provision that focuses on the means by which the falsehood is transmitted? Well, once again, it's pretty clear that it would be just as wrong to lie about someone in an email as it would be to lie about them in a conversation. But what about repeating, retransmitting, or republishing false or misleading statements made by others?

Consider the blog, which Wikipedia defines as, "a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order." Moreover, it notes, "The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs." It has been estimated that there are more than 70 million blogs out there on the web; loads of them are created and maintained by real estate agents.

More than a few real estate blogs deal with local marketplaces and, perhaps occasionally, with local agents and companies. It is in such an environment that false and misleading statements are liable to appear and to be repeated, retransmitted, or republished. NAR's recently-adopted Standard of Practice 15-2 is something that Realtors® ought to consider as they monitor statements that other people have posted to their blogs.

Published: October 5, 2007

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Bob Hunt is a director of the National Association of Realtors and is author of the recently published book, "Real Estate the Ethical Way." A graduate of Princeton with a master's degree from UCLA in philosophy, Hunt has served as a U.S. Marine, Realtor association president in South Orange County, and director of the California Association of Realtors, and is an award-winning Realtor. Contact Bob at .