Why are there MLS fines and Why do we have Rules & Regs

First the National Association of REALTORS [NAR] requires Rules & Regulations as a condition of our E&O insurance and reviews and approves our Rules & Regs Annually. The Rules are meant to protect the brokers, users and the MLS Corporation from legal liability. They also work in tandem with arbitration procedures.

Reading, reviewing and following the rules is a responsibility of every User and which every user agrees to in their signed user agreement. I do think most people do follow the rules but hopefully using datachecker may encourage users to review them.

Fines are a part of the preventative process- they are meant to deter violations. Also these fines were put in place in 2001 and 2003. This is one reason they are being reviewed other than the NAR requirement of bi-annual review.

I think the fines were made so steep to act as a preventative measure. I was hoping for specific input so that perhaps the board would know the "why" behind a violation. I would also like to see at least one photo be a requirement.

AGAIN A CORRECTABLE violation- fixed within 48 hours of notification- will NOT BE FINED. This should address the Accidental/Mistake violation.

Here is the list of correctable violations:
A. CORRECTABLE VIOLATIONS
Upon confirmation of one of the following violations by the MLS staff, a notice of the
correctable violation will be sent to both the Participant and the listing associate by electronic
transmission. The Participant must correct the violation within 48 hours (excluding weekends
and holidays).
1. Failure to enter a listing in the correct area number;
2. Failure to submit the correct listing expiration date;
3. Entries in the compensation field other than a percentage or definite dollar
amount;
4. Failure to correctly complete all required fields in the System;
5. Entering of changes relating to amendments to listing agreement without the
seller's written consent;
6. Failure to indicate individually all property that is to be sold or which may be sold
separately in the listing agreement and in the System;
7. Failure to properly enter when part of a listing property has been sold;
8. Failure to enter the correct selling price on a closed listing;
9. Failure to enter the correct selling office and selling associate on a closed listing
provided documentation includes proof of effort by selling broker to have
correction made prior to submission of the Violations Report;
10. Failure to enter pending status within 2 business days of acceptance;
11. Failure to enter sold status within 2 business days of closing; or
12. Failure to reactivate any cancelled and/or failed pending property within 2
business days.
IT IS ONLY WHEN THE USER FAILS TO CORRECT THE VIOLATION THAT THEY ARE FINED.