Compass’s Reffkin gives MLSs an ultimatum: Change listing rules or face lawsuits

Over the past year, MLSs across the country have received several letters from Compass International Holdings with a variety of demands. However, during a presentation at the Council of MLS’s Open House conference, where HousingWire is reporting from the event, Compass CEO Robert Reffkin said all he and his company are asking for is the ability to publicly market office exclusives. “Compass wants a world where the only person that tells an agent how to market a home is the seller and the law. And the MLS is not the law,” Reffkin told attendees of the Council of MLS’s (CMLS) Open House conference on Wednesday afternoon. “After two and a half years of trying to work with MLSs and of playing whack a mole with MLSs that are changing their rules and their forms, it has become clear to me that the only way agents will be able to follow their clients’ lawful marketing plans is if the MLSs get out of the business of controlling how agents and homeowners market the properties.” MLSs that don’t give into this demand, according to Reffkin, will soon be facing antitrust claims from his firm as well as some potential class action lawsuits from attorneys like commission lawsuit plaintiffs’ attor...