The Board of Directors of the Illinois Associations of REALTORS® voted on Thursday to approve a series of changes designed to bolster adherence to REALTOR® Standards of Practice:

Among the items approved by the board:

  • The board voted on a measure where IAR will ask local associations to provide information to IAR on violations of the Code of Ethics and specific Standards of Practice.
  • The information would be published on a semi-annual basis on the IAR website in a password protected, members-only area, and the information would be published in Illinois REALTOR® magazine.

The board approved an Ethics Citation Program which will further police adherence to professional standards. The program will allow members to file ethics complaints pertaining to certain Articles of the Code. These complaints may be filed anonymously.

The Citation Panel will review the case, and if it meets the program’s criteria and if the facts submitted substantiate an ethics violation, the panel will issue a citation which also carries with it a set fine. A member receiving a citation may opt for a hearing and this process will be handled as any other ethics complaint where the respondent would have the opportunity to argue the case before a hearing panel.

The changes were unanimously approved by the board at its September 4, 2014, meeting in Chicago at the Hyatt McCormick.