A listing agent, Realtor® A, was holding an open house for her seller from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM on a Sunday, which was well-attended and received great interest from the community. After a busy morning, Realtor® A closed up shop, removed her signs, and went home.
About an hour after the open house, Realtor® A received a notification that her SentriLock lockbox on the seller’s property had been accessed by a buyer’s agent, Realtor® B. Wondering if it was possible that she scheduled a showing appointment with Realtor® B but forgot about it, Realtor® A checked her email and saw a message from Realtor® B, which arrived a few minutes before his SentriLock access.
In his email, Realtor® B stated: “Hi Realtor® A! I heard you had an open house today, but I wasn’t sure what time this ended. My buyer and I were in the neighborhood and were very interested in this property. I tried giving you a call a few minutes ago, but you did not answer, and my buyer didn’t want to wait. It doesn’t seem like anyone is home, so we’re just going to quickly check this property out and be on our way. I hope this isn’t an issue, but I assumed the property was ready for showing since you had an open house.”
Realtor® A proceeded to file an ethics complaint against Realtor® B for unauthorized access.
The Result: Realtor® B was found in violation of Article 3, Standard of Practice 3-9 of the Code of Ethics, which reads:
REALTORS® shall not provide access to listed property on terms other than those established by the owner or the seller.
Although Realtor® A held an open house earlier that day and the property was vacant, Realtor® B should still not have accessed the property without an appointment or authorization from the listing agent or homeowner. Realtor® B’s excuses that Realtor® A did not answer her phone, and that his buyer was impatient, did not protect him from accessing the SentriLock lockbox without an appointment or permission.
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