There’s a lot of money on the line with any real estate transaction in Alaska. When anything goes wrong with a real estate deal, various parties will start looking for someone to blame, and hopefully to win back some of the money they lost.
Sometimes this means one party will file an ethics complaint against a real estate professional. This is very costly, and can ultimately ruin a professional’s career,
Realtor ethics
The National Association of Realtors is one of the nation’s largest groups of real estate professionals and claims to have one of the nation’s oldest professional codes of ethics.
The association encourages its members to resolve disputes through informal means such as mediation. In some cases, this can be achieved with the help of a local board of the association. If that approach fails, it has an internal system for resolving ethics complaints.
Note that the association can only handle an ethics complaint against one of its own members. Cases involving a complaint against another professional must go through that professional’s association or through the courts.
Defending against ethics complaints
If you are a real estate professional who has been accused of an ethics violation, you may fear for your career. It’s hard for a professional to recover with a mark against them.
Even if your case is not going to court, it may be wise to seek out help from attorneys who have experience in professional license defense. Skilled attorneys can advise you on your options for protecting your career and your reputation.