Update on DOJ Statement of Interest in MLS PIN Litigation

Louisiana REALTORS® • February 20, 2024

A Word from Katie Johnson, NAR Chief Legal Officer and Chief Member Experience Officer

Last night (Thursday, February 14, 2024), the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the attached Statement of Interest in the Nosalek v. MLS PIN, et al., which is a lawsuit challenging the rule and practice of cooperative compensation between listing and buyer brokers. MLS PIN is not wholly owned by REALTOR® associations and therefore is not required to follow NAR’s MLS guidelines. MLS PIN does, however, have a rule that requires listing brokers to make an offer of compensation to buyer brokers. To be clear, the DOJ does not have veto rights over class-action settlements, so the court can still approve the settlement over the DOJ’s objection.

 

The DOJ’s submission is a broadside attack on how homes have been bought and sold in the United States for decades. Specifically, the DOJ argues that listing brokers and sellers should be prohibited from offering compensation to buyer brokers, thereby seeking to eliminate the choice sellers and listing brokers currently have as to whether to offer compensation for buyer representation.

 

This shows, as NAR has long said, that the DOJ wants to regulate what sellers and their listing agents are allowed to do with their own money and homes. We believe the DOJ is wrong and that the government fundamentally misunderstands the market. Prohibiting offers of compensation will harm consumers, including by making it more costly for home buyers to access capable representation and by reducing fair access to housing. Notably, the DOJ does not provide any new or original analysis to support its opinion—it merely wants to substitute its own policy judgments for how the market has evolved through free market competition to best serve consumers. The DOJ’s proposal would also invalidate the numerous state statutes which explicitly permit offers of compensation to buyer brokers.

 

For years, NAR has advised members, MLSs, and corporate defendants that the DOJ seeks relief beyond the rule changes proposed in the MLS PIN settlement and summarized below. As illustrated in this Statement of Interest, the DOJ’s ideas are short-sighted and overly simplistic. They ignore harms that will result to homebuyers — especially first-time, low-income, minority, or veteran homebuyers — and gamble with the American economy.

 

These are challenging times, and NAR has the unique responsibility to consider these issues holistically, taking into account the complexities involved in how consumers buy and sell homes. The tough decisions NAR has made regarding the rule and litigation strategy are based on the insights we have concerning the views of all of stakeholders, and we remain steadfast in our resolve to protect free market competition and promote fair access to home ownership for all Americans.

 

I’ve provided high-level takeaways from DOJ’s submission below, but I encourage you to read the document in its entirety. As you will see, it shows that the DOJ’s focus is on the practice of how sellers and their brokers advertise their homes in the free-market — which goes beyond the scope of NAR and its model rule. Additionally, while NAR is not a party to this litigation, the DOJ’s position in this case is relevant to how NAR, MLSs, buyers, sellers, and brokers address cooperative compensation now and in the future. We will continue to work, in and out of court, toward the best possible outcome for property owners in America and the professionals who represent them.

 

High-level Takeaways from the DOJ’s Statement of Interest

  • The proposed change to MLS PIN’s cooperative compensation rule included: (i) making the cooperative compensation rule optional, (ii) allowing the offer to be as little as zero-dollars, and (iii) having the offer made from the seller and not the listing broker. The DOJ calls these “cosmetic changes” that are inadequate because it “still gives sellers and their listing brokers a role in setting compensation for buyers’ brokers.”
  •  The DOJ objects that the proposed modified rule “gives decision-making authority for setting buyer-broker commissions to sellers, and it rewards buyer brokers a fixed amount regardless of the services buyers actually receive.”
  •  The DOJ uses the rule changes enacted by Northwest MLS (NWMLS) in 2019 and 2022 in support of its position that the settlement should be denied because NWMLS rule changes “mirror the proposed settlement here.”
  • “Neither [NWMLS] revision appears to have led to a decrease in buyer-broker commissions.”
  • “As NWMLS’s experience reflects, MLS PIN could voluntarily adopt the settlement’s proposed changes without meaningfully altering commission-setting practices or increasing competition.”
  •  The DOJ objects to the proposed modified rule change allowing offers of compensation to be zero, rather than a penny because:
  • “If virtually no sellers make one-cent offers of compensation to buyer brokers now, they are unlikely to make zero-cent offers under the new Rule.”
  • Following Bright MLS’s announcement that it was allowing zero to be offered as compensation, ten other MLSs (listed in Appendix B) also announced that change to their MLS and “[t]hat many MLSs have recently allowed zero-compensation offers unilaterally—without receiving any release of claims from injured home sellers or buyers—confirms that the proposed injunction provides little benefit.”
  •   “To address the competitive problem alleged by Plaintiffs, the Settling Parties could agree to an injunction that prohibits offers of buyer-broker compensation by MLS PIN participants. If MLS PIN rules prohibited sellers and listing brokers from deciding what buyer brokers would be paid, sellers would be responsible for determining only the compensation of their own broker in the listing contract, while buyers would be responsible for determining the compensation of their own broker in a buyer-broker representation contract.”
  •  The DOJ objects that the proposed modified rule would be in effect for at least three years because such obligation “could unnecessarily interfere with the ability of the United States, or other government enforcers, and private parties” to take actions against the modified rule.
02/15/2024 DOJ Statement of Interest Affidavit 02/15/2024 DOJ Statement of Interest

2026 Legislative Session Scoop - Week 4 Recap

By Louisiana REALTORS® • April 3, 2026
This week, the Legislature remained in high gear, and several items relevant to Louisiana’s real estate market moved into focus. The biggest headline for our industry this week was HB 468 by Rep. Troy Hebert , our wholesaling/consumer-protection bill, was slated to be heard on the House floor, however was bumped due to floor congestion and out-of-order bills. It is now expected to be reset for next Tuesday. This bill remains one of the clearest “market integrity” efforts on the board with clearer rules for non-traditional transactions, stronger transparency and better consumer protections. We also continued substantive policy work behind the scenes. We are actively engaging with Rep. Carver on a vacant land disclosure bill he has authored, and we appreciate that he is welcoming our input and guidance as the language is refined. Our goal is straightforward: ensure any vacant land disclosure framework is practical, reduces confusion and avoids unintentionally shifting liability or enforcement burdens onto real estate professionals. In addition, we were pleased to deepen our relationships at the Capitol this week. We had the privilege of hosting a lunch for the Governor’s Office, enjoyed meeting Governor Landry’s team, and look forward to working with them in a constructive, solutions-oriented manner as the session continues. Finally, Rep. Hebert also filed an additional measure that aligns with our legislative agenda and speaks directly to transaction risk management: HB 1027 , which would limit liability for licensed real estate appraisers in situations involving smoke and carbon monoxide detector compliance. The current law already provides that real estate agents are not liable for a seller’s failure to comply with Louisiana’s detector requirements in one- or two-family dwellings. HB 1027 would extend that same liability protection to licensed appraisers by amending R.S. 40:1581(F). This is a clean, common-sense clarification that helps prevent appraisers from being pulled into compliance disputes that properly belong with the seller’s statutory obligations. Next week, committees are scheduled to hear multiple bills relevant to real estate, including measures involving construction and roofing standards (often tied to insurance and mitigation), property rights/expropriation, and property tax and adjudicated property issues that can influence housing supply and neighborhood reinvestment. We will stay closely engaged and will flag any bills or amendments that materially affect transactions, homeownership costs or private property rights. Please view the weekly bill tracking report provided by our lobbying team over at Harris, DeVille and Associates.

Cookbook for the REALTORS® Relief Foundation!

By Louisiana REALTORS® • April 2, 2026
Louisiana REALTORS® is compiling a cookbook of Louisiana flavor with a REALTOR® heart in support of the REALTORS® Relief Foundation . And we have two ways for you to get involved:  Join us in contributing your favorite recipe using this online form. If you want to include a picture with your recipe, send to info@larealtors.org and reference recipe title in email subject. Or share your creativity by designing the cover artwork for the cookbook. A small committee will review all entries and choose one to print on the cover. Stay tuned for more details on when you can grab your own copy of the cookbook! Cover artwork and recipes are due by April 17th.

2026 Legislative Session Scoop - Week 3 Recap

By Louisiana REALTORS® • March 27, 2026
Week three of the Regular Session kept real estate issues in the conversation, even as lawmakers continued to focus heavily on workforce, tax and insurance policy. On the property tax front, measures to reshape assessments and exemptions, including proposals for a new blight rehabilitation exemption and additional relief for seniors, remain parked in the House Ways and Means Committee as stakeholders work through fiscal and local government concerns. These bills matter because they will influence long-term carrying costs, redevelopment incentives and how tax burdens are shared across residential and commercial property. Homestead related legislation, including parish level authority to increase the exemption amount, is also in the queue, signaling that the broader structure of Louisiana’s homestead system is officially on the table, not just the dollar figure. For homeowners and buyers, this debate goes directly to affordability. For local governments, it raises revenue stability and service delivery questions. There also has been movement on several identical pieces of legislation that would instruct parish assessors to develop a process for homeowners to permanently register for the homestead exemption for the duration that they own and live on the property. We are actively tracking legislation that will directly shape how investor activity and non-traditional transactions are recognized and regulated in Louisiana’s real estate market. This includes HB 468 by Troy Hebert , a key component of the Louisiana REALTORS® legislative package that targets the wholesale of residential real estate, which was heard in the House Commerce Committee on Monday. The bill is currently positioned for a floor vote early next week. As drafted, HB 468 represents a major step in the right direction for consumer protection in Louisiana, advancing needed guardrails through potential disclosure, registration, and practice standards that could redefine how assignment contracts and “off-market” transactions intersect with licensed brokerage activity. In parallel, HB 292 by Delisha Boyd passed the House on final reading, 86-3, and is on its way to the Senate. Together, these measures represent a coordinated policy effort to bring greater structure and transparency to emerging transaction models, while preserving the integrity of the traditional brokerage framework. Finally, the broader policy backdrop remains important: the Governor continues to push income tax changes and cost of living relief, while business and industry groups are prioritizing insurance, workforce and energy — each a key driver of long run housing demand and investment. As these debates evolve, we’ll keep you updated on what moves, what stalls and what it all means for your clients, your pipeline and private property rights across Louisiana. Please view the weekly bill tracking report provided by our lobbying team over at Harris, DeVille and Associates.
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