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TREC issues fines, warnings and litigation monitoring across multiple disciplinary cases
Summary
During an extended legal report the commission accepted council recommendations across numerous cases: civil penalties ($500 and $1,000), letters of warning or instruction, litigation monitoring, and opening a complaint against a principal broker for failure to supervise.
The commission spent a substantial portion of its meeting on the legal report and votes on more than a dozen disciplinary matters. Key outcomes included:
- Case 10: Accepted council’s recommendation for a $500 civil penalty for failure to exercise reasonable skill and care (unanimous). - Case 21: Accepted council’s recommendation to issue a letter of warning regarding TRAC-1 processing (unanimous). - Case 22: Dismissed per council recommendation (unanimous). - Case 34: Accepted council’s recommendation to assess a $1,000 civil penalty for a selling agent who solicited a buyer directly; the motion passed on a roll-call vote (5 yes, 4 no). - Case 44: Commissioners changed the recommendation to a letter of warning for alleged mislabeling on third‑party websites (unanimous). - Cases 54–56: Related renovation/misrepresentation matters placed on litigation monitoring; case 55 (buyer’s agent misrepresentation) resulted in a $1,000 civil penalty for material misrepresentations (unanimous). - Case 57: Assessed a $1,000 civil penalty for unlicensed activity where a non-licensee was the point of contact on a listing (unanimous). - Case 69: Amended motion to issue a $250 civil penalty to an affiliate for failure to exercise reasonable skill and care and to open a complaint against the principal broker for failure to supervise (motion carried 8–1). - Case 139: For failure to have an escrow-waiver on file (Tennessee Code Annotated 62-13-323 cited), commissioners issued a letter of instruction giving 30 days to file a waiver or open an escrow account (unanimous). - Case 145: Assessed a $500 civil penalty for failure to respond in a timely fashion (unanimous).
Most votes followed staff and council recommendations; the docket included motions to amend recommendations to letters of warning or litigation monitoring in several matters. Commissioners discussed thresholds for civil penalties, whether the conduct was unlicensed activity or advertising, and where litigation monitoring was preferable to immediate discipline.
