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Section 15. Arbitration of Disputes

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By becoming and remaining a Participant, each Participant agrees to arbitrate disputes involving contractual issues and questions, and specific non-contractual issues and questions defined in Standard of Practice 17-4 of the REALTORS® Code of Ethics with TREND Participants in different firms arising out of their relationships as TREND Participants, subject to the following qualifications.

  1. If all disputants are primary members of the same Association of REALTORS®, or have their principal place of business within the same Association’s territorial jurisdiction, they shall arbitrate pursuant to the procedures of that Association of REALTORS®.
  2. If the disputants are primary or secondary members of different Associations of REALTORS®, or if their principal place of business is located within the territorial jurisdiction of different Associations of REALTORS®, they remain obligated to arbitrate in accordance with the procedures of the state Association of REALTORS® of the state in which their principal place of business is located.
  3. If the disputants are primary members of different Associations of REALTORS® but are secondary members of the same Association they remain obligated to arbitrate in accordance with the procedures of the state Association of REALTORS® of the state in which their principal place of business is located.

Note to sub-sections (a), (b) and (c) above:

If the disputants are primary members of Associations of REALTORS® in different states or if their principal places of business are in different states then they remain obligated to arbitrate in accordance with the procedures of the state Association of REALTORS® in which the property giving cause to the dispute is located.

Inter-association Arbitration Procedures: Arbitration shall be conducted in accordance with any existing inter-association agreement or, alternatively, in accordance with the Inter-board Arbitration Procedures in the Code of Ethics and Arbitration Manual of the National Association Of REALTORS®. Nothing herein shall preclude Participants from agreeing to arbitrate the dispute before a particular Association of REALTORS® or elsewhere.

(Note: for enforcement of rules see Section 9.) (modified 8/2002)