Howard Hanna disavows NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy

Howard Hanna Real Estate Services and its parent company Hanna Holdings have made their feelings about the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) clear. 

In a letter sent to NAR and over 70 MLSs on Wednesday evening, company CEO Hoby Hanna called CCP “misguided” and a “bad policy,” claiming that its adoption in 2020 was due to “fear that brokers were pursuing novel marketing strategies and taking advantage of new technologies,” and that “NAR should not be dictating how Hanna Holdings and other brokerages operate their businesses.”

The letter was first reported by Inman News. A spokesperson at Howard Hanna confirmed to HousingWire that the letter was authentic. 

Hanna also wrote that the firm does not feel that CCP is “binding,” despite NAR classifying the rule as “mandatory.” 

“Hanna Holdings does not consider the Clear Cooperation Policy binding and, accordingly, no Hanna Holdings affiliate or franchisee will adhere to the policy as a matter of course,” the letter states. “Instead, Hanna Holdings and its affiliates and franchisees will determine on a market-by-market basis where to require their listing brokers to submit listings on a multiple listing service within one business day of marketing the property to the public. It will make these decisions based on its own business interests and independent of NAR and of any other brokerage.”

Hanna added that his firm has “never agreed to or with the policy and voted against its adoption in 2020.”

NAR has confirmed that despite Howard Hanna’s defiance, the policy remains mandatory, however it is up to individual MLSs to enforce the policy. 

Howard Hanna is not the only firm to disavow CCP. Compass has been one of the policy’s most vocal critics. Back in March prior to NAR unveiling its Multiple Listing Options for Sellers (MLOS) policy, which created delayed marketing exempt listings, Compass sent its own letter to MLSs suggesting changes to CCP and warning them that they would face legal exposure if they did not make these changes. After NAR unveiled its MLOS policy, which allows for delayed listings to be displayed in VOW data feeds, Compass sent another letter to MLSs asking for delayed listings to be removed from VOW feeds.