I do not believe Real Estate Agents have the right to take liberties and yet many do every day without regard for others and without any repercussion.

Far too many San Jose real estate agents are not following the MLS instructions which in many cases states: “Call First – then go direct.” Agents who do not follow the instructions and simply show up at the property at their convenience and take the liberty to ring the doorbell are not professional real estate agents – they lack common sense.  Worse yet, some won’t even ring the bell. Some just enter via the lock box.

Agents who conduct themselves in this manner are not agents buyers and sellers want to hire to represent them.  Unfortunately,the lack of common sense is often discovered too late.

 

That behavior is rude, unprofessional and inconsiderate to the homeowner.  Sadly, there seems to be no actionable violation in the behavior. No violation in leaving the door unlocked or not returning the key to the lock box. 

I do not understand why so many San Jose Real Estate Agents violate and ignore MLS instructions; breach security of a seller’s home; and not return the key to the lockbox.

Agents who do these things are not required to apologize to the sellers or the listing agents for their rude, unkind and unprofessional behavior.

I do not believe a real estate license or a key to access a lock box gives any agent the right to ignore the MLS instructions, “take liberties” and essentially trespass upon the property.

Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels and trespass to land. [wiki]

Clearly, I am not an attorney or a judge and not qualified to determine if many actions taken by agents are, in fact, a tort.  I am entitled to my opinion which is exactly what I have written here – my OPINION.

If I had the money and/or the time I would like to put this to the legal test.  Until then, I guess the real estate professionals will simply have to continue to tolerate agents behaving badly and/or wait for the California Department of Real Estate to set a testing standard that includes common sense. Yeah – right! (LOL)

By Kathleen Daniels, San Jose Real Estate

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