Durng the hearing process, certain things are required based upon the National Association of REALTORS® Code of Ethics and Arbitration Manual.  Briefly, the following information will give you a better understanding of the hearing process.  For more specific information, you may want to review the Code of Ethics and Arbitration Manual in detail.

Appreciate that panel members are unpaid volunteers giving their time as an act of public service. Their objective is to be fair, unbiased, and impartial; to determine, based on the evidence and testimony presented to them, what actually occurred; and then to determine whether the facts as they find them support a finding that the Article(s) charged have been violated.

Hearing panels cannot conclude that an Article of the Code has been violated unless that Article(s) is specifically cited in the complaint.

Keep your presentation concise, factual, and to the point. Your task is to demonstrate what happened (or what should have happened but didn't), and how the facts support a violation of the Article(s) charged in the complaint.

Hearing panels base their decisions on the evidence and testimony presented during the hearing. If you have information relevant to the issue(s) under consideration, be sure to bring it up during your presentation.

Recognize that different people can witness the same event and have differing recollections about what they saw. The fact that a respondent or their witness recalls things differently doesn't mean they aren't telling the truth as they recall events. It is up to the hearing panel, in the findings of fact that will be part of their decision, to determine what actually happened.

The hearing panel will pay careful attention to what you say and how you say it. An implausible account doesn't become more believable through repetition or, through volume.

You are involved in an adversarial process that is, to some degree, unavoidably confrontational. Many violations of the Code of Ethics result from misunderstanding or lack of awareness of ethical duties by otherwise well-meaning, responsible real estate professionals. An ethics complaint has potential to be viewed as an attack on a respondent's integrity and professionalism. For the enforcement process to function properly, it is imperative for all parties, witnesses, and panel members to maintain appropriate decorum.

If you have specific questions regarding the Ethics hearing process, please contact Sue Page, Professional Standards Administrator at spage@seibr.com.