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DEPARTMENT OF REGULATORY AGENCIES
DIVISION OF REAL ESTATE
REAL ESTATE COMMISSION
4 CCR 725-1

NOTICE OF PROPOSED PERMANENT RULEMAKING HEARING
December 2, 2014 

RULE E.  SEPARATE ACCOUNTS – RECORDS – ACCOUNTINGS - INVESTIGATIONS

Pursuant to and in compliance with Title 12, Article 61 and Title 24, Article 4, C.R.S. as amended, notice of proposed rulemaking is hereby given, including notice to the Attorney General of the State of Colorado and to all persons who have requested to be advised of the intention of the Colorado Real Estate Commission (the “Commission”) to promulgate rules, or to amend, repeal or repeal and re-enact the present rules of the Commission.  

STATEMENT OF BASIS

The statutory basis for the rules titled Rules of the Colorado Real Estate Commission is Part 1 of Title 12, Article 61, Colorado Revised Statutes, as amended.
  
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The purpose of this rule is to effectuate the legislative directive to promulgate necessary and appropriate rules in conformity with the state statutes of the real estate practice act.

SPECIFIC PURPOSE OF THIS RULEMAKING

The specific purpose of this rule is to amend or repeal existing rules with respect to required actions following the requirements for document preparation and production of duplicates.

Proposed New, Amended and Repealed Rules

Deleted material shown struck through, new material shown ALL CAPS. Rules, or portions of rules, which are unaffected are reproduced.  

Proposed New, Amended and Repealed Rules

Rule E.  Separate Accounts – Records – Accountings - Investigations

E-8.	Advertising	
(a)	Names

1.	Pursuant to C.R.S. §12-61-103(10), no broker shall be licensed to conduct real estate brokerage services under more than one brokerage firm, and no broker or brokerage firm shall conduct or promote a real estate brokerage business except in the name under which that broker or brokerage firm is licensed.  However, a brokerage firm may use a trade name in addition to or instead of the brokerage firm’s legal name with the permission of the owner of such trade name.  The trade name must be filed with the Commission.

2.	No broker shall advertise so as to mislead the public concerning the identity of the broker or the broker’s brokerage firm.

3.	All advertising must be done clearly and conspicuously in the name of the broker’s brokerage firm.  A broker who advertises property owned by the broker which is not listed for sale or lease with the broker’s brokerage firm, is exempt from advertising the broker’s property in the broker’s brokerage firm’s name.
 
4.	A brokerage firm may use a trademark in conjunction with the brokerage firm’s legal name or trade name with permission of the owner of such trademark.

5.	A brokerage firm that uses a trade name or trademark owned by a third party is required to use the following legend, which must appear in a clear and conspicuous manner so as to attract the attention of the public:

“Each (insert general trade name) brokerage business is independently owned and operated.”

Upon written request, this legend may be modified with consent of the Commission.  

6.	No brokerage firm shall use more than one trade name, however upon written request and with the consent of the Commission, a brokerage firm may use more than one trademark.  Use of the trademark(s) is only acceptable if the brokerage firm has obtained permission of the registrant of such trademark.

7.	No broker or brokerage firm will use a professional designation in advertising unless the broker or brokerage firm is in good standing and the designation is easily verifiable by the public and the Commission.  A broker or brokerage firm that advertises an award, membership or achievement must be able to provide verification of the validity of such claims.  

(b)	Teams

1.	Brokers who form a team shall not advertise in a manner that misleads the public as to the identity of the team’s brokerage firm.  Teams are prohibited from using the following terms in the team’s name:  

(i)	Realty,
(ii)	Real estate,
(iii)	Realtors,
(iv)	Company,
(v)	Corporation,
(vi)	Corp.,
(vii)	Inc.,
(viii)	LLC,
(ix)	LP or LLP
(x)	Or any other term that would imply a separate entity from the brokerage firm with which the team brokers are licensed.

2.	All team advertising must include the legal name or trade name of the brokerage firm.  

3.	If requested by a consumer, the Commission, another brokerage firm or a broker, the brokerage firm will provide the names of the brokers that belong to any team advertising as being licensed with the brokerage firm. 

4.	Brokers may not allow the use of the team name to other brokers outside the team’s brokerage firm.

(c)	Internet

1.	The broker is responsible for ensuring that all advertising is accurate and complies with copyright laws.

2.	When a broker owns a website or controls its content, every viewable page must include the broker’s name, or if applicable the team name, and the broker’s brokerage firm name.  Any expired listings must be removed from the broker’s website within three days of the listing expiring.

3.	If a broker authorizes a third party to advertise on behalf of the broker, the broker is responsible for ensuring that the information provided to such third party is accurate.  The broker must submit a written request to the third party to have an expired listing removed from the website within three days of the listing expiring.

4.	A broker, who communicates through email, chat, instant messages, newsgroups, discussion lists, bulletin boards, blogs or other similar means for purposes of advertising the broker’s real estate brokerage services must use the broker’s name, or if applicable the team name, and the name of the broker’s brokerage firm.  However, once a broker has disclosed the broker’s name and the broker’s brokerage firm to a specific client or customer, the broker is not required to continue to make the same disclosure to the specific client or customer.

5.	When it is not reasonable for a broker to disclose the broker’s name, or if applicable the team name, and brokerage firm name in electronic advertising because space is limited (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, banner advertisements, etc.), the broker will disclose clearly and conspicuously on the broker’s webpage to which the advertising links, within the first click of the mouse.

(d)	Sales Data

1.	General advertising which recaps sales activity over a period of time in a given subdivision or geographical area must:

(i)	Cite the source of the data;
(ii)	Include a disclaimer that all reported sales were not necessarily listed or sold by the broker; and
(iii)	Are intended only to show trends in the area or shall separately identify the broker’s own sales activity.