Professional Standards for Real Estate Brokers

Chapter 1

General Principles

§1. Real estate Broker should be driven by the principles of professional ethics. The rules of professional ethics of a Broker ensue from the generally accepted moral standards and ethical principles.

§2. Broker should act and behave in a manner so as not to cause any harm to their customers.

§3. Broker should remain loyal against their customers, not letting them be deceived in relying on their trust.

Chapter 2
Professional Reliability

§4. Broker shall observe provisions of the law.

§5. Broker shall exercise due diligence in performing any professional activity.

§6. Broker shall refuse to perform any action which would appear to be contrary to the principles of performance of his profession.

Chapter 3
Competency and Professionalism

§7. When carrying out Brokerage activity, the Broker should be guided by the current marketplace trends.

§8. Broker should not undertake to perform any actions reaching beyond his knowledge and professional expertise.

Chapter 4
Professional Secrecy

§9. All and any information obtained by the in relation to his profession is subject to professional secrecy. In particular, information obtained during performance of professional activity shall not be conveyed to third parties. The secrecy shall not be binding when providing information proving indispensable for proper performance of a service, or, any information that may exert any impact on safety of a transaction.

Chapter 5
Prestige of the Profession

§ 10. Broker should ensure that his relations with other Brokers are based upon the principles of fair competition, loyalty, and respect.

§11. Broker should not behave in a manner being contrary to the interests of the entrepreneur employing him.

§ 12. Broker must not formulate any false or misleading statements concerning competitors, their entrepreneurs, or any professional practices employed by them.

§13. Broker should support the activities of professional organisations and contribute to ensuring a high prestige of the profession.

§14. Broker should strive for eliminating in his environment any practices contrary to the laws and/or professional standards, or ones transgressing his profession’s dignity.

§15. Broker holding any posts in a professional organisation may not use such a position for satisfying his own needs.

§16. Broker shall render their services basing upon a written listing agreement concluded with the Ordering Party. Such agreement includes the first and family name of the Broker professionally accountable for providing the service and the Broker’s statement concerning possession of the civil liability insurance covering damages caused in relation to performance of professional activity. The scope of Brokerage activities shall be determined by the agreement.

§17. The role of the Broker is one of collecting and providing information necessary for third parties to conclude contracts described in article 180 clause 1 of the Real Estate Market Act [Ustawa o gospodarce nieruchomościami] regarding economic and market conditions for, and the method of implementation of, the service commissioned, undertaking actions aiming at searching for a contracting party, matching the parties, arranging property viewing, as well as, should the customer wish so, taking part in negotiations, providing assistance toward concluding a transaction by undertaking relevant organisational actions, unless otherwise provided for by the agreement.

§18. Any advertisement, print, written or oral piece of information provided by Broker should be in conformity with the actual status quo known being known to the Broker.

§19. The Broker should always strive to document any actions taken in association with implementation of the listing agreement.

§20. The Broker shall always reveal his status of a broker whilst performing brokerage activities.

§21. The Broker may not make against the client any untrue representations concerning the possible property selling price or lease rent.

§22. The Broker may not advertise for sale, lease, or other transaction, any real property as to which he has previously not entered into a listing agreement, apart from instances ensuing from special reconciliations between Brokers.

§23. The Broker may render agency services to the benefit of both parties to a transaction.

§24. The Broker must not offer agency services by presenting them as being free of charge, which is not to preclude, however, that remuneration might only be received from one party to a transaction.

§25. Listing agreements may include an exclusivity clause. By means of an exclusivity clause, the client entrusts the execution of agency services only to the selected entrepreneur or Broker.

§26. Prior to conclusion of the listing agreement containing an exclusivity clause, the entrepreneur/Broker shall notify the client of the consequences ensuing from having inserted such a clause.

§27. Prior to concluding an agency agreement, Broker shall find out from the client whether the real property is not a subject of a previously concluded listing agreement with an exclusivity clause.

§28. The Broker who has entered into a listing agreement with an exclusivity clause should strive for exposing the subject property to a reasonably most extensive degree possible, and should not render difficult the access to information on the subject property.

§29. The Broker may contact with individuals to whose benefit another Broker is carrying out the listing agreement with an exclusivity clause only subject to the other Broker’s knowledge and consent therto.

§30. The Broker should not induce the clent to breach the listing agreement with an exclusivity concluded with other Brokers.

§31. The Broker shall be entitled to make general offers presenting the scope of services rendered also to individuals who have concluded an exclusivity agreement with another Broker, provided that such offers constitute part of a broader promotional action.

§32. In the event that a contact has been established with the client by another Broker when offering a real property, further contacts with that client, concerning the said property, should always be effected with knowledge of, and upon consent from, the Broker who has introduced the client.

§33. In case co-operation has been entered into by Brokers, the actual amount of the referral fee and manner of its being divided should be agreed in writing upon entering into the cooperation.

§34. The Broker who has received information on a real property from another office, shall reveal, at his first contact with the seller, the source from which he has received the listing, whilst at the same time remaining particularly careful about securing the interests of the Broker who has provided the said information.

§35. Any disputes arising between brokers regarding performance of the profession should be resolved in an amicable manner.

§36. The Broker should ensure that individuals with whose assistance he performs the agency activities, take into account the principles resulting from provisions of the law and rules comprised in the Professional Standards for Real Estate Brokers.

§37. The Broker should draw the other Broker’s attention to the latter’s conduct in case it tends to breach the rules of these Professional Standards for Real Estate Brokers.

Section III
Final Provisions