New Fair Housing and Advertising Regulations

A new fair housing regulation and an amendment to the advertising regulations have been approved and adopted by the Department of State. The final Notice of Adoption and final text will be published in the New York State Register. Below, please find a description of the regulations and the effective date. The Department of State will be providing guidance documents prior to the effective date of each regulation.

Fair Housing Effective June 20, 2020
The new Fair Housing regulation addresses three items: Fair Housing Disclosure Form, Fair Housing Notice, and the video and audio recording of all Fair Housing continuing education classes.

Fair Housing Disclosure Form: The new regulation 19 NYCRR 175.28 requires every licensee to provide the Fair Housing Disclosure Form to every prospective purchaser, tenant, seller or landlord (for all types of transactions: residential, commercial, vacant land, new construction etc.) at first substantive contact (the same as the agency disclosure form).

Fair Housing Notice: The new regulation 19 NYCRR 175.29 requires every broker’s office and branch office to post the Fair Housing Notice in the window of each broker’s office if other postings of any type are also on the window and if visible to persons on the adjacent sidewalk. If the broker’s office is unable to post in the window, the notice shall be prominently posted in the same location the business license is posted.

Recording of Fair Housing continuation education classes: 19 NYCRR 177.9 requires the audio and video recording of every continuing education class approved for “fair housing and/or discrimination in the sale or rental of real property or an interest in real property”.

A copy of the regulation can be found HERE.
A copy of the Fair Housing Disclosure Form can be found HERE.
A copy of the Fair Housing Notice for posting can be found HERE.

Advertising Regulation Effective November 2, 2020
The amendment to the advertising regulation, 19 NYCRR 175.25(d)(3)&(6), requires every broker (and associated licensees) that advertises the exclusive listing of another broker to clearly and conspicuously display the name of the listing broker preceded by one of seven permitted phrases.  This would apply to any licensee displaying an IDX feed on their website. It will apply to both the grid or list view and the webpage that displays the listing.  It is also applicable to paid advertisements through third parties.

The amended regulation also requires any licensee that pays a third party to place their advertisement when displaying another broker’s exclusive listing, must have words to disclose that it is a paid advertisement including the word “advertisement” immediately following the name of the licensee.

A copy of the amended advertising regulation can be found HERE.