Real estate brokerage Keller Williams will pay $70 million to settle inflated agent commission lawsuits nationwide

The agreement, revenge Thursday pinch national courts overseeing lawsuits successful Illinois and Missouri, besides calls connected Keller Williams Realty Inc. to return respective steps aimed astatine providing homebuyers and sellers pinch much transparency complete nan commissions paid to existent property agents.

“We deliberation it’s a tremendous triumph for homeowners and homebuyers crossed nan country,” said Michael Ketchmark, 1 of nan attorneys representing nan plaintiffs successful nan lawsuits.

The cardinal declare put distant successful nan lawsuits is that nan country’s biggest existent property brokerages prosecute successful practices that unfairly unit homeowners to salary artificially inflated supplier commissions erstwhile they waste their home.

In October, a national assemblage successful Missouri recovered that nan National Association of Realtors and respective ample existent property brokerages, including Keller Williams, conspired to require that location sellers salary homebuyers’ supplier committee successful usurpation of national antitrust law.

The assemblage ordered nan defendants to salary almost $1.8 cardinal successful damages. If treble damages — which allows plaintiffs to perchance person up to 3 times existent aliases compensatory damages — are awarded, past nan defendants whitethorn person to salary much than $5 billion.

More than a twelve akin lawsuits are pending against nan existent property brokerage industry.

Moving Keller Williams retired from nether that unreality of litigation and uncertainty motivated nan institution to prosecute nan projected settlement, which would merchandise nan company, its franchisees and agents from akin supplier committee lawsuits nationwide. The institution based successful Austin, Texas, operates much than 1,100 offices pinch immoderate 180,000 agents.

“We came to nan determination to settee pinch observant information for nan contiguous and semipermanent well-being of our agents, our franchisees and nan business models they dangle on,” Gary Keller, nan company’s executive chairman, wrote successful a companywide email Thursday. “It was a determination to bring stability, alleviation and nan state for america each to attraction connected our ngo without distractions.”

Among nan position of its projected settlement, Keller Williams agreed to make clear that its agents fto clients cognize that commissions are negotiable, and that location isn’t a group minimum that clients are required to pay, nor 1 group by law.

The institution besides agreed to make definite that agents who activity pinch prospective homebuyers disclose their compensation structure, including immoderate “cooperative compensation,” which is erstwhile a seller’s supplier offers to compensate nan supplier that represents a purchaser for their services.

As portion of nan settlement, which must beryllium approved by nan court, Keller Williams agents will nary longer beryllium required to beryllium members of the National Association of Realtors or travel nan waste and acquisition association’s guidelines.

Two different ample existent property brokerages agreed to akin colony position past year. In their respective pacts, Anywhere Real Estate Inc. agreed to salary $83.5 million, while Re/Max agreed to salary $55 million.