The Central Texas MLS says it will not bow to the brokerage giant’s demand, which Unlock CEO Emily Girard said “strikes at the very structure of the MLS.”
Key points:
- Unlock MLS is characterizing Compass’ recent warning that MLSs must change their rules or face litigation as a demand that “strikes at the very structure of the MLS.”
- The Central Texas MLS said it will not meet the brokerage giant’s demands. Compass said it will sue.
- Unlock took its stand on Oct. 6 — one day after another major MLS in California filed a lawsuit requesting that a federal court confirm its listing rules don’t violate antitrust laws and block related litigation from Compass.
Last week, Compass gave MLSs an ultimatum: Stop fining agents for publicly marketing office exclusive listings or face litigation. On Oct. 6, the deadline for MLSs to comply, Unlock MLS became the second major MLS to reject the brokerage giant’s demand.
Compass now says it plans to sue both MLSs in the weeks ahead.
Unlock MLS takes a stand
“Let’s be clear about what this demand really is,” Unlock MLS CEO Emily Girard wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “It isn’t a debate over one rule, and it isn’t only about the NAR Clear Cooperation Policy. It’s a demand that we ignore a rule altogether, leaving it on the books while acting as if it isn’t there.”
This “strikes at the very structure of the MLS,” Girard said. “The rules exist for one reason: to keep this marketplace complete, accurate and equitable for every agent, every buyer and every seller. A rule that can’t be enforced isn’t a rule. And an MLS whose rules can be switched off under threat of a lawsuit isn’t one anyone can depend on.”
‘Model of seller choice’ in March, litigation threats 6 months later
In the Central Texas MLS’s response to a Sept. 8 demand letter from Compass, Unlock’s outside counsel Ellen B. Sessions, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, essentially accused Compass of talking out of both sides of its mouth.
“Compass helped shape” Unlock MLS’s Flex program, which launched in mid-2025, Sessions noted. The program allows the private marketing of a listing within the MLS without public internet display and without accruing days on market or price-change history. Compass subsequently praised the program publicly and privately, listing Unlock MLS among the MLSs “where seller choice lives” and urging “every MLS to follow their lead,” according to Sessions.
“Unlock MLS’s [Clear Cooperation Policy] and its enforcement procedures are the same today as they were when Compass wrote those words,” Sessions wrote. “Compass cannot hold Unlock MLS up as a model of seller choice in March and threaten it with an antitrust lawsuit for denying seller choice in September.”
Unlock MLS, which has more than 17,000 agent and broker subscribers, is owned by the Austin Board of Realtors. As a Realtor-affiliated MLS, it must adopt mandatory NAR rules such as the CCP — a policy Compass has openly rejected…
Read More: Compass plans to sue after Unlock defies demand letter
