The Other Grievance Committee Meeting

So we had a second grievance committee meeting this month. We only reviewed two cases.  

The first one was a selling agent who was mad that the buyer cancelled the purchase contract when they found out there was a roof problem with the house. Though I didn't look up the property, given the current market conditions, I am pretty sure that house sold for full price to the next buyer that came along. I described the situation to the grievance committee as a contract issue, not an ethics issue. They agreed. We dismissed. 

The other case was even stupider. Joe put in a rental application. He lied on the application and said he made a pretty significant income. He didn't. In fact, he made a verifiable no income and didn't even pretend he was living off savings, investments, trust fund, or lottery winnings. Essentially he had no way to pay the rent. His application was denied by the landlord. Again, I didn't look up the property in question, but I'd be willing to bet the owner didn't want him and had lots of applicants to chose from. 

Here's what the case was about. The tenant's agent (who would have made about $75 total for this transaction if his fabulous client was picked by the landlord) was mad at the leasing agent (who works for the landlord and has no decision making authority whatsoever) for not approving Joe. So what did the agent do? He blasted her with lots of unkind and ugly comments. I read the entire e-mail thread and he couldn't have been more nasty if he tried. And I guarantee, he tried. 

By the way, the agent admitted his client lied but that shouldn't matter. He said Joe's misrepresentation of the truth wasn't a "big deal," and people do it "all the time." As a former landlord, that hurt my head. But I digress. 

To the leasing agent's credit, her replies were professional and short. She was the one who filed the complaint against this dude, but there really is nothing in the Realtor Code of Ethics that says someone can't be rude and nasty when their lying client doesn't get a rental house. We dismissed this case too.