Can You "Plead the Fifth" in an Ethics Hearing Panel?
Can a respondent “plead the Fifth” to the panel’s questions during a Code of Ethics hearing? Only if the answer might implicate the respondent in a criminal matter.
Refusing to answer the panel’s questions could violate Article 14 of the Code of Ethics, which states that respondents shouldn’t disrupt or obstruct professional standards proceedings or investigations and must place all pertinent facts before the panel. Since most ethics cases
don’t involve criminal matters, Article 14 often controls.
If you face an ethics complaint, take the opportunity to prepare your defense. The panel’s job is to make an objective decision, and it will be able to do so if you present detailed information about your side of the case.
You have just committed a RESPA violation, a violation of federal law. You just committed a FIREA violation. You just accepted a kickback during or after a real estate transaction, in a myriad of ways commonly undertaken on a daily basis, by the real estate community. Suddenly, you are facing an ethics complaint. Can you, should you, plead the 5th?
Oh wait, I forgot, there won’t be an ethics complaint filed for any of those transgressions.
I am not a lawyer and that’s a lot of potential violations and potential criminal charges. TAR has a free legal line for us active paid Realtors. You can be anonymous. Please consult them. Best wishes Mark.
That’s right. It’s a great resource. I have used it a lot over the years.
As a TAR Professional Standads Committee member, it is really helpful that Agents communicate with us, we base our judgement and findings on answers and facts presented at these hearings. Our job is not to judge you but to be fair and honest and determine what happened and why and then if there should be an action by Professional Stardards Committee. If one side doesn’t speak, defend or present then we have to rule on what was presented. Just be honest and hard working. Blessings to all.
An agent advised his seller to breach the contract and not perform repairs they had agreed to for my buyer, he then helped the Seller withhold material facts that were disclosed to him by our repair request and the inspection that was provided to both of them and they sold the house to……. wait for it, a licensed Agent. I called her after it closed and asked if they disclosed all the known problems and the inspection we gave them, she said No and was very upset as her inspector had missed a major leak and other items. She made… Read more »
Wow, OMG. I can only judge by what you said. If this was submitted to both TAR & TREC, something would of been done or at least investigated. When a complaint is made, especially by the public, we deem it correct until the hearing and proved otherwise. That’s when we can ask questions back and see evidence. I promise you TAR Professional Standards Committee and Sherri Godeaux with TAR takes this stuff seriously. Anyone can file a ethics complaint and you can do it anonymously. Please provide all evidence, because if you file anonymously we can’t cross examine or ask… Read more »
To me the answer is still muddy.
This is hilarious. If you need to know the answer to this question, you should be doing something else. If you have to plead the fifth, EVER, there’s no way you should have a real estate license.
Can a Realtor, also working as a contractor and who behaves in a totally unethical manor, example lying on a sworn affidavit, and filing it at the local courthouse to put a lien on a house for 3 times the amount of $ actually owed. Be held accountable by for his unethical behavior by filing an ethics complaint. If he was acting as a contractor and not a Realtor in the transaction. ???
It is not the answer, but the question that should be discussed. Of all the issues that should be addressed by TAR this one is just not high on the list. The real question is who picks the topics that waste our time even reading them. In 45 years of real estate practiceI have not found anything so …..interesting.