A New Hampshire law that only allows real estate information to be listed outside of newspapers and by real estate brokers is being challenged in court as violating free speech constitutional rights. ZeroBrokerFees.com is challenging the law and wants to allow FSBO (For Sale By Owner) properties to be listed along with properties that are represented by real estate agents.
A previous case in California overturned their law that was similar to this. I hope they win as cartels are never good for the economy. Too many businesses have licensing requirements that are enacted by legislatures that are swayed by the ample donations that special interests throw at them . Look at lawyers. In some states you can not perform the most basic legal proceedure without a high paid attorney, not because they are needed to do the simple proceedure, but the politicians have made something simple lucrative for their special interest.
The New Hampshire lawsuit notes that state law makes it “unlawful for ZeroBrokerFees.com and similar businesses to operate in New Hampshire without first obtaining a real estate broker’s license,” even though the company does not represent individuals in real estate transactions. According to the law, the company is subject to licensing requirements because it “‘lists’ real estate for sale and/or charges an ‘advance fee’ for listing property in a publication or database and ‘assists … in the procuring of prospects, calculated to result in the sale … of real estate,” the lawsuit states.
But, ZeroBrokerFees.com also alleges in the complaint that its “business activities and the information it conveys are fully within the protection of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as it applies to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment and reflect the exercise of fundamental rights of freedom of speech and of the press.”
As with the law that was successfully challenged in California, the New Hampshire law exempts newspapers from the real estate licensing requirement as it relates to the publication of property information. The Institute for Justice, a nonprofit libertarian law firm that represented ForSaleByOwner.com in the California case, is providing legal assistance for the ZeroBrokerFees.com lawsuit. via Inman Real Estate News
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