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Listings Quality Policy

  • Updated

Users of the StreetEasy services (including all properties operated by Zillow Group (“Zillow”) under the StreetEasy brand ("StreetEasy")), related data and/or related services (collectively, the "Services") acknowledge and agree to comply with the following Listings Quality Policy (the "Policy"). StreetEasy reserves the right to remove any content that violates any of Zillow’s Terms of Use, policies or is otherwise inappropriate.

Advertising and Claiming Listings

For Rent by Owner and For Sale by Owner Listings: Acceptable verification of ownership must be received and approved before any listing can be advertised. If complaints are received about a listing, it will be removed from StreetEasy without prior notification and the owner account will be suspended. Listings by owners also must comply with the StreetEasy Advertising Terms of Service.

Brokerages 

License Requirement: In order to post a listing on StreetEasy, all listing agents (“Listing Agent(s)”) must be registered with the New York Department of State Division of Licensing Services and the full name, license, and correct contact information of each Listing Agent must be made available to StreetEasy. StreetEasy reserves the right to request official documents for verification purposes.

Exclusive Listings: StreetEasy only accepts sale listings that are exclusive or co-exclusive. Listings may only be advertised by a Listing Agent who is the contracted, exclusive listing agent for a listing. Multiple Listing Agents may be shown on a single listing, but there should never be more than one copy of an active listing advertised by the same firm. 

          1. Co-Exclusive Listings: The only time two copies of the same unit may be shown is when there is a legitimate co-exclusive agreement between two different brokerages. In the case of a co-exclusive, each brokerage will have its own separate listing for the specified unit. 
          2. Verification: If StreetEasy is unable to verify an exclusive agreement, we may remove the corresponding listing at any time without warning. A single unit can be advertised as for sale and for rent by the same brokerage at the same time however only the sale listing will syndicate to other Zillow sites. In the event of a co-exclusive sale, only one sale listing will syndicate.

Claimed Transactions: Transactions can only be claimed by a licensed real estate agent (“Agent”) who actively represented the buyer/seller. Transactions can be claimed by members of a team if they also collected commission on the transaction. StreetEasy reserves the right to investigate reports of inaccurate claims and request documentation to confirm involvement in the claimed transaction. Repeated activity of falsely claimed transactions may result in suspension or termination of participation in StreetEasy marketing programs and services, including the StreetEasy Experts program.

Buyers Only Listings: Listing Agents who are posting a sale listing that does not allow a buyer’s agent to be compensated, also known as “principals only” or “buyers only” listings, must either use the StreetEasy For Sale by Owner product or purchase Agent Spotlight when posting their listing on StreetEasy. StreetEasy may require an Agent to provide information on the co-broke status and co-broke percentage offered when creating a listing in Agent Tools, but StreetEasy will only make this information visible to other industry professionals.

Management Companies and Owners: 

StreetEasy requires all listings to include the full name and correct contact information of the corresponding landlord/owner/management company. StreetEasy reserves the right to request official documents for verification purposes.

A management company or other individual working on behalf of an owner who is not a licensed real estate agent/brokerage may only advertise a unit for sale via the StreetEasy For Sale by Owner product.

Delayed Listings: All sale listings should be posted on StreetEasy within 24 hours of the listing being publicly advertised. For the purposes of this Policy, a listing is considered publicly advertised if it is sent to the RLS, syndicated to a third party site, made available to the general public on a website, or shared with third parties via email. Failure to comply with this provision will result in StreetEasy not accepting the listing on our platform.

StreetEasy Advertising Permission for Rental Buildings: StreetEasy requires confirmation from the Landlord/Management Company for rental building advertising permissions. StreetEasy does not accept unit level exclusive agreements for rental listings. Approval requirements are included here, however, StreetEasy reserves the right to assign advertising permissions, outside of these requirements, as and when deemed appropriate:

Landlord Priority: Landlord/Management Company can always advertise in properties they have claimed and their version of any listing will always be accepted above other versions i.e. when granting advertising permissions to a brokerage, the Landlord/Management Company still controls who advertises at a unit level. 

One Broker Policy: Landlord/Management Company can assign StreetEasy advertising rights to one brokerage, per rental building.  Advertising permissions must remain in place for a period of at least 30 days for each rental building, but can stay in place for as long as the Landlord is working with the brokerage.  Any Brokerage/Listing Agent assigned by Landlord/Management company must comply with the provisions of this Policy.  In the event the assigned Brokerage/Listing Agent violates this Policy, StreetEasy will notify the Landlord/Managing Agent and may suspend the Brokerage/Listing Agent from advertising on StreetEasy.

For Rent by Owner Approval: Landlord/Management Company has the right to determine whether For Rent by Owner listings are approved to be advertised in their buildings.

Lease Assignments and Subletting: Lease Assignments and subletting are not approved to be advertised in rental buildings unless represented by the broker with advertising permissions for the building.

Prohibited Listings

  • StreetEasy does not advertise Single Room Offers/Rooms for Rent.
  • The Services are limited to residential real estate. You may not use the Services to advertise commercial real estate, which includes, without limitation, commercially zoned properties, investment opportunities, timeshares, vacation rentals, and fractional ownership properties.
  • Only one copy of a rental listing is permitted on StreetEasy. We will not approve the same unit to be advertised by more than one brokerage, landlord, or owner.

Limitations on Self Promotion and Marketing

  • StreetEasy restricts the inclusion of self-promoting information or branding on listings and professional profile pages. This includes, but is not limited to, self-promotion on photos and media, in names, website URL and/or in listing descriptions.  Providing direction on who to contact and how to contact them is classed as self-promotion and not permitted.
  • Photos and Video Walkthroughs. You may not include marketing information, including, without limitation, an Agent's name, company name, logo, website URL, phone number and/or email address on listing photos or in video walkthroughs, whether as text, a watermark, or otherwise.
  • Listing Descriptions. You may not include marketing information, including, without limitation, an Agent's name, phone number, website URL, and/or email address within a listing description.
  • Profile Name and Photo. You may not include contact information or any promotional or marketing information (including a phone number, email address, website URL, promotional tagline or slogan, or discount offer) in your profile photo or as part of your name as it appears in your profile. Your name as it appears in your profile may not include titles, descriptions, or any information other than your name or your business or team name. You may not display a business or team name in your profile other than the official business or team name under which you formally provide services to clients both on and off of StreetEasy and Zillow. Zillow may require you to provide documentation to support the foregoing.

Listing Accuracy

  • Complete Data Set: StreetEasy requires a full address and accurate unit numbers. We reserve the right to seek validation that a unit number is accurate, including but not limited to compliance with the Offering Plan. We do not accept #VAR in lieu of real unit numbers. A complete address is required to improve transparency in the marketplace and for StreetEasy to investigate listings and maintain listing quality. If StreetEasy is unable to verify a listing, we may remove the listing at any time without warning. If there are repeated issues with an advertiser posting listings with inaccurate unit numbers, their StreetEasy account may be placed on probation or suspended.
  • Listing Updates: It is imperative that the status of each listing is accurate. If your account misleads users about the status or availability of your sale or rental, we may prevent you from posting listings on StreetEasy.
  • Stale listings: The details for each sale listing should be verified on StreetEasy every 14 days, if no updates have been made during that time. By verifying the listing, the agent is confirming that the listing is still available and active on the market. Agents can do this in the My Listings section of their StreetEasy account. Listings that remain on the market for more than 120 days, without being updated, will be considered stale and removed from StreetEasy.
  • Photographs: Photographs for all rental and resale units should be of the actual unit being advertised. In the event that photographs of the actual unit are not available representative photos may be used so long as the Listing Agent clearly and conspicuously notifies users in the listing description that the photographs in the listing are representative and not of the actual unit.

Room Counts

  • All units must also be advertised as they exist today, not with the details associated with potential renovations. 
  • StreetEasy reserves the right to update room/bedroom count or any other feature/amenity of the listing or building referenced in the listing description or attributes if advertised incorrectly. In addition, units with approval to be combined, but not yet combined, must be advertised using existing room counts and details. Details of potential to combine can be added to the listing description only.

Days on Market and Listing History

  • Days on Market must be an accurate reflection of how long a unit has been available. StreetEasy reserves the right to alter Days on Market if evidence exists to support this.
  • A listing must be off-market for 90 days before it can be advertised, by the same brokerage, as a new listing.  If a new agent takes over representation of a listing, from the same brokerage, Days on Market will not reset.  Days on Market only accrues when the listing status is Active.
  • Listing history will not be removed or altered.
  • Net Effective Rent: The price on rental listings must reflect the gross rent for the property, not net-effective rent or amortized rent. Net-effective and amortized rents will be calculated automatically when concession details are entered in the available fields in Agent Tools.
  • Occupied Units: StreetEasy requires disclosure if a for-sale unit is tenant-occupied. Prominent disclosure of tenant occupancy in the listing description is required to improve transparency in the marketplace and inform potential buyers of the true availability of the property. If tenants will not be moving out, this will be classed as an investment opportunity and cannot be advertised on StreetEasy.

Compliance with Fair Housing

  • All users must comply with federal, state and local fair housing laws that expressly protect individuals based on sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, source of income (including federal, state, or local rental-assistance programs, such as Section 8 housing choice vouchers and temporary rental assistance), veteran status, disability, marital status, or age.
  • StreetEasy reserves the right to remove any content we feel is discriminatory and/or inconsistent with our Good Neighbor Policy and Respectful Renting Pledge, and, if we deem necessary, restrict access to StreetEasy to users who violate our policies.

In the event that StreetEasy discovers a violation of any of Zillow or StreetEasy’s terms of use or policies, we may remove all or certain portions of your listing/s from the Services, terminate your account(s), and/or restrict your access to the Services. Listing managers/Principal Brokers are responsible for all activity associated with their company’s account. If you post prohibited listings, delayed listings, Open, Limited, fraudulent/suspicious listings, duplicate posts, fake images, or other inaccurate or misleading content, or we receive user complaints regarding your listings, or your behavior related to listings advertised on StreetEasy, we may suspend your account. Use of the Services is also subject to the Zillow Group Inc. Terms of Use and policies, including, without limitation, the Zillow Group Listings Quality Policy. We invite you to submit your questions and comments to support@streeteasy.com. Thank you for your business and your ongoing support.

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