(1) A licensee involved in any real estate transaction shall comply with the generally accepted standards of practice.

(2) A licensee shall not act as an agent for a party or parties in a real estate transaction where that agency representation conflicts with the obligations owed by the licensee to another party. This does not prohibit dual agency as permitted in 37-51-313 , MCA.

(3) Violation of 37-51-321 , MCA, constitutes unprofessional conduct.

(4) The board may take disciplinary action and impose any penalty found in 37-1-312 , MCA, against any licensee who violates any statute or rule administered by the board.

(5) In addition to all other provisions contained in the statutes and rules administered by the board, the following are considered unprofessional conduct:

(a) engaging in activities that constitute the practice of law;

(b) failing to advise their principal and any other party to the transaction with whom the licensee is directly working, that outside professional services should be secured when appropriate;

(c) engaging the services of any attorney, title company, appraiser, escrow agent, insurance agent, or other like person or entity, on behalf of a principal, third-party, or other person, without informing and obtaining consent from the person obligated to pay for the services;

(d) engaging or recommending the services of an attorney, title company, appraiser, escrow agent, or other like person or entity, on behalf of a principal, third-party, or other person, without disclosing any family relationship, financial relationship, and/or financial interest that the licensee or real estate agency with which the licensee is associated may have in that person or entity being engaged or recommended;

(e) failing, when entering into a listing agreement, to promptly verify that the principal listing the property is the owner or is authorized by the owner to list the property. The licensee may, but is not required to, conduct a title search or obtain a title report at the initial listing;

(f) failing to disclose the fact that the individual is a licensee when the licensee first seeks information from the owner, the owner's agent, or tenant about any property, whether for the licensee's own account or as agent for another;

(g) falsifying documents, placing any party's signature on a document, or altering or amending a document on behalf of any party without authority of a written power of attorney from the party;

(h) advising that an offer or counter offer has been accepted without the licensee having in the licensee's possession a document signed by the party evidencing the party's acceptance;

(i) committing any act of forgery, fraud, misrepresentation, deception, misappropriation, conversion, theft, or any other like act; 

(j) knowingly entering, or willfully continuing in any transaction, either as a principal or agent, wherein a purpose or objective of the licensee or the licensee's principal is to commit any of the following acts:

(i) using or conspiring with others to obtain inflated property appraisals;

(ii) influencing others to purchase property for another person in order to circumvent credit and down payment requirements or other limitations imposed by lenders, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), or the Veterans Administration (VA);

(iii) filing an application to refinance a loan for the purpose of drawing out the equity, when prohibited by lenders, HUD or VA regulations; or

(iv) acquiring as an investor, or personally, properties subject to a loan guaranteed or insured by HUD, collect rents thereon, while purposely failing to make mortgage payments on the property;

(k) failing to make reasonable efforts to perform all obligations arising from any agreement entered into;

(l) failing to document in writing and obtain signatures by the parties to all agreements. Licensees shall document in writing, and have signed by the parties, any changes to the terms and provisions of the agreement which occur between the time a buy/sell is executed and the closing of a transaction;

(m) failing, as a seller's agent, to continue to submit to the seller all offers and counter offers received by the licensee until such time as a pending transaction has been closed or the listing agreement terminates, unless the seller has waived this obligation in writing. Seller agents are not obligated to continue to actively market the property after an offer has been accepted by the seller unless directed in writing to do so by the seller.

(n) failing, as a buyer agent, to submit to the buyer all offers and counter offers until an offer has been accepted. Buyer agents have no obligation to continue to show properties to their clients after an offer has been accepted unless otherwise directed in writing to do so by the buyer;

(o) representing to any lender, guaranteeing agency, or other interested party, either orally or through the preparation of false documents, an amount other than the true and actual sale price of the real estate or terms differing from those actually agreed upon;

(p) failing to inform the seller in writing of the estimated costs and fees associated with the sale at the time a listing is taken and when an offer is presented;

(q) failing, as a licensee, to repay the recovery account for any amounts paid from the account based on an unsatisfied judgment against the licensee;

(r) when acting as a listing agent, disclosing the name of a person making an offer or the amount or terms of an offer to other persons interested in making offers. This shall not prohibit the listing agent from disclosing that an offer has been made;

(s) disclosing to a buyer principal the terms and provisions of a competing principal's offer when a buyer's broker has more than one principal making offers on the same property;

(t) failing, while managing property for owners, to abide by the requirements of 37-51-607, MCA, and the requirements of the Board of Realty Regulation's rules for property management as set forth in ARM 24.210.805 and 24.210.828;

(u) violating the landlord tenant laws of Title 70, chapter 24, MCA;

(v) violating the state and federal human rights statutes;

(w) violating the Americans with Disabilities Act;

(x) guaranteeing or authorizing a person to guarantee future profits which may result from the resale of real property;

(y) soliciting, selling, or offering for sale real property by conducting lotteries, raffles, or contests for the purpose of influencing a purchaser or prospective purchaser of real property. Door prizes can be awarded so long as the participant is not required to pay any consideration or enter into any contract arrangement in order to participate in the door prize drawing;

(z) paying a commission in connection to a real estate sale or transaction to a person who is not licensed as a real estate broker or real estate salesperson under this chapter; however, payment to any principals or reducing the commission owed by any principals is not considered payment of a commission to an unlicensed person;

(aa) failing to disclose in advertising the licensee's name and identifying that the advertisement is made by a real estate licensee or that the advertising is made by a brokerage company. Internet advertising is subject to the provisions of ARM 24.210.430;

(ab) failing to disclose their identity as a real estate licensee at first contact;

(ac) failing to comply with all completion and reporting requirements for continuing education as established by the board;

(ad) failing to respond to a request from the board; or

(ae) a licensee shall not engage in or conduct business as a real estate licensee, or advertise as a real estate licensee, or engage in or conduct the business of a real estate licensee at a time when the licensee's real estate license has expired or is on inactive status.

(6) The revocation, suspension, or other disciplinary treatment of any other professional or occupational license or privilege held by the licensee in this state or another state may be grounds for license discipline in this state, if the board determines that the substantive grounds for the previous disciplinary treatment relates to the public health, safety, and welfare as it applies to real estate activity.