The Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR) is demanding that Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD), a local county-level appraisal organization, stop using and destroy any multiple listing service (MLS) data it may have obtained from CoreLogic, the vendor of its MLS.
“Today, counsel for [ABoR] sent a cease and desist order to Travis Central Appraisal District, calling on TCAD to stop the unauthorized use of Austin/Central Texas Realty Information Service data in any form or fashion,” a statement from ABoR reads. “We also demanded the destruction of any existing ACTRIS data in use by TCAD. Unauthorized access to proprietary [MLS] data by an appraisal district is unacceptable. We are continuing conversations with our MLS vendor to ensure all parties are held accountable.”
ABoR, earlier this week, accused CoreLogic, a California-based financial services and analytics firm, of selling its MLS data to TCAD. CoreLogic offers a variety of MLS and real estate data products, including the popular digital MLS platform Matrix and boasts on its website that it services the largest MLSs in North America.
Dustin Banks, the in-house counsel for TCAD, told Inman before ABoR announced the cease and desist letter that the organization received notice from CoreLogic this week that it was terminating its contract with TCAD. Banks also said that CoreLogic offered an apology and a full refund for the amount paid to date.
“All of TCAD’s actions relating to the contract were lawful and done to obtain the most accurate information in order to comply with its legal requirement for determining the market value of properties in Travis County,” Banks told Inman.
“TCAD uses various types of data to determine the appraised value of the Travis County properties including but not limited to sales data when available,” Banks added. “TCAD lawfully entered into a contractual agreement with CoreLogic who provided a wide variety of data to TCAD.”
Banks noted that any data obtained from CoreLogic is held confidential according to the law and TCAD remains committed to adhering all requirements imposed by the law concerning the handling of public records.
Inman asked Banks if they plan to cooperate with the cease and desist order and destroy all data. Banks has not responded but the story will be updated with more information as it becomes available.
CoreLogic initially declined to comment, telling Inman that the company is currently in discussion with its client.
