Does the real estate sector get its antitrust enforcement wish?
“According to all indications, there is very little appetite for antitrust enforcement of the Doj,” Francis X. Riley, a partner at Saul Ewing Llp.said. “They just don’t do anything. They let these mergers continue with limited investigations or limited exchange of information, and this sheds light on the fact that the DOJ will not be active in antitrust enforcement actions.”
Civil lawsuits will not stop
Although the Doj, who has traditionally been very active when it comes to Nar, seems to take a step back of real estate, this does not mean that the civil laws have stopped. Last week, Jorge Zea, a real estate agent in Florida, had accused an antitrust suit in that NAR, local associations and MLSS of steering buyers to use buyer agents.
“I think what the Doj is going to do, just let the market dictate or something antitrust or not, which means that they allow private claimants to take their own actions, but I don’t see that the Doj adopts a very strong attitude with enforcement,” Riley said.
Under earlier administrations, Chuck Cain, a lawyer in the title industry and the president of Alliance solutionssaid that an increase in consumer lawsuits has caused the Doj to view an industry or company closer, but he is uncertain whether that will happen under the current Trump administration.
“You may think that if civil laws are collecting, there would be some interest from the Doj, but on the other hand they can think that it will all be cared for through the civil courts,” said Cain. “Historically, when we see many civil lawsuits or action of the attorneys general, the doj usually becomes involved.
Moreover, Cain notes that the most recent Doj research into Nar and the Sitzer/Burnett Commission was brought to the first Trump administration.
Alford, who spoke to the DOJ earlier this week about his four-month Stint, attributes the decrease in antitrust enforcement to the lobby efforts by lobbyists for ‘Maga-in-Not only’.
According to Alford, the Maga-inname-all-lobbyists regard antitrust laws as “nuisance or obstacles to overcome.”
“Instead of the legitimate lobbyists who have expertise and perform traditional functions of education and involvement, corrupt lobbyists without relevant expertise are actually law enforcement due to money, power, relationships and influence,” he said.
Other industries are still confronted
Cain, however, notes that the antitrust research into Google And other technology companies are still in favor.
“Outside of Nar, things are rolling along. The Google case and other cases continue, so they now seem really focused on technology,” said Cain.
Although antitrust enforcement of the DOJ seems to have cooled at the moment, legal experts warn that real estate professionals and leaders should not become complacent.
“As far as Nar is concerned, the doj can always come back. This is a pro-populistic administration and doj. If they consider something negative of this populist attitude, they can go after it,” said Cain. “Moreover, in three and a half years we may have a completely different administration that wants to concentrate on real estate. So Nar must keep his guards informed and everyone has to find their antitrust PS and QS very much.”
