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FUNCTIONS OF GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE
HAMILTON-FAIRFIELD-OXFORD BOARD OF REALTORS®

The Committee does not determine guilt or innocence. It will either:

1. Forward the case for a hearing before the Professional Standards Committee, or
2. Dismiss it, if the complaint is determined to be unfounded.

A Board of REALTORS® has limitations to its authority regarding its members.
Below is a list of those limitations:

1. The complaint must be filed within one hundred eighty (180) days of the time that the alleged offense and facts relating to it could have been known by the complainant in the exercise of reasonable diligence.
    
2. The Board cannot try a Board member for violations of Ohio real estate license law
   or any other alleged violation of the law. It has jurisdiction only over violations of a member's duty to abide by the Code of Ethics.
    
3. For the same reason, the Board cannot suspend or terminate the license of one of its
   members.
    
4. The Board can, in the case of an ethics violation being determined, administer discipline to the REALTOR® in one or more of the following ways:
   
   Send a letter of warning or reprimand to the member
   Direct the member to attend an ethics class or other training appropriate to the violation
   Fine the member up to $5,000 (this fine is not awarded to the complainant)
   Place the member on probation
   Suspend the membership of the REALTOR®
   Expel the member from membership
    
5. Money damages or earnest money disputes cannot be part of an ethics proceeding.