Austin Board of Realtors is getting tough on the Travis County Appraisal District for using its data without permission.
The Board sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Appraisal District calling on them to stop using the Austin/Central Texas Realty Information Service, where MLS data comes from. The county is not entitled to private pricing data when appraising property values under Texas law. That could artificially inflate property values and your tax bill. The board demanded destruction of any data the District is using and called the unauthorized access ‘unacceptable’. The board’s vendor CoreLogix may be responsible for the breach of contract.
The following statement is from the Austin Board of REALTORS®:
Today, counsel for the Austin Board of REALTORS® sent a cease and desist order to the Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD), calling on TCAD to stop the unauthorized use of Austin/Central Texas Realty Information Service (ACTRIS) data in any form or fashion. We also demanded the destruction of any existing ACTRIS data in use by TCAD. Unauthorized access to proprietary Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data by an appraisal district is unacceptable.
We are continuing conversations with our MLS vendor to ensure all parties are held accountable.
