Photo courtesy of Redfin

Amid fallout from a sexual harassment scandal at the very top of the National Association of Realtors and court cases that look set to force changes in buyer-broker compensation, one of the nation’s largest brokerages says it will require “many” of its agents to leave the group.

CEO Glenn Kelman announced the decision in a public post on the company’s blog Monday morning. It had earlier resigned its seat on NAR’s board in June, before a sexual harassment scandal took down the association’s 2023 president, Utah broker Kenny Parcell, in August.

Kelman characterized the Parcell scandal, and NAR’s response, as the deciding factor, but said the company had already been uncomfortable” with the association’s rules on buyer-broker commissions, which both prevent sellers from listing homes on NAR- affiliated listings services that don’t offer a buyer’s agent commission and which prevent Redfin.com from showing for-sale-by-owner listings alongside agent-listed ones.

“Removing these blocks would be easy, and it would make our industry more consumer-friendly and competitive,” Kelman wrote.

NAR’s commission rules are under pressure from a variety of class-action lawsuits.

It’s unclear whether Massachusetts’ various Realtor associations will be impacted. Kelman said Redfin agents won’t have to leave NAR or local Realtor associations where their local MLS is owned by the association. The Berkshire County Association of Realtors and Cape Cod & Islands Association of Realtors both own their local MLSs, but the rest of Massachusetts is covered by MLS PIN. That listings service is Realtor-owned, but not affiliated with any Realtor trade group.

Redfin agents had paid $13 million in dues to NAR since it pushed its agents to join in 2017, Kelman said. The company is the sixth-biggest brokerage in the nation by transaction sides and sales volume, according to Real Trends, with 66,554 sides and $39.98 billion in sales volume in 2022.