Ethical code & rules of professional cooperation

Whether you are an independent real-estate broker, an agent, a real-estate office, a development partner or already operate in the REALNYX network, you are entering an environment based on a simple principle:

REALNYX connects independent real-estate professionals, offices and partners at national and international level. Each of them does business independently, is responsible for their clients, their deals and their activity. What unites us, however, is a shared standard of professional conduct.

This Ethical Code is therefore not merely a statement of brand values.

It forms part of the rules of active cooperation in the REALNYX network and of the contractual terms associated with the use of REALNYX licences, REALNYX products and services and the I ♥ REALNYX software solution, to the extent set out in the applicable contractual and licence terms.

Its purpose is to protect clients, partners, their work, business relationships, listings, contacts, know-how and the credibility of the entire network.

REALNYX is a modern real-estate franchise and technology system created for independent entrepreneurs and independent real-estate offices.

Our principle is respect for the authorship of the business result.

Your work is not a reason for our share.

Within its basic franchise model, REALNYX does not claim a percentage share of a partner’s real-estate commissions merely because the partner does business under the brand or uses the REALNYX system.

The more you earn, the more remains yours.

Our percentage of your real-estate commissions is always the same: 0 %.

REALNYX provides the brand, technology, tools, a system of cooperation and an environment for business development. The partner creates their own business results.

The same respect that REALNYX gives to partners is what we expect among partners themselves.

And the same principle applies to the work of every other member of the network.

The real-estate market has long since stopped ending at the border of a city, a region or a state.

People move for work, business, family, lifestyle and investment. A buyer may live in one country, sell a property in another and look for an investment in a third.

Rising population mobility, foreign investment, remote work and the internationalisation of the real-estate market create an environment in which an isolated office cannot always offer the client everything they need on its own.

REALNYX therefore does not want to create isolated islands. It creates a connected network of independent professionals.

Cooperation makes it possible to hand a client to a trusted partner in another region or country, to offer one’s own properties to a wider network, to gain foreign clientele and to create business opportunities that might not arise individually.

REALNYX also opens space for independent real-estate brokers and agents.

A modern real-estate professional no longer has to be defined by the size of an office, the number of employees or the address of a place of business.

They may work independently, from their own office, from a home office or from anywhere their business and local legal regulations allow them to operate.

They may be independent — and still not have to be alone.

REALNYX gives independent professionals the opportunity to operate under the backing of an international brand, to use its technology, presentation and network of partner contacts, and to cooperate with other professionals across regions and countries.

Independence in REALNYX therefore does not mean isolation.

An agent may remain an independent professional, keep their own way of working and at the same time gain access to an environment that they would find very difficult to build as an individual.

For REALNYX it is not decisive whether a partner is backed by an office with dozens of people, or an experienced independent broker working from a home office.

What is decisive is professionalism, responsibility, compliance with the applicable legal requirements and respect for the rules of cooperation.

REALNYX is not a system based on controlling every individual deal of a partner.

On the contrary. The partner remains entrepreneurially, legally and economically independent within the scope of their contractual position.

They are responsible for their clients, employees and co-workers, their listings, contracts, commissions, taxes, authorisations to operate, statutory duties, personal-data protection, advertising and other aspects of their business activity.

A shared brand, however, requires a shared minimum standard.

REALNYX enables partners to make selected listings available through the REALNYX Global Catalogue.

The Global Catalogue is not merely an advertising space.

It is a technological place where a listing, a client and a professional partner from another region or country can meet.

For a listing, a partner may determine whether they make it available for cooperation and under what conditions declared in advance.

Transparency begins even before the first contact.

Not every cooperation between two real-estate professionals is the same.

Sometimes one partner has a client and is looking for someone to whom they can hand that client in trust. At other times one partner has a client and the other has a suitable property, but both want to work actively on the deal.

And that is why REALNYX distinguishes two basic models of cooperation: TIP and AGENT.

You have a client, but you do not want to, or cannot, handle the entire deal yourself. They may, for example, be looking for a property in another country, region or city where another REALNYX partner operates.

In that case you may hand the client to a partner office or professional in the network.

The partner takes over the client and handles the further business process.

Depending on the specific case, they may take over communication with the client, the selection of suitable properties, the organisation of viewings, negotiations with the other party, coordination of contractual documentation and accompanying the client during the transaction.

You created the business opportunity. The partner carries out the further work.

If a deal then arises that meets the conditions agreed in advance, you receive the agreed commission for a TIP / referral.

It is natural that the reward for a referral alone is usually lower than the reward of the partner who actively represents the client and handles the further part of the business process.

This is not lesser respect for the person who brought the client. It is a fair allocation of the reward according to the work actually performed and the contribution of each partner.

The second model is different. You have the client. A partner office or REALNYX partner has the property your client is looking for.

You do not, however, want to hand the client over. You want to continue representing them and take part yourself in completing the entire deal.

The partner managing the listing then gives you access to the product — that is, to the specific property and the necessary cooperation on the supply side.

You continue to look after your own client. Depending on the nature of the transaction you handle, for example, communication with the client, the viewing, coordination of documentation, communication during the process and accompanying the client through to completion of the deal.

Your working involvement is therefore substantially greater than in a mere handover of a contact. That is why the agreed commission for an AGENT / for brokerage may logically also be higher.

Because every office and every professional needs something different.

Imagine an office that holds a large number of quality properties. It has products. It has listings. It may not, however, have a sales team large enough to actively serve all potential clients itself.

For such an office it may be ideal to open its listings to partner REALNYX agents and say: Bring your own client. Look after them yourself. We will provide the product and, for a completed deal, you will receive the AGENT commission agreed in advance.

On the other side there may be a large office with an extensive sales team that has sufficient capacity to look after clients completely. Such an office may not need another agent in the business process. It needs new clients.

It can therefore offer partners: Hand us a relevant client. We will look after them completely and, for a completed deal, we will pay you the TIP commission agreed in advance.

And a third office may need both. It can therefore offer TIP and AGENT at the same time, each with a different level of reward.

REALNYX does not tell offices what type of cooperation they must need. It gives them a tool so they can set it according to their actual business situation.

For a specific listing a partner may offer TIP only, AGENT only, or both options.

The reward may be set as a fixed amount in EUR or as a percentage according to the conditions of the specific cooperation.

The partner therefore knows from the outset what is expected of them, what work they are to perform and what reward they are entitled to for it when the agreed conditions are met.

Because handing over a contact and looking after a client completely are not the same service.

If a partner only hands over a client and another professional takes over all further work, costs, time and responsibility, it is not automatically fair to demand half of that professional’s commission merely because the contact originally came from them.

It is equally unfair to expect that a partner who brings their own client and then actively guides them through the entire transaction will receive the same reward as someone who only handed over a contact.

Everyone should be fairly rewarded for the value they actually bring to the deal.

Many conflicts in real-estate cooperation do not arise because of the money itself. They arise because it was not clear in advance who brought the client, who is looking after the client, who is providing the property, who is performing the individual parts of the work and what reward belongs to whom.

REALNYX wants to remove this uncertainty before cooperation begins. The conditions of cooperation are to be known in advance. The partner then freely decides whether they suit them and whether they want to use the listing.

This model did not arise merely as a theoretical software function. It is based on long-standing, almost thirty years of practical experience with the real-estate environment and on recurring situations that truly arise in cooperation between brokers and offices.

Its aim is not to tell partners how much they should earn. Its aim is to give them the ability to define in advance the value of the individual forms of cooperation.

A partner should have the certainty that, when the agreed conditions are met, their contribution will be respected and rewarded. At the same time they must respect that the work of the other side has the same value.

Each receives payment for what they bring to the deal.

The client has professional service. The agent has a clearly defined reward. The office knows what it is paying the reward for. And the conditions are known before cooperation begins.

We believe that success should belong to those who create it.

Every REALNYX partner is responsible for their clients, their deals and the development of their own business.

REALNYX creates the environment, the brand and the technological tools. Their use and the business result depend on the individual partners.

We respect the time, investments, contacts, know-how and results of others.

Appropriating another’s work, deliberately circumventing partners or using confidential information obtained through cooperation for unauthorised personal gain are incompatible with the principles of REALNYX.

Cooperation is to create value for all who truly contributed to the result.

Everyone has the opportunity to grow.

No one has an automatic claim to the results of others.

Behind every client stands someone’s time. Behind every listing stands work. Behind every mandate obtained there may be weeks or months of communication, marketing, investment and the building of trust.

In REALNYX we respect that value.

Bringing a client, obtaining a listing, creating a business opportunity, completing a transaction or helping to develop the network has its value.

A fairly agreed reward for actual contribution is a natural part of cooperation.

Deliberately appropriating another partner’s result, circumventing them in order to avoid the agreed reward, or using their client or non-public information against them is unacceptable.

Do you want to grow?

Bring value.

A client is not the property of any person or office.

A business relationship that a partner has demonstrably created and that is protected by a contract, by law or by a specific cooperation agreement must, however, be respected.

A partner must therefore not misuse a contact obtained exclusively through cooperation in REALNYX to knowingly circumvent the other partner or the agreed reward.

At the same time this Code must not be interpreted as a prohibition of the client’s free choice or as the creation of an impermissible restriction of competition.

We protect the work. We do not own people.

A partner may insert into REALNYX systems only content for whose use, publication and possible sharing they have the necessary rights or authorisations.

This applies in particular to photographs, videos, floor plans, texts, documents, trade marks, graphics, database data and other materials.

The partner is responsible for the accuracy of their assertion that they are authorised to use the given content.

Without the necessary authorisation it is not permitted to copy another partner’s presentation, take over their photographs or present their listing as one’s own.

A professional network cannot function on untrue or deliberately misleading listings.

The partner is responsible for a reasonable check of the information they publish.

They must not knowingly publish, for example, a non-existent listing, an untrue price, deliberately distorted essential characteristics of a property, or a listing they are not authorised to present.

If a partner finds that a published essential piece of information is no longer correct, they should correct it without undue delay or update or remove the listing.

Information obtained in partner cooperation is used for the purpose for which it was provided.

Non-public contact details, business terms, information about a client, internal documentation or other confidential information must not be arbitrarily used for another purpose.

Duties arising from legal regulations on the protection of personal data are not affected.

International business also means respect for different legal environments.

A partner operating in a particular country is responsible for compliance with legal regulations, professional authorisations, tax rules, consumer-protection rules, AML duties and other regulatory requirements that apply to their activity.

Membership of the REALNYX network does not in itself replace a professional licence, registration or other statutory authorisation required by the relevant state.

A global network. Local responsibility.

REALNYX supports resolving problems first between the partners concerned.

A misunderstanding is not automatically a breach of the Ethical Code.

If, however, REALNYX receives a specific and credibly documented report concerning a possible breach of the Global Catalogue rules or of the Ethical Code, it may initiate an internal review within the scope of its contractual and technical competence.

The partner concerned may be invited to provide an explanation or supporting materials and to remedy the defective situation within a reasonable period.

The aim is first a remedy, not an automatic sanction.

REALNYX may hear or request the position of both sides, but does not thereby act as a court, arbitral body, lawyer or state supervisory authority.

Decisions on private-law claims, ownership, damages or other legal claims belong to the relevant parties and authorities.

The operator of the system and the authorised entity exercising rights to the REALNYX brand reserve, in accordance with the applicable contractual and licence terms, the right to protect the integrity of the Global Catalogue and of the REALNYX network.

In the event of a reasonable suspicion of a serious breach of the rules it may in particular temporarily restrict the visibility of a listing, suspend its distribution or request additional information.

After review, content may be removed in particular in cases where it breaches this Ethical Code or the contractual rules of the system; there is a reasonable suspicion of a breach of copyright or other rights of third parties; the listing contains demonstrably untrue, fraudulent or unauthorisedly taken-over content; there is a serious or repeated breach of the rules of cooperation; the content may be contrary to legal regulations or the legitimate rights of third parties; or the partner, despite a request, does not remedy the identified defective situation.

In urgent cases, in particular where it is necessary to prevent possible damage, a breach of third-party rights, a security risk or a legal risk to the operator, content may be temporarily restricted even before the review is completed.

Protection of the network is not arbitrariness. Every intervention is to have a reason.

The regional catalogue of an individual office is administered by the relevant independent partner.

The REALNYX Franchise System does not provide day-to-day editorial, legal or commercial control of individual regional catalogues and is not automatically a party to deals presented through them.

For the content, listings, photographs, descriptions, prices, commercial communication, lawfulness of advertising and other conduct in a regional catalogue, the entity that operates the given catalogue or publishes the relevant content is responsible, according to its legal position and the applicable legal regulations.

REALNYX does not replace a partner’s legal oversight of their own business.

The provision of technology, a licence, a brand or access to the network does not in itself mean the assumption of responsibility for the specific legal or commercial conduct of an independent partner.

Unless expressly stated otherwise in writing for a specific service or transaction, the REALNYX Franchise System, the owner of the trade mark and the operator of the technology platform are not a party to the brokerage relationship between two independent partners, nor a party to their relationship with the end client.

REALNYX does not determine whether a specific client will close a deal, does not guarantee the payment of commission between partners and does not assume the commercial risk of individual offices.

A technological record of a listing, a TIP, a commission or communication may serve as evidence of data entered by users, but it does not automatically constitute legal recognition of a claim of one of the parties by REALNYX.

Conduct incompatible with the Ethical Code may, according to the circumstances, include in particular: deliberately circumventing a partner in order to avoid the agreed reward; misuse of a non-public contact or information obtained through partner cooperation; unauthorised copying of photographs, texts or listings; presenting another partner’s work as one’s own; knowingly stating substantially untrue information; repeated failure to observe written agreed conditions of cooperation; misuse of the REALNYX brand in a way that may mislead clients or other partners; discriminatory, fraudulent or otherwise unlawful conduct related to the use of REALNYX systems; serious or repeated conduct damaging the security, integrity or credibility of the shared network.

Each case is assessed according to the specific circumstances and the available supporting materials.

REALNYX prefers proportionality.

In the case of an exceptionally serious breach it may not, given the circumstances, be necessary to use all previous degrees.

Repeated or serious breaches of the Ethical Code may be grounds for restriction or termination of cooperation, if the applicable contractual terms and governing law so allow.

By accepting the applicable contractual or licence terms and activating a product to which this Ethical Code applies, the partner confirms that they have familiarised themselves with the Ethical Code and undertake to respect it to the extent set out in the relevant contract.

The Code applies in particular to the use of the shared REALNYX systems, the Global Catalogue, cooperation between partners and the use of the REALNYX brand.

It forms part of the rules of the REALNYX ecosystem for active licences and products, including the relevant variants of I ♥ REALNYX, where the applicable contractual or licence terms refer to it.

In the event of a conflict between this Ethical Code and an individually concluded contract, mandatory legal regulations take precedence and then the relevant contractual provisions according to the rules set out in them.

REALNYX does not want to decide how much you may earn.

It does not want to build its success on a percentage of every one of your deals.

We want to create infrastructure in which an independent real-estate professional can grow locally and cooperate globally.

That, however, requires balance.

Freedom without responsibility does not create trust.

A network without rules does not create cooperation.

And cooperation without respect does not last.

That is why we protect the principle on which REALNYX stands: