It is always the small things that get you into trouble.
One of our colleagues finds himself in trouble and is the subject of a caution for a period of 6 months. We do not intend naming this agent nor posting the sanction from the OMARA website. If an agent wishes to do this personally about themselves, then they can set themselves up as a blogger and write about it, as has occurred in the past.
The details of the conduct of an RMA with a sanction are of course relevant to the OMARA’s decision, but the overall message that comes from this case is that it is always the small stuff that gets you into trouble.
Being the subject of a complaint is a very intimidating and frightening experience. The RMA will naturally feel anxious and panicky. Imagine a situation where someone (the OMARA) is looking over your shoulder and running through your files looking for a breach of the code of conduct.
Poor file management etc will inevitably see an RMA get into trouble.
The take home message here is that we are all human, we all make mistakes, we all exercise poor judgement. The experience of our colleagues even those who are the subject of a caution must, out of necessity, excite our compassion and concern but at the same time serve as an object lesson.
The endless recital of what may have happened in the past and the airing of the sanction decision as emailed “news” all compound the shame and regret for the sanctioned RMA.
Remember this. We are all the subject of a complaint from time to time.
The secret to dealing with complaints is to seek advice and the assistance of your colleagues at the earliest opportunity, no useful purpose is served by engaging in what amounts to “sanction porn” in news articles emailed to the profession. What benefit is there by us being fed endless ventilations and recitals of past conduct of RMAs direct to our screens?
This is especially difficult to digest if the writers of news articles aim to make money out of the “news” by way of subscription fees. Asking agents to pay a fee so that we can read the “full story” about one of our colleague’s sanctions, and the mistakes that led to their sanction is not exactly uplifting “news” for the profession. It makes me wonder “who will be the next RMA for this news?”
Finally, the OMARA decisions are written in full and are easy to understand. They are available directly from the OMARA website. We don’t need detailed sanction information cut and pasted from the OMARA website and fed to us via emails as “news”.
If you have a complaint against you from the OMARA please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will assist you. There are lawyers in the profession that have a long track record of helping agents through the complaints process.