The American Land Title Association (ALTA) and Indiana Land Title Association (ILTA) applaud Indiana Attorney General Todd Rotika for his efforts to combat unfair and deceptive practices in the Indiana real estate market by filing a complaint against Florida-based real estate brokerage MV Realty.

ALTA advocates for state laws and regulations preventing the enforcement of Non-Title Recorded Agreements for Personal Services (NTRAPS). ALTA has worked with national stakeholders to design model legislation to make these types of unfair agreements unenforceable, prevent the recording of the agreements in land records and provide consumers with options for seeking damages.

“The property rights of American homebuyers must be protected,” said ALTA Vice President of Government Affairs Elizabeth Blosser. “A home often is a consumer’s largest investment, and the best way to support the certainty of landownership is through public policy. We have to ensure that there are no unreasonable restraints on a homebuyer’s future ability to sell or refinance their property due to unwarranted transactional costs.”

“We applaud the Indiana Attorney General for addressing this concern for those in the real estate and title industry,” said ILTA President Kyle Sommers.

Attorney General Rotika is the seventh attorney general to sue MV Realty over its “Homeowner Benefit Program.” Six other attorneys general filed lawsuits, including New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein.

Earlier this year, Utah became the first state to pass legislation protecting homeowners from the predatory practice of filing unfair real estate fee agreements in property records, with Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, Maine, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee and Washington quickly following.

About ALTA

The American Land Title Association, founded in 1907, is a national trade association representing more than 6,500 title insurance companies, title and settlement agents, independent abstracters, title searchers and real estate attorneys. ALTA members conduct title searches, examinations, closings and issue title insurance that protects real property owners and mortgage lenders against losses from defects in titles.