TAR 2009 Agreement for Application Deposit and Hold on Property

TAR 2009 Agreement for Application Deposit and Hold on Property is designed as an agreement between a rental applicant and landlord to hold a property pending landlord's review of application. The form contains a choice for the parties to agree that the property will be removed from the market pending review of the application or, alternatively, for removal of the property from the market only after landlord approves the applicant. An application deposit is given to landlord as consideration for the agreement. Contemplated lease terms are negotiated as to the choices to be made in the final lease agreement.

We had a "SAMPLE" Form available so members of the public could see what the form looked like but unfortunately, we received a "CEASE AND DESIST ALL COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT" letter from the Texas Association of REALTORS®. The "SAMPLE" form we had was heavily marked with two copyright logos and a rather large "SAMPLE" watermark across every page, but that was not acceptable to the Association.

According to the terms of the Texas Association of REALTORS’® (TAR) End User License Agreement (EULA), any display of TAR forms on a website must be behind a firewall or similar filtering software (i.e. username and password protection). Displaying TAR forms without this protection is a violation of the EULA. The use of watermarks over the TAR forms in lieu of “a firewall or similar filtering software” does not satisfy the requirements of the EULA.

In part, the EULA states: “… you are authorized to use the Blank Forms in real estate transactions in which you represent a party and/or in your personal real estate business. You are further authorized to make Blank Forms available to your clients, or parties to a real estate transaction in which you represent a party, on your or your real estate company's website, extranet, or similar site that is behind a firewall or similar filtering software, provided however, you ensure any of the Blank Forms are not accessible by members of the public who are not your clients, or who are not a party to a real estate transaction in which you represent a party, through use of a public uniform resource locator ("URL") without additional security features, such as a password” (emphasis added).

The authorization to use TAR forms is restricted to real estate transactions in which you (REALTORS®) represent a party, or in your personal real estate business. Therefore, even if TAR forms have been removed from publicly-accessible areas of a website, TAR forms should not be given to members of the public who are not your (REALTORS®) clients, or who are not a party to a real estate transaction in which you represent a party.

If you have any questions, please let us know.