Connecticut passes private listing network law

Connecticut is adding its name to the list of states that have passed laws governing the use of private listing networks by home sellers. 

Last Wednesday, Connecticut governor Ned Lamont signed Senate Bill 340 into law. Under the law, any real estate agent representing a seller or a landlord involving the seller or landlord’s residential property containing one to four units must “publicly advertise or market the seller’s or landlord’s property for sale or lease, unless the seller or landlord completes and signs the Seller/Landlord Opt-Out of Real Estate Public Marketing form.”

According to the law, public marketing includes publication of the listing through any medium that is “reasonably accessible to the general public and real estate licensees, that provides open and nondiscriminatory access to property information.” Additionally, the law states that if a property is marketed through a private or limited access channel, concurrent marketing through a public channel must also occur. 

The bill was introduced into the state legislature in February and is slated to go into effect on Oct. 1, 2026. 

A similar bill is on the New York governor’s desk

Just one state over in New York, a similar bill, known as the “Fair and Transparent Real Estate Listings Act,” was passed by the state legislature on Monday and it has been delivered to Governor Kathy Hochul for her signature. 

If the bill is signed into law, it would require real estate professionals to publicly advertise or market a residential property they list on platforms accessible to the general public. 

The bill defines a private listing network as a system or platform operated on behalf of a brokerage, franchise, MLS or group of licensees that restricts access to some or all listing information to a definite subset of brokers, licensees or buyers and that is not “broadly accessible” to the general public and all licensees representing the prospective buyers. 

According to the bill, within one calendar day of the start date of a written listing agreement, a listing agent must publicly advertise or market the listing for sale in or on a publication, platform or website “that is broadly accessible to the general public and any real estate licensees representing prospective buyers and shall not satisfy this requirement by advertising or marketing solely through a private listing network or other restricted-access platform.”

However, listings could be non-publicly marketed if the seller “gives informed, written direction after receiving a standardized state disclosure that clearly explains the risks and tradeoffs of withholding a listing from public marketing.” Additionally, the bill allows the listing agent to restrict public marketing if the seller has a “bona fide private, safety or similar need” where any public marketing would be “reasonably likely” endanger their health or safety.

Other legislation

The progress of these two bills come as a similar law is slated to go into effect in Washington on June 11. The bill was signed into law by Washington Governor Bob Furgeson in March. In December 2025, Wisconsin Governor Anthony Evers signed a bill into law making the public marketing of a property the accepted default. This law will not go into effect until January 1, 2027. In addition to these two laws, there are bills pending in Illinois and Hawaii seeking to regulate private listing networks.