Remove negative reviews of agents, brokerages and property managers

Not because of the dispute itself. Google says it “doesn’t get involved in conflict between businesses and customers”, so a real tenant’s account of their tenancy stays up. A review comes down when it breaks a named policy: it publishes a unit number or a staff phone number, makes an unproven claim of theft or another crime, or comes from someone who never rented from you. Do not threaten the tenant with a lawsuit: the FTC’s Consumer Review Rule (16 CFR Part 465) bans suppressing reviews with unfounded legal threats or intimidation.

Only by Zillow, when a review breaks its guidelines. Zillow is not one of the platforms on our site, so this answer describes Zillow’s own process. An agent cannot delete a Zillow review but can reply to any published review. If a review breaks Zillow’s review guidelines, you can flag it for re-moderation, and Zillow’s team may contact you for more information. The guidelines bar foul language, personal attacks, spam and content not relevant to the agent’s services. Zillow also withholds reviews where it sees a possible conflict of interest, such as reviews from the agent’s family members or from employees of the same company. Deleting your Zillow profile removes all of its reviews.

It depends on who wrote it. If the other agent, their brokerage or their family wrote it, it is a conflict of interest under Google’s Rating manipulation rules, which cover “professional or personal affiliations that demonstrate a conflict of interest”. If the opposing buyer or seller wrote it, Google may treat it as a real experience, because they dealt with you during the deal. That review stays up unless it breaks another policy, for example an unproven accusation of fraud or a client’s personal information. Zillow sets a wider bar: its agent review FAQ lets buyers and sellers who only communicated with an agent review them.

Three parts of the 2026 Code apply to a public reply. Standard of Practice 1-9 says your duty to keep a client’s confidential information continues after the deal ends. It allows disclosure needed to defend you against an accusation of wrongful conduct, so keep a reply to the facts that answer the accusation. Article 15 bars false or misleading statements about other real estate professionals, and Standard of Practice 15-2 extends that to repeating what others said, so check any reply that blames the other agent. Standard of Practice 15-3 requires you to clarify or remove false statements about other professionals on websites you control. This is general information, not legal advice; your state’s license law also applies.

They may. Google’s help page says a contributor may be informed when content is removed for a policy violation, and the review can still show in their own Maps profile marked “Not posted” or “Private”. We do not contact the reviewer, and we do not ask Google who they are. If a removed review comes back, we file it again at no charge.

You pay for the ones that come down. The platform decides on each review, and a review it keeps up shows as Could not be removed in your TrustOS portal.