A local real estate company is up in arms over an income protection program being offered by a top rival, accusing the firm of burying "in the fine print" a potential obligation by home sellers to foot the bill for the insurance.

George Hackett, Coldwell Banker president, said yesterday that Howard Hanna was "sneaking into" some contracts a provision that obligated home sellers represented by Coldwell Banker to pay $329 for the insurance offered to Howard Hanna buyers rather than asking them up front if they wanted to pay for the protection.

"It should be disclosed up front, not on page 10 somewhere, buried in small print. If you sign the contract, you're bound," he said.

But Helen Hanna Casey, president of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, said the company isn't trying to sneak anything past anyone.

She said the language potentially obligating the seller to pay the fee is a standard part of sales agreements. She said listing agents, including those employed by Coldwell Banker, should be reading the agreements in full and striking anything they don't like.

Including the potential obligation in the agreement is no different than other standard clauses like home warranties and taxes routinely contained in most sales contracts, she said.

Howard Hanna unveiled the income protection plan last month, hoping it would spur hesitant buyers worried about potential job losses to complete their purchases.

The program offered buyers $1,500 a month for up to six months to pay bills, not just the mortgage, if they lost their jobs within the first year of purchasing a house through Howard Hanna. The plan is available only in instances in which the home seller agrees to pay $329 for the insurance premium that would provide protection to the buyer.

Ms. Casey said Howard Hanna always intended to offer the plan to all of its buyers, even in those cases in which the sellers were represented by other real estate firms such as Coldwell Banker, in an effort to "jump start the market."

But instead of asking sellers up front whether they would agree to buy the policy, Mr. Hackett said Howard Hanna was just putting it into the contract, leaving it to agents to catch it and inform the seller.

"That's not disclosure. That's burying it in the contract and not bringing it up," he said. "I personally think you need to tell someone if you want someone to pay for something."

He said he was told some Howard Hanna agents didn't even know the clause was in the contract. He wasn't appeased by Ms. Casey's explanation that brokers should be reading contracts in full.

"I'm going to start putting something in my contract and see if she catches it," he said.

Ms. Casey wondered why Mr. Hackett never contacted her about his complaints if he was so upset about the way in which Hanna was disclosing the potential liability.

She said she hasn't had complaints from any other realtors.

Ms. Casey added that Howard Hanna would stop extending the program to Coldwell Banker sellers if that's what Mr. Hackett wanted.

"We don't have to offer it on his listings. We did it as a courtesy to get houses sold," she said.