Home rules.

Homestore Inc., still recovering from the fraud scandal that rocked the company, has tweaked its ethics code and published it in an SEC filing.

The Westlake Village-based online real estate marketing firm filed a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 31, announcing that it had approved amendments to beef up the company's code of ethics.

The changes were made to bring the company's document in compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, said Erin Campbell, director of corporate communications for Homestore.

But even those rules don't require an internal ethics code to be published. The company wants to demonstrate why it should not be judged by its past, she said.

"We have had to rebuild trust with investors and customers and employees," Campbell said. "We're letting all audiences know that we believe strongly in ethical behavior."

Under the amended ethics code, Homestore's senior financial and executive officers must get the permission of an independent member of the board to waive any part of the code. It also calls for the maintenance of internal controls to assure that transactions and financial records are in line with the code, that employees are subject to all laws and regulations even if they're not in the code, and that executives' filings with the SEC must be full, fair and accurate.

Four former executives at Homestore have pleaded guilty to charges related to inflating revenues.

The shares closed at $4.65 each on April 7, and hit a 52-week high of $5.58 on Jan. 15.