Is it time for a Real Estate Revolution?

British Columbia (BC) rocked the real estate world recently when the Premier announced that they were putting an end to self-regulation in the BC real estate industry.

Much like BC, Ontario Realtors are also self-regulated under the Real Estate Counsel of Ontario, which is comprised of a board of directors of predominately Realtors. Shortly after the BC announcement, Ontario’s Minister of Government and Consumer Services did confirm that Ontario has no plans to make changes to our real estate regulatory system and Ontario will remain self-regulated.

The BC changes, however, have raised a lot of questions and spurred a lot of discussion in the industry. Is it time for a change in Ontario?

One of the biggest changes in BC is the end to dual agency; also known as Multiple Representation. Multiple Representation is when a brokerage represents both buyer and seller in the transaction or multiple buyers. One of the most common complaints in real estate is around multiple offers where multiple buyers are biding on a property and one or more of those buyers is also represented by the listing Realtor. This can be perceived as a conflict of interest especially when the listing agent’s buyer wins the house. The question of fairness comes into play; did the other buyers really have a fair shot at the property?

Additionally, if there is ever an issue during the transaction or thereafter, it will often be questioned as to whose best interests was the Realtor really working in? The buyer or the seller? Did they have a previous existing relationship with one party over the other that would create them to be biased to one side? Did they disclose everything they should have? Did one party pay too much or accept too little?

Think of if you were to be sued, would you want your lawyer also acting for the individual that is suing you?

The biggest issue we face in making changes to this practice is that dual agency occurs when two individuals are represented by the same Brokerage not just Realtor. So with many Brokerages having hundred of agents it would be an impossible situation to avoid and often you don’t even know the other realtor who’s representing the other client in the transaction.

Time will tell if the changes in the West will make their way to Ontario but with the of removal of dual agency and increasing fines on both the Brokerages and Realtors for unethical practices, I suspect a real estate revolution is on its way.



The opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of Jacqueline Pennington and do not represent those of the Northumberland Hills Association of Realtors or RE/MAX Rouge River Realty Ltd., Copyright © 2016 Jacqueline Pennington. All rights reserved.