News Bulletin - June 22, 2022

Coming Soon Advertising Policy

The Commission has received reports of advertising by licensees that does not comply with the Commissions 'Coming Soon Advertising Policy.'

Reminder to licensees that if you are advertising a property as "coming soon," it must comply with the policy.

Recovery Fund Changes

The By-law Task Force completed its review of By-law Part Five—Recovery Fund and the changes recommended by the task force were approved by the Board of Directors at their June meeting.

The most significant change to the Recovery Fund section was the elimination of the Recovery Fund Committee. The Recovery Fund Committee and was a holdover from legislation that predated the Real Estate Trading Act (the Act). The Act establishes the Discipline Committee and the Commission Board of Directors as responsible for the management of the Fund and for evaluating claims against the Fund. The Recovery Fund Committee was not contemplated by the Act and therefore has no authority or decision-making ability under the Act. The Recovery Fund Committee’s role was simply carrying out the decisions made by the Discipline Committee and the Board. The new Part Five was rewritten so that decisions of the Discipline Committee and the Board of Directors will simply be carried out by the Discipline Committee and the Board, with the Board’s financial management of the Fund delegated to the Finance Committee.

Other changes of note include:

• A Board-set minimum balance for the Fund of $600,000. The minimum amount of the Fund set out in the Regulations is $300,000, which hasn’t changed since the Act and Regulations were established in 1997. Housing prices and the size of trust deposits have roughly quadrupled since then and with brokerages routinely holding more than a $1 million in trust, a $300,000 minimum was insufficient for consumer protection. The current balance of the Recovery Fund exceeds the new board-set minimum amount.
• The maximum amounts payable from the fund have been simplified and increased to $35,000 for a single real estate transaction and for multiple claims against a licensee, which includes brokerages, an aggregate limit of $350,000.

A $100 reduction in Recovery Fund fees for new managing associate brokers and brokers, which is the same as new associate brokers and salespeople. A new $200 Recovery Fund fee for new brokerages has been added. 

Licensing Renewals Reminder

If you have already completed your online licence renewal, you can disregard the remainder of this email. To verify if you have completed your licence renewal, you can check the licensee portal.

The deadline for licensing renewals is June 30th. Licensees who fail to renew their licence before the deadline will have their licences terminate effective July 1st, 2022 and must immediately cease all trading activities. 

366 licensees and 20 brokerages still need to complete their renewals. Licensees who have not yet completed their online licence renewal have been sent weekly reminder emails since renewals opened on May 10th. 

Brokers are responsible for renewing the brokerage licence, audit fees, any branch office licences, their broker licence, and, if applicable, their approved sales corporation licence. To verify renewals, brokers can review their brokerage's licensing report on the licensee portal. 

All other licensees are responsible for renewing their real estate licence and, if applicable, their approved sales corporation licence.

If you need help, visit the Commission's Licence Renewal Resource page.