News Bulletin - September 17, 2021

Revised By-law Part Three—Licensing
Scammer Alert
APS Changes Reminder

By-law Part Three—Licensing Revised

The Board of Directors struck a By-law Task Force to review and assess the adequacy of the By-law. The By-law Task Force is charged with preparing a report for the Board of Directors with recommended changes to ensure the By-laws are current and consistent with the Commission’s mandate.

The By-law Task Force presented their report and revised By-law of Part Three—Licensing at the September 2021 Board meeting. The Board approved their report and the revised By-law.

In its work on Part Three, the By-law Task Force surveyed the industry for feedback on licensing processes. The task force also incorporated required elements of the Fair Licensing Practices Act (FRPA). The revised Part Three now has a linear format that follows the licensing process, introduces good character and English language proficiency requirements, and has an updated licensing review process in keeping with FRPA requirements. To accommodate FRPA requirements previously, the Board had approved a Licensure Review Policy. The contents of this policy have been incorporated into the By-law and the Board repealed the now obsolete policy.

The revised Part Three begins with a preamble that explains that this section of By-law has been completely revised. The changes to other parts of the By-law, which resulted from the review of Part Three, are indicated in bold text. The changes to other parts of the By-law include, four new definitions in Part One—Definitions, adding the ability of the Licensing Committee to strike a review panel in Part Two—Commission Administration, the relocation of reporting obligations to Part Four—Fees, which was re-titled Fees and Reporting Obligations, and the relocation of signage requirements to the advertising section of Part Seven—Conduct and Trade Practices.

To view the updated By-law, click HERE.

Scammer Alert on Kijiji

It has been brought to the Commission's attention of a recent rental scam on Kijiji. The scammer pulled pictures from an MLS® listing of a vacant property and created a rental advertisement as part of a deposit theft scheme.

The Commission is advising licensees of this issue so they can inform their sellers and buyers of this ongoing rental scam.

The Commission advises that if you, or someone you know, is targeted by a scammer to please contact the police.

Reminder: Buyer's Conditions Updates Effective January 2022

Effective January 3rd, 2022, significant changes are being made to the process of satisfying buyer's conditions in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale. The new process will require a buyer to provide the seller or seller's agent with written confirmation that they have satisfied their buyer's conditions before the condition deadline.

Education and Resources

The Commission has created a training video about the changes to buyer's conditions. All licensees are required to watch the video and must clearly understand the new process prior to January 2022.

For more information on the changes to buyer's conditions, visit the Commission's website.