It’s time to share your opinion – the Government of Ontario is launching consultations to modernize provincial real estate laws.
Specifically, the Ontario government is reviewing the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act.
“It has been almost two decades since the last comprehensive review of the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act. The market has dramatically changed since then,” said Bill Walker, Minister of Government and Consumer Services, in a statement.
“Our government is looking for input from the public, including homeowners, renters and real estate professionals, about strengthening the legislation so the people are better served.”
The statement from the Province says that changes to existing real estate laws will better reflect today’s market, including reducing red tape, and strengthening transparency and consumer protection.
The Province gave the example of what these changes might look like:
“Under today’s rules, for example, in multiple offer situations a broker representing a seller can only disclose the number of competing offers on the property to every person who has made an offer but cannot disclose the competing price,” read the Province’s statement.
These types of rules will be taken into consideration during the consultations and review.
The Province wants Ontarians to have their say about modernizing the real estate laws. There are two ways to do that:
- Fill out an online survey at ontario.ca/RealEstateAct.
- The government is also looking for feedback on a consultation paper posted to the Ontario Regulatory Registry
The window for feedback to both the survey and consultation paper closes on March 15, 2019.
According to the Province:
- The Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002 regulates real estate and business brokerages and the individual brokers and salespersons who are employed by a brokerage.
- Ontario real estate brokerages, brokers and salespersons must be registered with the Real Estate Council of Ontario that administers and enforces the act.
- In 2017, there were over 82,000 registered real estate brokerages, brokers, and salespersons.
- Real estate represented approximately $95.5 billion in home sales in 2017.
View the full Government of Ontario statement about the consultations here: https://news.ontario.ca/mgs/en/2019/01/ontario-government-launches-consultations-to-modernize-real-estate-laws.html
Read the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002, here: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/02r30?_ga=2.268520439.784247863.1549035002-2114734898.1549035002
Regardless of what changes come to provincial real estate laws, GeoWarehouse can help real estate professionals stay on top of the market. Learn more about our property data and tools by calling 1-866-237-5937 or visiting www.geowarehouse.ca.
