Quebec real estate professionals should all be held to the same standards
Ordinary Quebecers may not think amendments to the Real Estate Brokerage Act affect them, but since their homes represent the largest financial investment for many, any changes to the law have a direct impact.
One of those changes, proposed in October by the Quebec government in Bill 141, was the decision to allow consultants from for-sale-by-owner companies to operate without a real estate brokerage licence.
The Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards (QFREB), a non-profit organization composed of Quebec’s 12 real estate boards and representing nearly 13,000 real estate brokers, believes this lack of regulation leaves the public without protection by creating two classes of real estate professionals, one that is licensed and one that is not.
“We’re not against people having the right to sell their houses by themselves, or for other businesses to provide the means for people to do so,” said QFREB CEO Pénéla Guy. “What we are asking is that when you have people who do the same thing, there shouldn’t be double standards. The rules and obligations should apply to all professionals who present themselves or act as real estate specialists.”
Guy explained that before they can buy or sell houses, real estate brokers must undergo 500 hours of training. In addition, they must participate in training activities to accumulate 18 hours of continuing education units (CEU) over a two-year period. They must then pass a regulated exam in order to get their licence.
She added that real estate brokers must also follow the ethics code that is built into the Quebec Brokerage Act.
Failing to act ethically in their dealings with the public can lead to fines and censure by the Discipline Committee of the Organisme d’autoréglementation du courtage immobilier du Québec.
In addition, the province’s licensed real estate brokers are covered by professional liability insurance that provides financial protection to consumers in case of unintentional fault, error, negligence or omission committed by a broker.
Under the proposed amendments to the Brokerage Act, consultants or coaches who offer for-sale-by-owner services will not need to follow the same training, ethics codes, insurance requirements or any of the regulations that licensed brokers do.
“With the amendments that the government is proposing, it is basically giving a free pass to these guys. By letting the situation persist, it is actually accepting it,” Guy said.
“As a consumer, whether I am a buyer or seller, I have the right to know who I’m dealing with. If consultants or coaches portray themselves as professionals or specialists, or the perception from the public is that they are, then that’s a problem,” she said.
Bill 141 is actually an omnibus bill that affects many parts of Quebec’s financial sector and has been in the works since 2015. Public hearings on the bill began in December and continued on Jan. 17 and 18 when the QFREB tabled a brief with the province’s Public Finance Committee along with other interest groups invited to comment on the law and propose changes.
The QFREB demanded the government revise the bill to ensure that coaches working from for-sale-by-owner companies follow the same rules as the rest of the province’s real estate brokers.
“If you do the same things, you should be abiding by the same rules and have the same obligations and we think that this new law brings us backwards, back to when anyone could present themselves as real estate brokers and the public wasn’t protected,” Guy said.
For-sale-by-owner companies and their coaches are licensed in other provinces. Some provinces don’t regulate the real estate brokerage industry as strictly as Quebec, which allows companies and individuals to limit their responsibility according to specific services rendered.
“That’s not allowed here and we don’t want it to be allowed because we don’t think that it’s in the best interest of the public at all,” she said.
At the hearings, the QFREB also campaigned for those real estate brokers who also act as mortgage brokers. Under the new law, mortgage brokers would be regulated by the Autorité des marchés financiers. While the QFREB favours the change, Guy said, it wants to ensure that real estate brokers who are licensed to be mortgage brokers will not lose their right to serve in both capacities and won’t have to pay excessive fees or endure unwieldy regulations to do so.
When Bill 141 becomes law is anyone’s guess, Guy said, adding she believes the government wants to pass it by the end of the spring 2018 session, prior to the next election.